§ MR. TOMLINSONOn behalf of the hon. Member for the Ecclesall Division of Sheffield, I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he can state the exact period of residence at present necessary by the law of the Transvaal for a British subject to obtain the franchise there; and how many persons of British origin at present possess the franchise in the Transvaal?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. S. BUXTON,) Tower Hamlets, PoplarThe following I believe to be substantially a correct statement; but the franchise laws are numerous and somewhat complicated. There are two Volksraads, called respectively the Second and the First Volksraad; all acts of the Second Volksraad being subject to veto by the First Volksraad. The period of residence required to entitle a person not born in the Transvaal to vote for the Second Volksraad is two years, for the First Volksraad the period is 12 years. But it is requisite first to take out letters of naturalisation. The period of necessary previous residence to enable this to be done was five years, but has been, I believe, lately reduced from five to three years. The new law may make other alterations, but we have not yet received the text. As regards the second question, we have no figures which show how many British residents have obtained the franchise, but the number, as compared to those still unenfranchised, cannot be great.
§ MR. TOMLINSONasked whether some further law had been lately passed enfranchising persons whose parents were born in the Transvaal, but were not naturalised?
§ MR. S. BUXTONsaid, he had not seen the text of the law, but he believed it was substantially to the effect that persons born of parents born in the Transvaal but not yet naturalised were enfranchised, but they would have to go through the same form of naturalisation as their parents.