PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION E. 101 



£7,804. The Glen Grey system was introduced into the Transkei 

 in 1895, and here we have 18 District Councils managing local 

 affairs and sending representatives to the Central Parliament — 

 the Transkeian Territories General Council. This Council or 

 Bhunga, which consists of the Chief Magistrate as chairman, 

 eighteen Magistrates, and fifty-four Native members, has sittings 

 which last a fortnight, during which time the getting and spend- 

 ing of a revenue of well over one hundred thousand pounds is con- 

 sidered. I have recently had an opportunity of watching the de- 

 liberations of the Bhunga, and, like most other observers of this 

 Native Parliament, I have been much struck with the ability, 

 sanity, and dignity of the members. In Western Pondoland there 

 is a similar Council, though up to the present only three districts 

 have accepted the system . The policy of the Government has been 

 not to force the system on the people but to allow them to obtain 

 it as soon as they are ready and express the desire. In the other 

 Provinces the Natives have no share in their government, which 

 duty is undertaken by European officials acting through Native 

 chiefs and headmen. These chiefs and headmen are for the most 

 part subsidised by Government, and possess limited jurisdiction in 

 civil cases. In the urban areas the more progressive municipalities 

 have instituted either nominated or elected boards of Natives to 

 advise them on local matters. 



It seems certain that participation by the Natives in the 

 management of the affairs of the country is inadequate, except 

 perhaps in the Cape Province, but before an extension is made it 

 would be well if some students of political science would investi- 

 gate some such problems as the following : — 



1. The circumstances which led up to the granting of the 



franchise to the Cape Natives and the use they are 

 making of the privilege. 



2. Native opinion on the Glen Grey Council system and 



inferences therefrom for the improvement of the 

 system . 



3. What modifications of the Council system are necessarv 



for its extension to districts such as Zululand and 

 Basutoland, where the tribal system is entrenched. 



4. Participation bv Natives in urban areas in the manage- 



ment of their municipal affairs either by representa- 

 tion on the Town Council or otherwise. 



5. A system of secret voting for Native illiterates. 



6. A text-book on Civics for Native schools. 



7. The treatment of Native history in European and 



Native schools. 



Legal Relationships of Black and White. 



It is freely conceded that justice and the authority of the 

 law are corner stones in any system of government, so that it is 

 imperative in South Africa that the Natives should respect the law 

 and be ready to accept as signs of even-handed justice the decisions 

 of the Courts. Ordinarily this is not difficult in the case of 



