h of the back-door influences was again
complete and the blow was a very nasty one to the mining industry.

Small wonder that at about this time the Uitlander community stopped
all agitation, and that a mood of sullen opposition and discontent
took its place. Hope was absolutely dead as abuse after abuse and
scandal after scandal were showered upon them during the Session of
1895. Some of the acts of the Volksraad cut at the foundation of all
security. In the early days of the Republic the Volksraad members had
taken it upon themselves to reverse several of the decisions of the
High Court, and in one case where the Government was being sued for
the fulfilment of a contract the Volksraad had passed a resolution
absolving the Government from certain terms of the contract. The
decision of the Court, delivered by Chief Justice Kotze, was to the
effect that if the Volksraad should take a decision in conflict with
an existing law, that law became _ipso facto_ so far modified. In
another case (the Dom's case) a resolution was passed disabling the
aggrieved individual from taking action against the Government; in
another, where the responsibility of the Government for the
maintenance of roads had been indicated by a judgment for L1,000
damages, a law was passed in defiance of the conditions of the
Grondwet, which stipulates for a period of notice and publication for
proposed enactments, absolving the Government from all damages of
this nature.

More than once laws were passed with retroactive effect--truly one of
the grossest abuses possible for a civilized Government. But perhaps
the most startling case of all was that concerning the proclamation
of the farm Witfontein. This farm had been proclaimed a public
digging open for pegging on a certain hour of a certain day. An
unprecedented rush of peggers took place. The Government, fearing a
riot and ignoring their obvious duty in the matter of police
protection and the maintenance of order, issued an illegal notice
withdrawing the proclamation, and decided to give out the claims by
means of lottery. Numbers of prospectors pegged out claims
notwithstanding this, and the prospect of legal difficulties being
imminent the Government submitted a measure to the Volksraad, passed
also in defiance of Grondwet provisions, which was broadly to the
effect that all persons who considered that they had claims for
damages against the Government in regard to the farm Witfontein and
the procl