§ MR. MACVEAGH (Down, S.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the instructions to registration officers in the Transvaal provide that the franchise is to be conferred upon military officers, commissioned and non-commissioned, irrespective of whether they are qualified under the Constitution; whether he is aware that their pay as soldiers is thus their only qualification; and whether he will cause these instructions to be modified, having regard to the fact that soldiers as regards residence are subject to their superior officers, that they have no permanent interest or boná fide residence in the country, that they may be sufficiently numerous in some districts to swamp a majority vote of the people, and that their pay is found by the home Government.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. LYTTELTON, Warwick and Leamington)The Letters Patent were not designed to admit soldiers residing in official quarters or in receipt of pay provided by this country to the franchise, and the Transvaal Government have been advised that under the Letters Patent III., 2, C, soldiers are not qualified to be registered as voters, as their pay is not bona fide earned within the colony, and that those who are compelled to reside in official quarters cannot be regarded as occupiers within the meaning of that instrument. Instructions have, with my approval, been issued to the registering officers accordingly.