tatives before the constitution of a second chamber was forty-one, consisting of two members for each of the eleven districts, and three members for the four chief districts of the Republic-Potchefstroom, Pretoria, Rustenburg, and Lydenburg.

Under Law 12 of 1888, which authorises the President to proclaim as electoral districts one or more proclaimed gold-fields, every such district to return one member to the Volksraad, the De Kaap and the Witwatersrand gold-fields now return one member each to the Raad. By the Treaty of Union between the Transvaal and New Republic, the latter, which now forms the district of Vrijheid, is entitled to return three members to the Raad.

Under the new constitution, the first Chamber consists of twenty-four members only. The Volksraad meet annually in session at Pretoria on the first Monday in May; but extraordinary sessions may be called by the President to consider important and urgent questions that demand immediate attention. The qualifications of a member of the First Chamber are that he must be thirty years of age, and that he must either have been born in the country or have been a qualified voter for fifteen consecutive years. He must, furthermore, be a member of a Protestant Church, a resident in the country, and in possession of fixed property within its limits. No person of an openly bad character, or one who has been sentenced for some criminal offence, or an unrehabilitated insolvent, or persons being to each other in the relationship of father and son, or stepson, or coloured

persons, or bastards, or officials receiving salary, are allowed to take a seat in the Volksraad. The Dual Chamber Bill gives the First Chamber supreme powers, and a veto over every act of the Second Chamber. It leaves it also to the discretion of the President what measures passed in the Second, he shall send up for the approval or otherwise of the First Chamber. It fixed the number of representatives in each Chamber at twenty-four, while it concedes to the towns of Pretoria and Potchefstroom the right to elect each one member, in addition to those elected for the districts. Johannesburg, with its immensely preponderating population, is given but one member. Voters for the Second Chamber are excluded from voting at Presidential elections.

The Executive or 'Uitvoerende Raad'

This body, called the 'Uitvoerende Raad,' consists of the State President, elected for five years by a general election throughout the State; the State Secretary, elected by the Volksraad for four years; the Commandant-General, elected for ten years by a general election throughout the State; the Secretary for Native Affairs, and two non-official members chosen for three years by the Volksraad. All these are eligible for re-election. The qualification for a President is that he must be thirty years of age; he need not be a burgher of the State on the day of his election, but must be a member of a Protestant Church, and not have been sentenced for any criminal offence.

C

District Government

The chief officer in each district is the 'Landdrost,' who acts as magistrate and civil commissioner, with the assistance of a Landdrost clerk, who is at the same time public prosecutor and distributor of stamps. Each district is further provided with a baljuw or sheriff, gaoler, and staff of constables. Offices, gaols, and powder-magazines are provided by Government. Under Law No. 6 of 1887 a 'districktsraad' may be constituted for each district, consisting of the Landdrost and members for such ward respectively. Each district is divided into several Field Cornetcies or wards, superintended by a Field Cornet elected by each ward. This officer has certain judicial and, in time of war, military powers.

Defence

With the exception of a corps of mounted artillery and police commanded by three officers with about 100 men, the Republic has no armed force. The President, with the concurrence of the Executive, has the right to declare war and call up a commando, in which the burghers are placed under the Field Cornets and commandants of each district. whole force is commanded by the CommandantGeneral, who is elected by the whole country for the term of ten years. By Law No. 2 of 1883 (25th of June) all inhabitants of the State (the word used is ' ingezetenen,' and is, of course, of much wider appli

The

cation than 'burghers') between sixteen and sixty years of age (not exempt according to law) are liable to do service on commando. According to the census of 1890 (the last reliable return), the number of ablebodied men between sixteen and sixty years amounted to 23,923. Unless martial law is proclaimed, members of Volksraad, officials, clergymen, churchwardens, school teachers, directors of companies established and incorporated according to Law No. 5, 1874, and a certain number of their men, and the only sons of widows, are exempt from personal service, but may be called out when martial law is proclaimed. These have to contribute towards the expenses of the commando to an amount not exceeding 157., left to the discretion of the Field Cornet. Non-residents, owners of landed property in the Republic, have to pay a war-tax of 20l. for each farm, 10/. for each erf they possess. In accordance with the treaties entered into with Portugal, Holland, Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, and Switzerland, subjects of these States residing in the Republic are also exempt from military service, but are liable to payment of the same contributions as payable by burghers of the State. Exempt from personal service are also all residents registered according to the terms of the London Convention, and all immigrants during the first two years of their residence, except when martial law is proclaimed. The first levy is from eighteen to thirty-four years, the second from thirty-four to fifty, the third consists of youths below eighteen and men above fifty. Those

C 2

commandeered must provide themselves with clothing, gun, and thirty rounds of ammunition. They have even to provide their own wagons and cattle. Of the booty taken, after certain deductions, one quarter goes to Government towards war expenses, and the remaining three-quarters are equally divided among the men actually in the field. All legal proceedings in civil cases against persons on commando are suspended, and may not be resumed before thirty days after their release from commando. If martial law is proclaimed, no executions can take effect until sixty days after the withdrawal of the proclamation. The pounds are closed, and the payment of transfer dues (Heerenregten) is also suspended during the time martial law is in force.

6

Transvaal Law (General)

The Constitution of the Republic is based on the Thirty-three Articles,' passed May 23, 1849, and the Grondwet' or Fundamental Law of February 19, 1858.

The Grondwet' declares that the law of the country shall be Roman-Dutch, and the text-book the Institutes of Van der Linden, Grotius and Van der Leeuwen, though these authorities are to be construed not too technically, but more in accordance with the customs of South Africa. The decisions of the Supreme Court of the Cape Colony, when not in conflict with any local statute, are accepted as authorities if decided on the principles of Roman-Dutch