Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/193

 parliament dates only from the year 1853, and the appointment of the Governor and Vice-Governor is still reserved by the Crown, which also retains the power of veto. In virtue of the constitution, which is modelled for the most part on that of Great Britain, the legislature comprises two chambers, the Lower, or House of Assembly, and the Upper, or Legislative Council. The first consists of seventy-six members, elected for a period of five years, and indemnified for their services by a grant of twenty shillings a day during the session. The Legislative Council comprises only twenty-two members, who take the distinctive title of "Honourable," and who are elected for seven years, the qualification being the possession of £2,000 immovable property, or movable property worth £4,000. Members of both chambers are elected by the same voters, who must be British subjects, white

or black, owners of house property of the value of at least £50, or in receipt of a salary of £50, or wages of £25 with board and lodging. But by a recent decree of the Colonial Government, blacks who are joint proprietors with other natives have been disfranchised.

By all these provisions a very small number of whites, and the immense majority of the aborigines, are excluded from the exercise of the electoral right. But as a rule these electors show little eagerness to vote, seldom attending the polling booths except under the pressure of parties anxious to secure the return of their candidates, The Assembly elects its own president and officers, while the Legislative Council is presided over ex-officio by the Chief Justice, himself appointed by the central Government. The general administration is entrusted to the Governor,