tes. The polling (in January and
February 1904) resulted in a Progressive majority of five in a house of
95 members. The rejected candidates included prominent Bond supporters
like Mr Merriman and Mr Sauer, and also Sir Gordon Sprigg and Mr A.
Douglass, another member of the cabinet. Mr W.P. Schreiner, the
ex-premier, who stood as an Independent, was also rejected.

_The Jameson Ministry_.--On the 18th of February Sir Gordon Sprigg
resigned and was succeeded by Dr L.S. Jameson, who formed a ministry
wholly British in character. The first task of the new government was to
introduce (on the 4th of March) an Additional Representation Bill, to
rectify--in part--the disparity in electoral power of the rural and
urban districts. Twelve new seats in the House of Assembly were divided
among the larger towns, and three members were added to the legislative
council. The town voter being mainly British, the bill met with the
bitter opposition of the Bond members, who declared that its object was
the extinction of their parliamentary power. In fact, the bill was
called for by the glaring anomalies in the distribution of seats by
which a minority of voters in the country districts returned a majority
of members, and it left the towns still inadequately represented. The
bill was supported by two or three Dutch members, who were the object of
violent attack by the Bondsmen. It became law, and the elections for the
additional seats were held in July, after the close of the session. They
resulted in strengthening the Progressive majority both in the House of
Assembly and in the legislative council--where the Progressives
previously had a majority of one only.

At the outset of its career the Jameson ministry had to face a serious
financial situation. During the war the supplying of the army in the
field had caused an artificial inflation of trade, and the Sprigg
ministry had pursued a policy of extravagant expenditure not warranted
by the finances of the colony. The slow recovery of the gold-mining and
other industries in the Transvaal after the war was reflected in a great
decline in trade in Cape Colony during the last half of 1903, the
distress being aggravated by severe drought. When Dr Jameson assumed
office he found an empty treasury, and considerable temporary loans had
to be raised. Throughout 1904, moreover, revenue continued to
shrink--compared with 1903 receipts dropped from L11,701,000 to
L9,913,000. The government, besides