Tender Mercies of the Boer Government. 6i 



the Aveek I have l)een here I have not set eyes on 

 a singio policeman, either by night or by day. 



There can be no clonbt that many of these evils 

 wonkl be promptly remedied if Johannesbnrg 

 possessed a representative municipality, but the 

 selfish jealousy of the Boer Government obstinatelv 

 refuses any such concession. There is, indeed, a 

 sanitary boaixl, whose duties are solely confined to 

 matters of sanitation, which is elected by the in- 

 habitants. Two regulations, however, completely 

 neutralize the representative value of this institu- 

 tion. The members of the Board must speak and 

 understand Dutch, and the proceedings and 

 minutes of the Board are recorded in the Dutch 

 language. Johannesburg is essentially an English- 

 speaking tov,ni. I imagine that a very small 2jro- 

 portion of the inhabitants, practically speaking none 

 of the well-to-do classes, speak Dutch, and thus it 

 happens that those who, Irom their position and 

 possessions, Avould be natural and useful members 

 of the Sanitary Board, are totally excluded even 

 from this small share in the government of the 

 town. In the second jjlace the Boer Govern- 

 ment nominates the President of the Board 

 from outside the number of those elected. It 

 is not to be supposed that the inhabitants of 

 Johannesburg will long tolerate their condition of 

 absolute servitude in municipal matters. The 

 astomiding inecpiality of taxation between the 

 inhabitants of Johannesbui'g and those of Pretoria 

 is certain before long to bring about a movement 

 by the former to which the Boer Government ^vill 



