SOOTH AFRICAN UNION.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9369, 11 February 1909, Page 5

SOOTH AFRICAN UNION.

THE CONSTITUTION. United Press Association. —By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright. Capetown, February 10. The draft constitution of the Sooth African Federation, .which hereafter will be called the Union, consists of a QovernorGeneral (with a salary of £IO,OOO per annum), an Executive Council (empowered to nominate eight Senators), a Senate to consist of forty members (each province electing "eight, and the present Colonial Parliaments choosing them in the first instance, and Provincial Councils subsequently), a House of Assembly (comprising fifty one members for Cape Colony, seventeen for Natal, seventeen forOrangia and thirty six for the Transvaal). All members to be of European descent. Federal constituencies will be delimited on the basis of the European ®dnlt male population, and there H ill be a quinquennial redistribution on the principle of proportional representation and a single transferable vote. The English and Dutch languages are to have equal privileges. Each province will be administered by an administration (nominated by the Governor-General) an executive committee and a provincial council with carefully delimited powers. A Federal Court of Appeal is to be established with power of appeal to the Privy Council. The Union assumes all assets and debts, and takes over civil servants. As compensation for acquiescence in the dual capital compromise the Union pays Pietermaritzburg and Bloemfontein two per centum of their municipal debts for 25 years. On the other hand if it is found necessary, Capetown and Pretoria are to be allowed one per centum on the municipal debt. Railways and ports are to be vested in three Commissioners. A Cabinet Minister is to be appointed with a view to promote the settlement of the agricultural and industrial populations.