CAPE COLONY AND SOUTH AFRICA. 



105 



va.-il are being developed rapidly, and the deposits 

 in the Witwatersrand produce a steady output of 

 excellent coal. The total quantity raised in 1896 

 was 1,437,297 tons, valued at 612,561. 



The total value of dutiable imports in 1896 was 

 14,088,130, of which 9,264,378 came from over 

 sea and 4,823,752 from neighboring countries. 

 The total value in 1895 was 9,816,304, and in 1894 

 it was 6,440,215. The extent of the gold exports 

 is seen in the Cape Colony returns. Other chief ex- 

 ports are wool, cattle, hides, grain, ostrich feathers, 

 ivory, tin from Swaziland, and coal. 



Communications. The continuation of the 

 railroad crossing the Orange Free State to Pretoria 

 by the construction of 78 miles from the Vaal river 

 places the Boer capital in direct communication 

 with Cape Town, 1,040 miles distant. The Delagoa 

 Bay line to Pretoria, 295 miles long, has been in 

 operation since the beginning of 1895. A line from 

 Natal enters the Transvaal and has its present 

 terminus at Chaijlestown. A line to Selatie, 191 

 miles in length, is approaching completion. The 

 total length of railroads within the Transvaal was 

 7l6 miles in September, 1897, when there were 270 

 miles additional partly constructed and 252 miles 

 more projected. 



The telegraphs within the Transvaal have a' total 

 length of 1,952 miles, connecting with all the tele- 

 graphs and cables of South Africa. 



Political Affairs. Cecil Rhodes, who, when 

 Prime Minister of Cape Colony, was the originator 

 and prime mover in the conspiracy for the over- 

 throw of the Transvaal Government that was 

 rendered abortive by the vigilance and decision of 

 the Boer authorities, by resuming his political 

 activity in South Africa strengthened the position 

 of President Kriiger and made the Boers more 

 determined and unyielding in their resistance to 

 the demands of the Uitlanders. What still more 

 aroused the fears of the Boers and excited their 

 jealous love of independence was Mr. Chamberlain's 

 dispatch of Oct. 16, 1897, roughly asserting the 

 continuance of British suzerainty. Before the 

 presidential election several hundred Uitlanders, 

 who had volunteered to fight the Jameson raiders 

 and the Johannesburg revolutionists, were admitted 

 to full burgher rights. The English Government 

 intervened in behalf of Indian Banyans, who were 

 required to live and to trade outside of towns, but 

 only to secure an interpretation of the law, since 

 these British subjects were placed under similar 

 disabilities in Natal and lately in Rhodesia. On 

 -Ian. 19, in accepting one of the new forts round 

 Pretoria, the President said that readiness for war 

 was the best guarantee of peace. The popular vote 

 for President, which was given near the end of 

 January, resulted in the triumphant re-election of 

 Stephanus Johannes Paul us Kriiger, who received 

 12,858 votes, to 3,753 for Schalk Burger and 2.001 

 for Gen. Joubert. About two thirds of the elec- 

 torate voted. 



A constitutional conflict between the President 

 and Chief-Justice Kotze began in September, 1895, 

 when the case was pending of Brown, an American 

 eitizen, who had been ousted by operation of this 

 resolution from a mining claim and had brought 

 suit for damages against the State Secretary. The 

 High Court having given judgment for Brown on 

 Jan. 22, 1897, denying the validity of a resolution 

 of the Volksraad rescinding the proclamation on 

 which Brown based his claim, the Volksraad as 

 soon as it met passed Law 1, 1897, declaring that 

 the testing power does not exist and never did exist ; 

 requiring the judges of the High Court to take oath 

 that they will carry out all laws and resolutions 

 of the Volksraad and not presume to test them by 

 Uic Cfrundwet, or Constitution ; and furthermore 



empowering them to dismiss any judge from office 

 who in answer to formal interrogatories will not 

 undertake to observe Volksraad laws and resolu- 

 tions. By a written agreement made on March 22, 

 1897, through the mediation of Sir Henry de 

 Villiers, Chief Justice of Cape Colony, the judges 

 promised not to exercise the testing power, and the 

 President undertook to introduce a draft constitu- 

 tional law providing that the Gfrundwet can be 

 altered only by special legislation and safeguarding 

 the independence of the judiciary. He promised 

 in his negotiations with Sir Henry Villiers to have 

 a commission appointed, but Mr. Kotze assumed 

 that a bill was to be introduced forthwith, and 

 when the commission protracted its deliberations, 

 and the session of 1897 passed without any action 

 being taken by the Volksraad in the matter, he 

 wrote to President Kriiger on Feb. 5, 1898, that he 

 considered the understanding between them as 

 having lapsed and no longer existing. The Presi- 

 dent held that he was not bound to carry through 

 such legislation as the judges demanded, but that 

 they had engaged themselves not to test acts of 

 the Volksraad. He regarded Chief-Justice Kotze's 

 letter as a virtual refusal to answer or an insuffi- 

 cient answer to the question that he had put to 

 him on March 4, 1897, under the law passed by the 

 Volksraad, and accordingly on Feb. 16, 1898, he 

 dismissed him from office in accordance with a 

 decision of the Executive Council. Mr. Kotze re- 

 plied that Law 1, 1897, was no law, and claimed 

 that he was still Chief Justice, having been ap- 

 pointed for life, and not being liable to removal 

 under the Grundwet except on charges of grave 

 misdemeanor. He assumed to adjourn the court 

 but Judge Gregorowski was appointed acting Chief 

 Justice and opened court immediately. Mr. Kotze 

 addressed a' manifesto to the people of" the Republic, 

 and afterward went to England and appealed to 

 the British Government to interfere as suzerain to 

 prevent the property rights and liberty of Uitland- 

 ers being overriden by the Boer oligarchy. He had 

 been appointed Chief Justice for life by 'the British 

 when they were in occupation of the Transvaal. 

 Justice A mesh off, who had stood by the ex-Chief 

 Justice in all his contentions, and who looked for 

 the succession to the presidency of the court, re- 

 signed his office. Judge Gregorowski was sworn in 

 as Chief Justice on March 31. 



The session of 1898 was opened on May 2. A 

 proposal to raise a state loan of 6.000,000 to build 

 railroads and extensive irrigation works was post- 

 poned to be considered at the next session. Presi- 

 dent Kriiger was sworn in for the new term on May 

 12. He proposed to withdraw the licenses from 

 banks that oppressed poor people and increased 

 the existing depression, and suggested, for the pre- 

 vention of spurious mining companies, that a cer- 

 tificate from a Government engineer be required 

 before a company can be floated. Of the draft 

 laws submitted one provides for the infliction of 

 one to six years' imprisonment upon officials re- 

 vealing the" contents of documents which in the 

 interest of the state should remain secret. The 

 alien's expulsion law, to which the British Govern- 

 ment objected, was amended in compliance with 

 Mr. Chamberlain's demand, so that an Uitlander ac- 

 cused of acts endangering the security of the state, 

 and therefore liable to expulsion by executive order 

 under the act as it stood, must first be placed by 

 the Government in a position to bring forward his 

 interests. Another bill enabled the executive au- 

 thority to decide what is a dishonoring sentence. 

 A third virtually prohibits any alien not a burgher 

 of the Orange Free State from bringing firearms 

 into the Transvaal without a permit from the State 

 Secretary. There was a bill authorizing the Gov- 



