Transvaal Colony
Transvaal Colony Transvaalkolonie | |||||||||||
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Religion |
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Government | Constitutional monarchy | ||||||||||
Monarch | |||||||||||
• 1902–1910 | Edward VII | ||||||||||
• 1910 | George V | ||||||||||
Governor | |||||||||||
• 1902–1905 | Viscount Milner | ||||||||||
• 1905–1910 | Earl of Selborne | ||||||||||
Prime Minister | |||||||||||
• 1907–1910 | Louis Botha | ||||||||||
Legislature | Parliament of the Transvaal | ||||||||||
Legislative Council | |||||||||||
Legislative Assembly | |||||||||||
Historical era | Scramble for Africa | ||||||||||
• Established | 12 April 1877 | ||||||||||
3 August 1881 | |||||||||||
• 'Transvaal Colony' Proclaimed | 1 September 1900 | ||||||||||
31 May 1902 | |||||||||||
• Grant of responsible self-government | 6 December 1906 | ||||||||||
31 May 1910 | |||||||||||
Population | |||||||||||
• 1904 | 1,268,716[1] | ||||||||||
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Today part of | South Africa Eswatini |
The Transvaal Colony (Afrikaans pronunciation:
History
Both the
- That all burghers of the ZAR and Orange Free State lay down their arms and accept King Edward VII as their sovereign.
- That all burghers outside the borders of the ZAR and Orange Free State, upon declaring their allegiance to the King, be transported back to their homes.
- That all burghers so surrendering will not be deprived of their property.
- No Civil or Criminal proceedings against burghers for acts of war, except Acts contrary to the usage of war. In such cases, there is to be held an immediate court-martial.
- That High Dutch be taught in schools and that the use of the Dutch language will be allowed in law courts.
- That the possession of rifles be allowed under license.
- That Military Administration be succeeded at the earliest possible date by representative institutions leading up to self-government.
- That the question of granting franchise to natives not be discussed until after self-government.
- That no special tax be introduced to cover the costs of the war.
- That various commissions be established to process and pay valid claims for war expenses and to honor script issued by the countries of the ZAR and Orange Free State during the period of the war. The commission would also feed the homeless and assist with the reconstruction of homes affected by the war. To that end, the crown agrees to a free grant of £3,000,000 as well as loans at no interest for two years to be repaid at 3 percent interest over years thereafter.
In 1902, with peace following the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging, the new Transvaal colony was faced with intertwined economic and political issues that needed to be resolved. The economic issues faced included the restoration of the mining industry to pre-war levels, then growing it further with the need for extra labour, the restoration of the Boers to their lands and increasing the agricultural output of those farms. The political issue faced depended on what side of politics one stood on. The existing British administrators under Alfred Milner wished to anglicise the population through two main means. One by increasing the English-speaking population of the Transvaal and the other by teaching the Boer children in English with very little Dutch used, followed by self-rule. The Transvaal Boers' political objectives were the restoration of self-rule in the colony and the political environment to be dominated by the Boers.
Repatriation and reconstruction
As the war ended the British were faced with a large proportion of
At the conclusion of the war, it was necessary to reconstruct a "government" for the new colony and this was begun with the appointment of a Resident Magistrate in every district of the colony who became District Commissioners while an Assistant Magistrate carried out the legal and magisterial duties of the area.[5]: 88 Roman-Dutch law was translated into English so the law courts could continue, with some old acts repealed and a considerable amount of new law promulgated by the authorities in Johannesburg.[5]: 89
The Resident Magistrate then submitted the names of three members of the district to the Governor for district commission under the magistrate.[5]: 88 They would consist of one British subject, and two Boers, one from those who had surrendered early on in the war and one who had fought until the end.[5]: 90 The commission would have two functions, one to provide assistance and issuing of rations, equipment, transport and plough animals to those affected by the war, and the second to investigate claims for compensation for actual damages sustained during the war.[5]: 90
Repatriation depots were established in the districts and they were stocked with food, seed, agricultural equipment, transport, plough animals, stone and building material.[5]: 90 The rail transport network struggled to compete with the army transport requirement to maintain a garrison and civilian requirements to repair the colony.[5]: 89 All feed for transport animals had to be brought to the depots as the process started in the winter of 1902.[5]: 89 Refugees from the concentration camps and prisoners of war were returned to their districts in a system of drafts.[5]: 88 At the depots, they would receive farm equipment, tents and rations to start again and transport to their destinations.[5]: 88 Food rations were provided for almost a year.[5]: 88 Families would receive a token grant irrespective of their ability to pay it back and additional material and equipment required were obtained via interest-free loans with small cash loans also attracting no interest, with larger loans attracting four percent interest by a mortgage.[5]: 90 The loan scheme was never going to compensate a person for the actual loss experienced by the war.[5]: 90 Damage and the reconstruction required varied from district to district.[5]: 91
In the larger towns, municipal or health boards were "appointed" to manage them under the Resident Magistrate.[5]: 95 They had limited functions and the only rates they levied were for sanitary functions.[5]: 95 Within fifteen months of the end of the war, the municipal government was introduced with preparations made for fair elections based on property valuation and the creation of voters' rolls with the registration process explained in English and Dutch.[5]: 95
Economic issues
The British administrators set out to place most Boer farmers back on their land by March 1903 with nineteen million pounds spent on war damages, grants and loans.[4]: 266 The administrators reformed the state agricultural departments to modernise farming in the colony which resulted in a maize and beef surplus by 1908.[4]: 271 They also attempted to solve the poor white problem by settling them as tenant farmers on state land, but the lack of capital and labour caused the scheme to fail.[4]: 269 An attempt was made to place English settlers on farmland so as to anglicise the Transvaal and increase the English-speaking population but this failed, too, as the policy attracted too few settlers.[4]: 269
By the end of 1901, gold mining finally resumed on the Rand around
Political issues
From the end of the war in 1902, the political administration of the Transvaal colony was controlled by members of a legislative and executive council, all appointed by the British Administrators under Alfred Milner and the Colonial Secretary in London.[4]: 269 In 1903, three seats in the Transvaal Legislative council were offered to Louis Botha, Jan Smuts and Koos de la Rey, but they turned the British down.[4]: 269 Due to a lack of a hearing given to the opinions of the Boer generals by the English administrators concerning Chinese mine labour, due to a belief that they did not represent the Boer population, and due to the lack of self-rule, Louis Botha and others met in 1904 at a Volkskongres.[4]: 270 The result of this people congress was the unification of the Boer political movement in the Transvaal into a new party called Het Volk in January 1905 by Louis Botha and Jan Smuts.[4]: 270 This new party's objective was to seek reconciliation with Britain, which would be favoured by the British opposition Liberal Party, and Boer self-rule for the Transvaal.[4]: 270
English political movements included the Transvaal Responsible Government Association, the Transvaal Progressive Association and labour groups under an Industrial Labour Party.
The pro-Boer Liberal Party in Britain came to power in January 1906 with a new policy for the two former Boer colonies, one of self-rule.[4]: 270 Jan Smuts visited London and managed to persuade the new government to formulate a system that would favour the Boers and Het Volk in a new political assembly.[4]: 270 More than a year later in February 1907 an election was held with Het Volk running on two issues; Chinese labour needing to be ended when new labour sources were found and reconciliation with Britain with which they hoped would attract the English labourer vote as well as selling themselves as an alternative to the mining capitalistic Progressive Party.[4]: 270
1907 election
The election was held on 20 February 1907 and Het Volk won the election gathering 37 of 69 seats.
Louis Botha became Prime Minister of the Transvaal and Agriculture minister with Jan Smuts as its colonial secretary.[4]: 270 Other new cabinet ministers included J de Villiers, Attorney-General and Mines, Henry Charles Hull, Treasurer, Johann Rissik, Land and Native Affairs, Harry Solomon held Public Works and Edward Rooth as whip.[6]: 174 The Progressives in opposition would be led by George Farrar and Abe Bailey as the opposition whip.[6]: 174 They all assembled for the first time in March 1907. After the 1907 election, the issue of Chinese mining labour was revisited with Het Volk believing there was enough labour in the form of black and white miners.[6]: 174–5 Taking into account the economic interests of the Transvaal, Botha ensured a gradual policy of repatriation of Chinese labour.[6]: 174–5
By 1908, the Boers had won control, in elections, of the Natal, Orange River and Transvaal colonies, but under British influence there was the need now to unite the country under one government.[4]: 270
Progression to Union
In May 1908, Jan Smuts, Transvaal
The main issues discussed were whether the four colonies would become a country made up of a
As to the question of black enfranchisement, the views of British and Boers were similar with Alfred Milner's stating in a speech in 1903[8] that he believed in white superiority and thought the black man was not ready to rule and had similarly persuaded the Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain to allow a future united white government to decide the question of the black franchise.[4]: 266
Colonial Administration
Prior to the grant of responsible self-government on 6 December 1906, the Colony was administered by an Executive Council appointed by the Governor. The first elected Cabinet of the Transvaal Colony was formed on 4 March 1907.
Attorney General
Attorney General | Tenure | Notes |
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Sir Richard Solomon | 22 March 1901 – 23 March 1906 | [9][10][11] |
Herbert Francis Blaine | 23 March 1906 – 4 March 1907 | [11] |
Jacob de Villiers | 4 March 1907 – 31 May 1910 | [12][13] |
Colonial Secretary
Colonial Secretary | Tenure | Notes |
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George Fiddes (Secretary to the Administration) | 22 March 1901 – 21 June 1902 | [9] |
Walter Edward Davidson | 21 June 1902 – 1903 | [10] |
Patrick Duncan | 1903 – 4 March 1907 | |
Jan Smuts | 4 March 1907 – 31 May 1910 | [12] |
Native Affairs
Name | Tenure | Notes |
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Sir Godfrey Lagden (Commissioner of Native Affairs)
|
22 March 1901 – 4 March 1907 | [9][14] |
Johann Rissik (Minister of Native Affairs) | 4 March 1907 – 31 May 1910 | [12] |
Colonial Treasurer
Name | Tenure | Notes |
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Patrick Duncan | 22 March 1901 – 1903 | [9] |
William Lionel Hichens
|
1903 – 4 March 1907 | [15] |
Henry Charles Hull | 4 March 1907 – 31 May 1910 | [12] |
Lands
Name | Tenure | Notes |
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Adam Jameson (Commissioner of Lands) | 21 June 1902 – 4 March 1907 | [9] |
Johann Rissik (Minister of Lands) | 4 March 1907 – 31 May 1910 | [12] |
Mines
Name | Tenure | Notes |
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Wilfred John Wybergh (Commissioner of Mines) | 22 March 1901 – 2 December 1903 | [9][16][17] |
Horace Weldon (Acting Commissioner of Mines) | 2 December 1903 – 4 March 1907 | [15] |
Jacob de Villiers (Minister of Mines) | 4 March 1907 – 31 May 1910 | [12] |
Geography
The Transvaal Colony lay between
Divisions:
Cities in the Transvaal Colony:
- Heidelberg
- Johannesburg
- Messina
- Nelspruit
- Pietersburg
- Pretoria
- Vereeniging
Demographics
1904 Census
Population statistics from the 1904 Census.[19]
Population group | Number | Percent (%) |
Black | 937,127 | 73.79 |
White
|
297,277 | 23.40 |
Coloured
|
24,226 | 1.90 |
Asian
|
11,321 | 0.89 |
Total | 1,269,951 | 99.98 |
See also
References
- HMSO. 1906. p. 176.
- ^ De Villiers, John (1896). The Transvaal. London: Chatto & Windus.
- ^ Irish University Press Series: British Parliamentary Papers Colonies Africa, BPPCA Transvaal Vol 37 (1971) No 41 at 267
- ^ ISBN 9781874912279.
- ^ JSTOR 25119583.
- ^ ISBN 9781137316578.
- ISBN 9780300087765.
- ISBN 9780520045477.
- ^ a b c d e f "TRANSVAAL EXECUTIVE COUNCIL". The Advertiser. South Australia. 23 March 1901. p. 7. Retrieved 11 April 2020 – via Trove.
- ^ a b "Latest intelligence - Lord Milner and the Transvaal". The Times. No. 36801. London. 23 June 1902. p. 5.
- ^ a b "THE TRANSVAAL GOVERNMENT". Evening News. New South Wales, Australia. 24 March 1906. p. 4. Retrieved 10 April 2020 – via Trove.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-230-27039-8.
- ^ "BRITON OR BOER?". The Age. Victoria, Australia. 21 September 1907. p. 20. Retrieved 10 April 2020 – via Trove.
- ^ "TRANSVAAL EXECUTIVE COUNCIL". The Sydney Morning Herald. New South Wales, Australia. 26 June 1902. p. 10. Retrieved 11 April 2020 – via Trove.
- ^ ISBN 9780230270381.
- ^ "Transvaal War". The Telegraph. Queensland, Australia. 23 March 1901. p. 8. Retrieved 11 April 2020 – via Trove.
- ^ "THE TRANSVAAL. MINISTER OF MINES RESIGNS". The Argus (Melbourne). Victoria, Australia. 4 December 1903. p. 5. Retrieved 11 April 2020 – via Trove.
- ^ Cana, Frank Richardson (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 27 (11th ed.). pp. 186–210. .
- ^ Hancock, William Keith (1962). Smuts, the Sanguine Years, 1870-1919. Vol. 1. Cambridge: University Press. p. 219.