railway companies shall carry passengers and goods throughout South Africa Nr. 12018. under uniform conditions. Gold Thefts. According to the evidence submitted to your Commission, gold thefts are on the increase, and, although the Volksraad has given the matter their favourable consideration, and have, at the instance of the mining industry, so amended the Gold Law as to provide for the punishment for the sale and for being in possession of raw gold, still it has been stated to your Commission in evidence that the gold thefts amount to about 10 per cent. of the output, equivalent to an amount of £750,000 per annum. || It follows that the administration of the law must be faulty, because there are only very few instances where the crime has been detected and punished. || If those figures are not exaggerated, and your Commission have no reason to suppose so, then this matter deserves the serious consideration of the Government. The suppression of this crime can be considered as a real saving to the industry, and this amount of three-quarters of a million would, especially in times of depression, exercise a large influence on the yield and financial position of the mines. The industry asks that the penal clauses regarding this matter shall be eliminated from the Gold Law, and that a separate law be passed, more or less on the basis of the I.D.B. Law of Kimberley, Cape Colony, and that measures should be taken by which the injured parties shall be unable to exercise control and have supervision over any Department to be established for the detection and suppression of thefts of raw gold. || Your Commission are of opinion that the Government could grant this request without injuring their dignity on the basis hereafter mentioned; on the contrary it would remove the blame from the present administration, viz., that these thefts can be practically carried on with impunity. Pass Law. About this law your Commission have obtained very important evidence from Mr. Kock, the head of the Pass Department at Johannesburg, and refer to his report, from which it will appear that some alterations in the law are required, although what is really required as regards same is that it be strictly carried out. || The Government will find in this report a recommendation by which it is proposed to place the carrying out of the Pass Law under the supervision of a local board on the gold fields, and your Commission further wish to recommend that the entire administration of this law be placed under the supervision of the Superintendent of Natives instead of under the Department of Mines, as at present. Your Commission wish in no way to cast any blame on the Department of Mines for the faulty carrying out of the law up to the present, but if the Government take into consideration the recommendation made by the Commission earlier in this report, with reference to the supply of kaffir labour, the object the Commission have in Südafrikan. 5. Aug. 1897. Nr. 12018. view in making this recommendation will be apparent, because it would be Republik, impossible for two Departments to be interested in the carrying out of any Südafrikan. 5. Aug. 1897. One law. Industrial Board. The evidence which has been laid before your Commission has contained suggestions to establish a Board on which Government nominees and representatives of the mining industry and of the commercial community of the Witwatersrand should sit, so that the Government representatives should have the benefit of the experience of men whose daily occupation it is to look closely into the affairs appertaining to mines, &c. Your Commission is of opinion that it is advisable that these suggestions should be acted upon. The scope of this Board should consist of the supervision of the administration of the following laws, viz.: The Liquor Law, as far as it concerns the proclaimed gold fields; || The Pass Law; || The law relating to gold thefts; || And will further have an advisory voice in the supply of Natives to the mines, which your Commission has recommended your Government to take in its own hands." The area under the surveillance of the Board should include the Heidelberg, Witwatersrand, and Klerksdorp districts, and other goldfields, as may be found desirable hereafter. || Your Commission suggests that the Board consists of the following: Five members to be appointed by the Government, and four delegates to be appointed by the following bodies, with the consent of the Government, namely, one delegate of the Chamber of Mines, one of the Association of Mines (or in case of an amalgamation, two representatives of the new chamber), a nominee of the Mine Managers' Association, and a nominee of the Commercial Community of Johannesburg. || Your Commission would advise that a separate detective force be placed under the department, whose duty it would be to detect any infringements of the above-mentioned laws, and to bring the offenders to justice in the ordinary course of law. || It should also be in the sphere of the Board's work to report to the proper authorities any laxity on the part of the officials who have to administer the abovementioned laws. || The Board is to report to the Executive Council upon the working of the laws referred to, and to suggest alterations. It must be well understood that the power of this Board must in nowise clash with the sphere of the Minister of Mines' Department, and the Licensing Board, but co-operate with same. We would adduce as a reason, the more for the creation of such Board, that Government could depute to them the right to receive deputations hear their arguments, and report to the Government on the subject, whereby a great saving of time would be the result. || We would recommend that the Commission be appointed at once, and that they shall frame their proposals for regulations and submit them at once to Government. Cement. Under this heading your Commission merely wish to state that the import duty of 12 s. 6 d. per cask seems excessively high. || The high freight Südafrikan. on an article so heavy as cement already raises the price here to such an Nr. 12018. amount that it ought to be very easy for any local industry to be able to Republik. compete. | Your Commission consequently recommend that the special duty on 5. Aug. 1897. cement be removed as speedily as possible. Bricks. It has been clearly proved to your Commission that the existing concession for the making of bricks by machinery is a great disadvantage. The price of bricks is thereby unduly increased. Your Commission consequently recommend that steps be taken as speedily as possible to relieve the population of the Republic of this undesirable monopoly. Sweepstakes. Evidence has been laid before your Commission that the running of sweepstakes and other forms of betting on the races in this Republic has a very injurious effect commercially, and especially on the morality of the young generation of the Republic. | Your Commission are aware that this question. is already being dealt with by the Volksraad, and can only express their hope that this honourable body will proceed to modify the law in such a manner that such sweepstakes and other forms of betting will be prohibited. Closing Remarks. Before closing this report, your Commission must express their satisfaction with the way witnesses have responded to the Commission's invitations. || It would be invidious to particularise, where there are so many who, at a great sacrifice of time, have devoted themselves to a careful compilation of facts and figures, than which no such interesting or exhaustive statements of the local mining industry have ever been laid before the public. || At the request of your Commission, representatives from Barberton and Klerksdorp came to Pretoria to give evidence, and the public spirit displayed by those gentlemen in coming all the distance to represent the interests of their respective communities deserves the greatest praise. It must be mentioned here that the interests of the aforesaid mining communities are identical to these of the Witwatersrand Goldfields, and any benefits resulting from this inquiry will necessarily extend to those fields. || Your Commission respectfully suggest that for the purposes of general reference, and to be placed in the official archives, this report with all the evidence led, statistics and further addenda, be printed and published in book form. It will also serve a useful purpose in illustrating to foreign investors the conditions under which the mines exist and are worked, the richness of the reefs, and the regularity of the ore deposits. Credit will be restored, as it will be obvious to all who take an interest in the matter that the bogus companies, mostly flcated in Europe by unscrupulous promoters, do not come within the pale of legitimate enterprise connected with the mining industry. The establishment of a local mining board has Südafrikan. Republik. Nr. 12018. been strongly urged by witnesses. || From an industrial and commercial point of view, this country must be considered as still in its infancy, and without 5. Aug. 1897. loss of dignity and prestige the Government may accede to the above request. Experience in these matters can only be attained after the lapse of long years and by coming in contact with experts from other countries, the State will reap the benefit of the knowledge obtained in their country, where these problems have for decades exercised the minds of their leading citizens. || In conclusion, your Commission fervently hope that they truly and faithfully interpreted the object of the inquiry, and that their suggestions and recommendations, if acted upon, will confer a lasting benefit on "Land en Volk." Nr. 12019, Grofsbritannien. Nr. 12019. GROSSBRITANNIEN. Petition britischer in der Südafrikanischen Republik ansässiger Unterthanen an die Königin um Abstellung von Mifsbräuchen in der Republik. März 1899. The Humble Petition of British Subjects resident on the Witwatersrand, South African Republic, to Her Most Gracious Majesty, Queen Victoria. Sheweth that: || 1. For a number of years, prior to 1896, considerable discontent existed among the Uitlander population of the South African Republic, caused by the manner in which the Government of the country was being conducted. The great majority of the Uitlander population consists of British subjects. || 2. It was, and is, notorious that the Uitlanders have no share in the government of the country, although they constitute an absolute majority of the inhabitants of this State, possess a very large proportion of the land, and represent the intellect, wealth, and energy of the State. || 3. The feelings of intense irritation which have been aroused by this state of things have been aggravated by the manner in which remonstrances have been met. Hopes have been held out and promises have been made by the Government of this State from time to time, but no practical amelioration of the conditions of life has resulted. || 4. Petitions, signed by large numbers Your Majesty's subjects, have been repeatedly addressed to the Government of this State, but have failed of their effect, and have even been scornfully rejected. 5. At the end of 1895 the discontent culminated in an armed insurrection against the Government of this State, which, however, failed of its object. 6. On that occasion the people of Johannesburg placed themselves unreservedly in the hands of Your Majesty's High Commissioner, in the fullest confidence that he would see justice done to them. || 7. On that occasion also President Kruger published a proclamation, in which he again held out hopes of substantial reforms. || 8. Instead, however, of the admitted grievances being redressed, the spirit of the legislation adopted by the Volksraad during the past few years has been of a most unfriendly character, and has made the Grofs position of the Uitlanders more irksome than before. || 9. In proof of the Nr. 12019. above statement, Your Majesty's petitioners would humbly refer to such britannien. measures as the following: The Immigration of Aliens Act (Law 30 of 1896); || The Press Law (Law 26 of 1896); || The Aliens Expulsion Law of 1896. || Of these, the first was withdrawn at the instance of Your Majesty's Government, as being an infringement of the London Convention of 1884. || By the second the President is invested with the powers of suppressing wholly, or for a stated time, any publication which in his individual opinion. is opposed to good manners or subversive of order. This despotic power he has not hesitated to exercise towards newspapers which support British interests, while newspapers which support the Government have been allowed to publish inflammatory and libellous articles, and to advocate atrocious crimes without interference. || The Aliens Expulsion Act draws a distinction between the Burghers of the State and Uitlanders which, Your Majesty's petitioners humbly submit, is in conflict with the Convention of 1884. Thus, whilst Burghers of the State are protected from expulsion, British subjects can be put over the border at the will of the President, without the right of appealing to the High Court, which is, nevertheless, open to the offending Burgher. This law was repealed, only to be re-enacted in all its essential provisions during the last session of the Volksraad. || 10. The promise made by the President with regard to conferring Municipal Government upon Johannesburg was to outward appearance kept, but it is an ineffective measure, conferring small benefit upon the community, and investing the inhabitants with but little additional power of legislating for their own municipal affairs. Of the two members to be elected for each ward, one at least must be a Burgher. Besides this, the Burgomaster is appointed by the Government, not elected by the people. The Burgomaster has a casting vote, and, considering himself a representative of the Government and not of the people, has not hesitated to oppose his will to the unanimous vote of the Councillors. The Government also possess the right to veto any resolution of the Council. As the Burghers resident in Johannesburg were estimated at the last census as 1,039 in number as against 23,503 Uitlanders, and as they belong to the poorest and most ignorant class, it is manifest that these Burghers have an undue share in the representation of the town, and are invested with a power which neutralises the efforts of the larger and more intelligent portion of the community. Every Burgher resident is qualified to vote, irrespective of being a ratepayer or property owner within the municipal area. || 11. Notwithstanding the evident desire of the Government to legislate solely in the interests of the Burghers, and impose undue burdens on the Uitlanders, there was still a hope that the declaration of the President on the 30th of December, 1896, had some meaning, and that the Government would duly consider grievances properly brought before its notice. Accordingly, in the early part of 1897 steps were taken to bring to the notice of the Government the alarming depression in |