the English, but by Mr. Philipp, State Director of the
Manufacture of Explosives. The Commission demanded that all dynamite
should be manufactured by the State, and imposed a duty of 20s. per case
on all imported dynamite.

These resolutions were passed by the Volksraad Commission in 1897; the
monopoly has continued to exist, and in 1899 it was proposed to prolong
it for a period of fifteen years. On May 1st, 1898, it is true, the
price was reduced by 10s.; the company giving up 5s., and the State
renouncing the whole of the 5s. duty. It had therefore no interest in
maintaining the monopoly; 2s. of the net profits were still payable to
it, it is true; but there are no public accounts.

By way of compensation new taxes were imposed by the Government. Mr.
Rouliot, President of the Chamber of Mines, in his speech, January
26th, 1899, put it thus:--

"It is a burden borne by us on another shoulder, not a lightening of the
burden."

Allowing for the increased consumption of dynamite, it has been
estimated that, even with a further reduction of 5s. per case, the
annual burden imposed upon the industry by the monopoly would, at the
end of the period, amount to from L687,500 to L825,000. The Transvaal
Government in its reply of March 9th, 1899, did not dispute these
figures, but stated simply that, "the government had the right to judge
what was most advantageous to itself."

The complaints of the British Government on behalf of the mining
industry of the Transvaal, were founded solely upon the statement of the
Volksraad Commission itself. This mania of the Government for a monopoly
by which the shareholders profit greatly and the State hardly at all,
proves that there are other interests at stake than those of the public.

At its meeting on February 3rd, 1899, the Witwatersrand Chamber of Mines
decided to guarantee a Government loan of L600,000 at 5 per cent., to be
applied in buying-out the concessionaires of the dynamite monopoly.

3.--_Railways._

A concession for all the State railways was granted on April 16th, 1884,
to a group of Hollander and German capitalists, and confirmed by the
Volksraad on August 23rd following. In 1887 the shares, to the number
of 2,000, representing a capital of L166,666, were held as follows:--

By Germans 819 shares carrying 30 votes.
" Hollanders 581 " " 76 "
" The Republic 600 " " 6 "

This astonishing division of votes wh