On Monday Mr. Churchill asked the House of Commons to
approve the grant of Constitutions conferring responsible government upon the people of the Transvaal and Orange River Colonies. In defending the grant to the latter Colony, he declared that the old Free State had been the model small Republic of the world, that since the war its people had shown themselves eminently law-abiding, and that it was only fair that they should have the same treatment as the Transvaal. To refuse a Constitution on the ground that a Dutch majority was certain was an insult to our new subjects and a violation of the spirit of the terms of peace. The Constitution would be on the same lines as that of the Transvaal, with payment of Members, a nominated Second Chamber, the same reserves as to certain types of legislation, and a Land Board to watch over the interests of British settlers for five years. He hoped that the new Orange River Colony Parliament would meet next autumn. He also announced that the Imperial Govern- ment had remitted the so-called war contribution, and that its guarantee of the Thirty-five Million Transvaal Loan must be regarded as a. full quittance from all claims against it. After speeches by Mr. Lyttelton and Sir Charles Dilke, the Resolution was agreed to without a division.
Previous page
