CONDENSED CABLEGRAMS.

Manawatu Herald, 3 August 1899, Page 2

CONDENSED CABLEGRAMS.

The Transvaal.

The new franchise law recently passed by the Volksraad, granting the franchise to outlandera on the basis of saven years' residents, retrospective as well as prosp j ctive, has been officially proclaimed, and has come into operation. • At a meeting of 7000 outlanders held in Johanneebury resolutions were passed condemning the new franchise as inadequate, and demanding that workable reforms be conceded, and their permanence assured by Imperial guarantee. Mr Arthur Balfour, First Lord of tha Treasury with reference to the situation in tfcn Transvaal at a luncheon said hi attributed the difficulties in tha Trao3vaal to the refusal of the Boer Government to concede to the outlandeis equal privileges with the burghers, in accordance with the term? and Dledges in ths Convention of 1881 If recourse to diplomacy prove to le ineffectual in untying the kno f , other means must be adopted. It, was impossible for freeborn English men to be permanently treated as an inferior race. Since the right cf | immediate representation had been conceded, he hoped ihvt despite indications to the contrary, the Transvaal Legislature would not be so ill advised a3 to withdraw the privilege in detail. Sir Henry Gampbell-Bmnerman Leader of the Opposition, ia the course of a speech in the House admitted that the methods of the Transvaal Government were a constant source of danger to the peace of South Africa, but he denied that there was a case for armed intervention. He thought the Jameson raid justified a suspicion of such a step. The British Government must use

moral suasion and enlist the aid of the enlightened Dutohman at the Cap). Mr Chamberlain, Secretary of State for the Colonies, in rep'y, said the Government had four titles to interfere. The first was the right of evary Power to protect oppressed subjects. In the second place Great Britain had the right of suzerainty. Thirdly, convention had been broken, both in the spirit and in the letter by the Transvaal Government. The fourth right arose from the fact thxt promises of the Transvaal Government on which the conventions hid been granted had been falsified. Mr Chamberlain went on to Bay that he had no desire to haggle over details, but he was bound to see the thing through. He had offered to submit the new Transvaal franchise luw to legal experts in South Africa, in order to ascertain whether it secured for the outlanders adequate representation. No one desired to annex the Tran3\aal, or to lessen independence of the Republic. He was stili hopeful that the d ffijulty would be peacefully, solved, because President Kcoger seemed to be aware that the British Government and people were in earnest. President Kruger has asked the First Volksraad to abolish the religious disabilities clause in the oath of allegiance. General J.mberr, Vice-President and Commanler-Ganeral of the Transvaal Republic, has accepted the proferr-d aervioes of members of the Artillery Reserve to the number of 1000. Many of the man are German, Dutch and French ex soldiers. Six hundred lancers and 600 ' sabre 3 have been ordered from Germany. The 4l Tim>s" warn 3 President Kruger that unles3 the minimum demand set forth in Sir Alfred Milner's proposals at the Bloemfontein Conference are conceded in full, the outlanders 1 rights will be enforced. Th.3 "Sfc James Qazette" announced that the Boers are making headlong preparations in case of emergencies, and that ammunition is b^ing distributed to burghers both n the Transvaal and the Orange Free State.