§ MR. C. P. SCOTT (Lancashire, Leigh)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he can state approximately what number of electors qualified to vote for the First Raad would be added to the Transvaal electorate if ill the Outlanders who could obtain the franchise under the amended franchise law proposed by Mr. Kruger were to be enrolled; and whether he is aware that Mr. Kruger, in his speech at Rustenburg on 25th March, estimated that 30,000 new burghers would be added to the existing 40,000 by an even smaller change than that now proposed by him.
§ MR. J. CHAMBERLAINI am unable to give information, but I am making inquiries. President Kruger in the speech referred to is reported to have said that if the period for Uitlanders obtaining the franchise were reduced from fourteen years to nine years there would be—presumably, at the end of that period—70,000burghers, and to have said that now there are 30,000 or 40,000 burghers. This calcula- 978 tion, in any case, can only be a hypothetical estimate, and it must be observed that whatever might be the number of new burghers the representation allotted to them under Sir A. Milner's proposal would not exceed one-fifth of the members of the First Raad.