NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE efforts on the part of the Imperial Government to obtain the franchise for the Outlanders continue, but it is as yet impossible to be sure that they will be successful, owing to the fact that the maximum which the Boer Govern- ment are really willing to yield is apparently much less than the minimum which we can accept on behalf of the Outlanders. The scheme recomme,nded by Mr. Hofineyr and Mr. Fischer, and endorsed by Mr. Schreiner, as adequate, was on Thursday introduced into the Raad. The provisions are very complicated and obscure. According to the summary in Friday's Times, "persons domiciled for two years may get letters of naturalisation, and the full franchise five years afterwards, provided six mouths' notice has been given in each case. Persons giving seven years' notice get the franchise at the end of that period of domicile. Persons domiciled prior to the promulgation of the law get the franchise nine years after domicile or five years after the promulgation, provided that the domicile is one of seven years. Failing notification within six months of the pro- mulgation of the law, the rights under this clause are nulli- fied, when the previous clauses operate. Persons already naturalised can get the franchise in five years from the promulgation of the law." In addition there is a property qualification and a great many technical provisions as to notices. The Government will also have the power to give full citizenship to its officers or to persons who have done it service.
