§ SIR E. ASHMEAD-BARTLETTI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies (1) whether the Volksraad have passed a law making the Judges of the High Court of the Transvaal subject to resolutions of the Volksraad, and giving the Boer Executive power to dismiss the Judges; (2) whether the High Court have formally protested against this violation of judicial independence, and have suspended their sittings till May; and (3) whether the Outlander lawyers recently imprisoned at Pretoria have been threatened with exile because they have protested against this new law?
§ MR. J. CHAMBERLAINAs regards the first and second questions of my hon. Friend he is substantially accurate in his facts, though not verbally correct. As regards the third I have no information.
§ SIR E. ASHMEAD-BARTLETTWill the right hon. Gentleman be good enough to point out the verbal inaccuracies?
§ MR. J. CHAMBERLAINI wished to spare the House that. [Opposition laughter]. It is not, for instance, verbally accurate to say that they have "suspended their sittings till May." What they have done is to say that they will administer the law until the 5th inst., when the present term ends, and will await the decision of the people. The next term begins on June 1. There are other trifling inaccuracies of that kind. [Opposition laughter]