Science in Public Affairs 



explains the systems of land tenure in the different 

 colonies, and makes recommendations in the direc- 

 tion of greater uniformity. The tribal system, in 

 connection with native law and native custom, is 

 fully discussed. The benefits of education to the 

 natives are recognised, and the establishment of a 

 central native college is advocated. The sale of 

 spirituous liquors should be absolutely prohibited, 

 the only exception being in favour of a weak con- 

 coction of Kaffir beer because it has strong nutritive 

 elements. Perhaps the most difficult question 

 before the Commission was that of political repre- 

 sentation, because in Cape Colony and Southern 

 Rhodesia the natives are admitted to the franchise 

 on equal terms with Europeans, while elsewhere 

 they have practically had no direct representation. 

 The system in vogue in Cape Colony, it was agreed, 

 could not be approved as a general model. It was 

 there only a question of time for the natives, owing 

 to their great numerical preponderance, to swamp 

 the votes of the Europeans. On the other hand, 

 as the natives had once been made eligible for the 

 franchise, there could be no permanence in a solu- 

 tion which excluded them altogether ; nor would 

 it be right, as, even under their own institutions, 

 most of the tribes had had weighty councils which 

 partook of a representative character. A com- 

 promise was, therefore, arrived at which would 

 grant compensation in Natal and elsewhere as 

 self-government was extended, for the limitation of 

 the existing rights in Cape Colony and Rhodesia. 

 It is thus described in the Report : 



156 



