TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION F. 481 
politics desirable, and inleed necessary, for the best maintenance and progress of 
national welfare. 
In a young State the first, perhaps, of these aspirations may be found in the 
desire of the merchant to distinguish his own goods from those of others, and from 
this wish has, in older countries, after many, many years, arisen statute law of some- 
what simple character safely capable, with slight moditication, of being adopted by 
the Legislature.of a new country. To the commercial element, then, are due the 
rights enjoyed in the use of trade-marks, possibly the most important branch, from 
a general public point of view, of those privileges which are referred to in this 
paper. Normally, at a slightly later stage of development, and whenever there is 
any marked forward movement in the industrial life of the country, individual 
invention is brought into prominence; whilst for the exploitation of enterprises 
larger or more hazardous than can conveniently or safely be undertaken by any 
single person, mutual co-operation and its attendant liabilities invariably demand 
the attention and assistance of the governing authorities. The grant of patents 
encourages and protects the initiators of useful novel inventions, whilst the 
limitation of the pecuniary liability of those engaged in joint endeavours to found 
an industry or discover national resources allows the more cautious citizen to 
engage a definite proportion of his assets in a promising, although speculative, 
adventure. 
At a still later stage in the ordinary course of the life of a new country is 
shown the last branch of this group of industrial rights—artistic and literary pro- 
ductions—not always, but usually, a sign of the presence of a considerable develop- 
ment in national thonght, and certainly of advanced erudition. This most desirable 
fine flower, ‘culture,’ is protected by what is usually termed ‘copyright.’ 
The Transvaal presents an unusually instructive and interesting study of a 
eivilised community of very recent growth which has by its enactments, with con- 
siderable skill and adroitness, adapted itself to meet not the normal statutory 
development of a State beset by unexpected circumstances, but conditions which 
were presented to it hastily, almost without its own knowledge, and entirely beyond 
its own control. 
As the South African Republic the Transvaal had really been in existence as 
an independent State for only about twelve years prior to the British annexation 
in 1877; at that date it was undoubtedly in a temporarily moribund condition ; but 
as early as 1874 its Legislature had been capable of passing two laws relating to 
companies which, whilst they may not stand criticism of the knowledge of tha 
world obtained after thirty years’ experience, were of a useful and most important 
nature, and, it may be added, are still on the Statute-book of the Colony. Law 
No. 5 of 1874 limited personal liability for locally formed companies under con- 
ditions perhaps more salutary even than those at present in force in England ; 
whilst Law No.6 of the same year welcomed the presence of and offered some, though 
somewhat vague, protection to associations initiated outside the country but 
intending to operate locally. That the earliest modern discoveries of gold in the 
Transvaal were responsible for the passage of these laws there is no doubt, and the 
causes which led up to these and similar enactments form in themselves an 
interesting study. The law relating to the advantage offered to co-operative enter- 
prise does not really fall within the purview of the rights covered by the phrase 
‘protection of industrial property,’ but the excuse for its introduction into this 
paper is that the various enactments, amplified as they have been at varions times, 
are administered in this Colony by the same sub-department which deals with 
patents and trade-marics. 
The proof of the value of auriferous deposits in the country, the rush to 
Barberton in 1886, and the discovery of the Rand in 1887, were directly re- 
sponsible for the almost immediate passage of the first Patent Law in 1887, and, 
curiously enough, in the same year was passed the first copyright enactment. 
The attitude of the Volksraad at the introduction of the Patent Law, the pro- 
visions of which were, undoubtedly, altogether strange to the majority of the 
members of the Assembly, was of an enlightened character, and it is a matter of 
regret that in the later Acts of 1897 and 1898 the idea of increased taxation upon 
1905. ray 
