HC Deb 06 July 1908 vol 191 c1237
SIR CHARLES W. DILKE (Gloucestershire, Forest of Dean)

I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies if he can state whether the Transvaal Government has now placed His Majesty's Government in possession of information showing that the Native Land and Tax Bills at present before the Legislative Assembly are less harmful to the position of the natives than has been suggested; and whether His Majesty's Government will keep the House informed of any changes made in the Bills or known to be contemplated by the Transvaal Government.

COLONEL SEELY

No communication has yet been received from the Transvaal Government, but the Secretary of State has seen a letter from the Minister for Native Affairs, a copy of which I shall be glad to communicate to my right hon. friend, in which the objects of the Native Occupation of Lands Bill are enumerated. The first is to prevent the farming of natives by European landowners, a practice which has no doubt tended to become an evil and a danger. The Bill, which has been published in the Transvaal Government Gazette of 23rd May, and which appears to have been partly based on some of the recommendations of the South African Native Affairs Commission, raises some difficult questions and will no doubt be fully discussed and very possibly amended in the Transvaal Parliament. With regard to the Tax Bill further inquiries are being made.