nuary 1898, and January 1899.[18]

[Footnote 17: _Le Siecle_, April 7th, 1900.]

[Footnote 18: Published in the _Revue Sud-Africaine_ (Paris).]

2.--_A Local Board._

The report made by Mr. Rouliot to the Chamber of Mines on January 20th,
1898, refers to the burdens imposed upon the gold industry by the faulty
administration of the Transvaal. It shows how the Volksraad
contemptuously rejected, in 1897, a petition signed by more than ten
thousand inhabitants of all nationalities and all professions. It
declares that "the Chamber of Mines has no desire to interfere in the
conduct of general affairs in the Transvaal"; it recalls the fact that
the Commission of Enquiry nominated after the Crisis of 1896, had
recommended the constitution of a "Local Board" which President Krueger
had contemptuously rejected; and goes on to say:--

"It is nonsense to affirm that the creation of such a Board would
have made a government within a government, and would have
threatened the independence of the State. At the time that we made
the proposal, we sincerely trusted that what had happened might be
buried in oblivion and that we might dwell together in amity. We
had hoped that the burghers would have recognised that want of
experience, and their education would have made them unfitted for
dealing with the most difficult problems that could face a young
nation, and that they would have seen the necessity of calling men
to their aid who could give them the benefit of their experience,
and help them to ensure sound conditions for the State and its
industrial development. Unfortunately, we have been deceived in our
hopes...."

That is all; save that Mr. Rouliot alludes cursorily to the fact that
the government had endeavoured to found a Chamber of Mines in opposition
to the old one, but that an amalgamation had taken place; he,
consequently, was speaking in the name of the entire industry.

3.--_A Deliberative Council._

In the course of the year 1898, Mr. Krueger's policy became more and more
provocative. The Chamber of Mines confined itself to the request for the
appointment of a deliberative council, to be composed of members
nominated by the government, the powers of which should be limited to
the application of the laws concerning gold-theft, the sale of
spirituous liquors, and the "pass-law" concerning native labourers.

At a meeting of the Volksraad, June, 1