same time he will always be prepared to assist you with his advice, and I am convinced that such advice will be conducive to law and order.

"The different Law Courts will always be open to hear your grievances, and to restore your rights, and I trust that you will never have any reason to complain to the Resident that the portals of justice had been closed to you. Reflect that you are looked on as a law-abiding people, and that it will be allowed to nobody to take the law into his own hands. You will do well to close your ears against mischief-makers, whether English, Africander, or Native, who might attempt to lead you from the right path.

"When you require protection against your enemies you must wend your way to the Government of the country to which you pay your taxes, whose duty it is to grant you protection. As I have remarked before, we have entered into an agreement with the representatives of the burghers regarding the ruling of the country, and if you desire more explicit information regarding your rights under this agreement, the Resident will always be prepared and willing to supply you with the desired information. With two points I will, however, acquaint you now. Provision is made that no slavery will exist, or anything approaching it. This proviso existed in a former Convention, and the Transvaal representatives have agreed and consented that it will again be established. So every one may now know what the law on this subject is. But you must bear in mind that working for an honest wage does not constitute slavery, and that you will never be lifted from your present state, until experience has

I

taught you that honest labour is no disgrace whether performed by men or women.

"The other point is that it will be allowed you to travel about the country, or leave the same, with the object of seeking work elsewhere, or for other lawful purposes. It will however be necessary to retain the present Pass Law, with the object of carrying out and preserving good order.

"What the Transvaal now requires is enterprise, unity, and peace. When the inhabitants, whether white or coloured, will each carry out the work for which they are fit; when they will unite to forward the interest of the country, and forget for ever differences and disputes, and carry out the principles of peace and union, then this country will very surely have a clear and brilliant future to look to.

"The Queen desires the welfare of you all, and you can be assured that although this country is on the point of being restored to its former rulers, your interests will never be forgotten or neglected by Her Majesty's Government, or by Her Representatives in South Africa.

"Now you will all go back in peace to your kraals, and acquaint all your friends with the words I have spoken to you this day."

Practically, the control over natives, and their destinies, is exercised by one man who has recently attracted attention by the part he played in the Jameson raid. This personage is none other than Commandant Cronje, who, as Superintendent of Natives, appears to be endowed with unlimited power.

Instead of acting as a Court of Appeal in native cases from the decisions of the Native Commissioners he frequently, during the course of his flying visits through the country, dispenses summary justice without reference to the Courts. It is a matter of notoriety that the present holder of the office has given cause for much dissatisfaction among the natives by the scant attention he pays to their complaints, and by the roughness of his treatment towards them. The other day at Lydenburg he personally inflicted a heavy fine under most unjust circumstances. The case referred to is that of the Paramount Chieftainess of Sikukuni's tribe, Toerometsjani, who has been worried for a considerable period on most frivolous pretexts. She was fined £147 10s. by Commandant Cronje for not paying taxes, although the money was offered to, and refused by, him; and this was only one of a long series of persecutions and outrages which this unfortunate woman has undergone.

It becomes necessary to examine into some of the methods which the Boers have adopted to express their contempt for the article of the Convention, referring to the Pitso at Pretoria in 1881.

By an Executive resolution of January 21, 1894, rules were published for dealing with native cases before the Native Commissioners, and it was thereby stipulated that no native could employ an agent to appear on his behalf before first obtaining the sanction. of the Government. The necessary and farcical course to be followed by the native in such a case is to make application to the Native Commissioner, who in turn

passes it on to the Superintendent of Natives, who refers the matter to the Executive Council, who, more often than not, refuses the application after due consideration.

It is therefore an absurdity to tell the native that the Law Courts are always open to him, as the contrary is the reality, and hundreds of cases have fallen to the ground because the assistance of an agent has been refused, or unobtainable. The native is not generally a good pleader of his own cause after the fashion of the white man, and the services of an agent are absolutely necessary in important cases in order that he be not cheated out of his rights.

The Special Court consisting of the Native Commissioner, the Superintendent of Natives, and the Executive is a miserable failure, in which the natives have no confidence, and the High Court is practically closed to them.

Again, by Law 24 of 1895, an extra personal tax of £2 was imposed on each native, independent of the ordinary hut-tax in existence at that time. This measure was also not submitted for Her Majesty's approval.

Law No. 21 of 1895, known as the Squatters' Law, provides that no person may have more than five natives on his farm, so that a native is not at liberty to live where he would be likely to obtain work, for no matter how willing the farmer may be to engage him, he cannot go against the law by having six boys on his farm. There is not much use in pointing out to the native the dignity of labour when he is handicapped in this fashion from obtaining it.

According to the Convention (Art. 19, sub-sec. 3) the Government is bound to respect the regulations detailed at the Pretoria Pitso as regards the locations of natives, but this part of the agreement is more honoured in the breach than in the observance, more especially in the manner of surveying, placing beacons, and the custody of the title-deeds. These latter important documents are supposed to be in the hands of the Superintendent of Natives, and might as well have never existed, for all the benefit they are to the native.

It is hardly necessary to add that this state of affairs is distinctly opposed to Her Majesty's pledges to the native chiefs in the presence of the Triumvirate, Messrs. Kruger, Joubert and Pretorius.

The whole wide question of the treatment of the Native tribes in the Transvaal demands immediate investigation and settlement. That duty devolves upon Her Majesty in her capacity as Suzerain, and is in accordance with her acknowledged obligations. In the early part of this book it has been shown how the Boers in 1876 and 1877 could not conquer Sikukuni, and that in 1879 Sir Garnet Wolseley was compelled to subdue him. Therefore the fortunes of the paramount chieftainess of Sikukuni's tribe will, I venture to think, be interesting to British folk. I append the story of her recent sufferings taken from the Zoutpansberg Review of April 13, 1897:

"Some five years ago a tribal row occurred between the followers of Geluk and Sikukuni, on account of which the chieftainess or Queen-Regent, Toerometsjani and her chief indunas were sent to Pretoria with