Page:The Annual Register 1899.djvu/623

 1899.] STATE PAPEBS— TRANSVAAL. 199

18,590/., only a few hundreds of which were recovered, and with regard to the larger part of which no effort seems to have been made to recover the money. Reference may also be made to the debate in the Volksraad on the Estimates in March, 1898, when it was elicited that 2,398,506/. 16*. &d. had been advanced to officials, fnd was unaccounted for. These advances date back from 1883.

The Secret Service Fund appears in the current Estimates at 36,000/., but even this sum, more than the amount of the Secret Service money voted in the British Imperial Estimates, appears to be habitually ex- ceeded. In 1898, 42,504/. were spent, and in 1896 no less than 191,837/.

The system of granting concessions remains in full force. The dynamite monopoly still continues (though condemned, not only by public opinion, but by a Volksraad Commission and by the Commis- sion appointed by the Government) to draw large sums from the gold industry, of which only a small proportion finds its way into the coffers of the State. Her Majesty's Government have already protested against the continuance of this monopoly on the ground that it is a breach of Article XIV. of the London Convention. As stated in my despatch of January 13 last, they are advised that the creation of a monopoly in favour of the State is not necessarily inconsistent with that article, even when exercised by a concessionaire, provided that the concession is intended in good faith to benefit the State generally and not simply to favour the concessionaire, but for the reasons given in that despatch they are advised that in the present case these conditions are not ful- filled.

It appears, from notices in the Stoats Cowrant, that other conces- sions, which are likely to be practical monopolies, have been granted by the Government within the last three years for the manufacture of matches, paper, chocolate, wool, starch, mineral waters, soap and oils, all of which, even if open to no other objections, must increase the already excessive cost of living in the Transvaal.

It may be urged that in spite of the enormous taxation above referred to the gold industry is prosperous, and that many individuals have made large fortunes in connection with it. This is true ; but, on the other hand, there is no doubt that the full development of the natural wealth of the country has been delayed, and the working of the lower-grade mines has been rendered very difficult by the heavy burdens imposed, while the welfare of the working classes has been seriously hindered by the excessive cost of the necessaries of life and the general conditions to which they are subject.

Her Majesty's Government, however, attach much less importance to financial grievances than to those which affect the personal rights of the Outlander community, and which place them in a condition of political, educational and social inferiority to the Boer inhabitants of the Transvaal, and even endanger the security of their lives and property.

It is in this respect that the spirit, if not the letter, of the Convention has been most seriously infringed.

For instance, the Government spends 250,000/. a year, mostly taken out of the pockets of the Outlanders, on popular education, but under