Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/1360

 1004 SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC

age of 40. The President and Commandant-General are elected l>y the first- class bnrghers only : District-Commandants and Ficldcornets hy the t^vo classes of burghers conjointly. The Executive is vested in a President, elected for live years, assisted by a council consisting of four official mem- bers (the State Secretary, the Commandant-General, Sup. of ISTativcs, and the Minute-keeper), and two non-official members. The State Secretary, Sup. of Natives, the Minute-keepci- and Secretary, and the two non-official members, are elected by the first Volksraad.

State President. — S. J. Paulus Kriiger, elected for the fourth time February, 1898.

Vice-President.— GenQV^\ P. J. Joubert, elected May 13, 1896.

Executive Council. — Official members: P.J. Joubert, Com. -Gen. (Vice. President) ; F. W. Reitz, State Secretary ; Com. P. A. Cronje, Sup. of Natives ; J. H. M. Kock, Minute Keeper. Non-official : J. M. A. Wolmarans S. W. Burger.

Area and Population.

The area of the Repuldic is 119,139 square miles, divided into 20 dis- tricts, and its white population, according to a very incomplete census of

1896, is 245,397, of whom 137,947 are men and 107,450 women ; the native population in April, 1896, was estimated at 622,500. The State Almanack for 1898 gives the population as follows : whites, 345,397 (137,947 males and 107,450 females); natives, 748,759 (148,155 men, 183,280 women, and 417,324 children); total population, 1,094,156. The boundaries of the State are defined in the convention of February 27, 1884 — since altered by a supplementary convention, by which the former New Republic (Zululand) was annexed to the South African Republic as a new district, named Vrijheid, and by the terms of the Convention regarding Swaziland, ratified by the Volksraad, August 20, 1890, by which Swaziland comes under the administration of the Transvaal. The seat of government is Pretoria, with a white population of 10,000. The largest town is Johannesburg, the mining centre ot Witwatersrand goldfields, with a population within a radius of 3 miles, according to census of July 15, 1896, of 102,078 (79,315 males and 22,763 females). The population consisted of 50,907 whites, 952 Malays, 4,807 coolies and Chinese, 42,533 Kaffirs, and 2,879 of mixed race. One third of the population of the Republic are engaged in agriculture.

Religion.

As no census has been taken the following figures must be considered approximate : —

The United Dutch Reformed Church is the State church, claiming 30,000 (1895) of the population ; other Dutch Churches, 32,760 ; English Church, 30,000 ; Wesleyans, 10,000 ; Catholic, 5,000 ; Presbyterians, 8,000 ; other Christian Churches, 5,000 ; Jews, 10,000.

Instruction.

According to the report of the Superintendent of Education for the year

1897, the sum of 140,286/, was spent for the education of 11,552 pupils. In 1896 there were 34 village schools and 395 ward schools, besides a model school with 284, a gyinnasium with 61, and a girls' school with 210 pupils at Pretoria. There are many schools in Johannesburg, Pretoria, and other places belonging to the English ami other denominations not subsidised by Government.