XVII. All debts contracted between the 12th of April 1877 and the 8th of August 1881, will be payable in the same currency in which they may have been contracted.

XVIII. No grants of land which may have been made, and no transfers or mortgages which may have been passed between the 12th of April 1877 and the 8th of August 1881, will be invalidated by reason merely of their having been made or passed between such dates.

All transfers to the British Secretary for native affairs in trust for natives, will remain in force, an officer of the South African Republic taking the place of such secretary for native affairs.

XIX. The Government of the South African Republic will engage faithfully to fulfil the assurances given, in accordance with the laws of the South African Republic, to the natives at the Pretoria Pitso by the Royal Commission in the presence of the Triumvirate, and with their entire assent (1) as to the freedom of the natives to buy or otherwise acquire under certain conditions; (2) as to the appointment of a commission to mark out native locations; (3) as to the access of the natives to the courts of law; and (4) as to their being allowed to move freely within the country, or to leave it for any legal purpose, under a pass system.

XX. This Convention will be ratified by a Volksraad of the South African Republic within the period of six months after its execution, and in default of such ratification this Convention shall be null and void.

I shall have occasion later on to consider whether or no, and in what respect, the Suzerainty of Great Britain over the Transvaal Republic, enunciated in the Convention of 1881, was abrogated or modified by the Convention of 1884.

CHAPTER IV

THE GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE COUNTRY, WITH SOME REMARKS ON THE INHABITANTS

THE legislative authority of the Transvaal is vested in the Volksraad, a body somewhat analogous to our House of Commons, the members being elected by their constituents for four years. The number of members is only twenty-one. The Volksraad meets annually at Pretoria, the date of assembly being the first Monday in May, but the President is empowered to call an extraordinary session at any time to consider any matter that he may deem urgent. The only qualification for the Volksraad is, that the member must be thirty years of age, and either have been born in the country or else have been a qualified voter for fifteen consecutive years; he must also be a member of some Protestant church, a regulation which excludes Jews and Roman Catholics, and not only reside in the Transvaal but have a fixed property therein. There are further important and somewhat curious disqualifications for membership of this body. No person

is eligible who is "an openly bad character," while if the father is a member of the Volksraad, his sons and step-sons are for the time ineligible. Coloured persons, those not born in wedlock and officials in receipt of salaries are all disqualified from sitting in the Volksraad. This House possesses a veto over every act of the second chamber. Indeed, the President possesses full discretion in regard to what measures passed in the second chamber he shall submit for the consideration of the first.

The executive of the Transvaal consists of the State President, who is elected by the people for a term of five years, the State secretary, who is elected by the Volksraad for a term of four years, the commandant-general, who is elected by the people for a period of ten years, and the secretary for native affairs and two non-official members, the choice of whom rests with the Volksraad, and each of whom holds office for three years. The president must be thirty years of age, must be a member of some one, though not any particular Protestant church, and must not have been sentenced for any criminal offence; there are no other qualifications.

The chief official in each district, termed the Landdrost, combines the functions of nagistrate and civil commissioner; he is assisted by a clerk, who is simultaneously public prosecutor and distributor of stamps. Each district is likewise superintended by a field cornet, who possesses certain judicial and, in time of war, military powers. My readers will, no doubt, have observed

many references to field cornets in connection with the assembly of the Boers to resist Dr Jameson's invasion of the Transvaal.

The South African Republic possesses no standing army, if we except a small corps of mounted artillery. On the other hand, every full-grown Boer is to all intents and purposes a soldier, and the president has the right, with the concurrence of the executive, to call out the burghers at any time in defence of the Republic. The whole force being then under the orders of the commandant-general, by law of the Republic all its inhabitants between sixteen and sixty are liable to be called upon for active servico, the first levy being those of men from eighteen to thirty-four, the second of men from thirty-four to fifty, the third of boys between sixteen and eighteen, and men over fifty. The commandeered, as they are usually termed, are required to provide themselves with a gun, clothing and thirty rounds of ammunition. As regards loot taken during a period of hostilities, one-fourth goes to the Government, the remaining three-fourths being equally divided among the men called out.

The law of the country is Roman-Dutch, modified, to a certain extent, by the accepted customs of South Africa. The decrees of the supreme courts of the Cape Colony, if they do not over-ride any local legislation, are regarded by the Transvaal judges as authoritative, being decided on the principles of Roman-Dutch law.

These few details will, I hope, enable my readers