3045
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
السيسيليا
C.O.8
Reference :-
-885
16 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
SIR,
No, 154.
(SOUTH AFRICA; Bechuanaland PROTECTORATE.)
LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.
[Trading Licences in the Tati Native Reserve.]
Law Officers' Department,
Royal Courts of Justice,
29th January, 1912.
We were honoured with your commands signified in Sir H. W. Just's letter of the 23rd November last, stating that he was directed by you to transmit to us the accompanying documents relating to the question of the grant of trading licences in the Native Reserve within the part of the Bechuanaland Protectorate commonly known as the Tati District.
That the position and rights of the Tati Concessions, Limited, in the district and in the Reserve had been defined in the Proclamation of the High Commissioner for South Africa, No. 2, of 1911, and in the Order in Council of the 4th of May, 1911, which was passed to remove any doubt which might exist as to the ownership of the land in the district being vested in the Company under the Proclamation.
That title to the land had since been issued to the Company by the High Commissioner in accordance with the Order in Council.
That we should observe that applications for licences for trading within the Reserve were received from two reputable persons, and that it was desired by the Administration of the Bechuanaland Protectorate to grant those licences; it being judged undesirable that the Tati Concessions, Limited, should enjoy a monopoly of trading in the Reserve.
That the Company had raised objection to the grant of those licences on grounds of law and policy, and that they would not accept any settlement which precluded them from testing the validity of their objection in the Courts as fully as possible.
That before issuing any further instructions to the High Commissioner you desired to have our opinion on the question.
That we should observe that the High Commissioner was advised that the Administration of the Protectorate had power to issue the licences without the consent of the Company. That that opinion was based on the view that Sub-section 1 of Section 1 and Section 8 of Proclamation No. 2, of 1911, read together, in effect ousted the property of the Company in the Native Reserve. That the land in the Reserve was held to be in the same position as land alienated without restrictions, and that That on behalf it was considered that the Government could grant licences on it
of the Company it was held that it was never intended in the settlement embodied in the Proclamation and Order in Council to interfere with its trading rights and, especially, that " from a revenue point of view the Government has the power to issue trading licences to anyone who asks, but the granting of such licences does rat empower the holders thereof to enter upon the Company's land without our consent." That if the view of the Company was correct, the grant of trading licences without its consent to persons not already in occupation of land in the Reserve would be illusory, as such persons would have no power to obtain land on which to establish their stores. That it might be well to add that the precise question of the grant of trading licences in the Reserve was not discussed in arriving at the settlement embodied in the legislation.
That the question appeared to depend on the exact construction which was to be placed on Sections 1 and 8 of Proclamation No. 2, of 1911. That the first of these sections vested the ownership of the land in the Tati District in the Company, subject (Sub-section 1) to the assignment of defined land as a reserve for natives; that this Reserve was under the control of the Government, and the Company had no power, save as provided in the Proclamation, to deal or interfere with the occupation of land by the natives. That provision was made by Sub-section 2 for a payment of £1,000 to the Company in consideration of the cesser of their right to claim rent from the natives. That Section 8 estopped the Company from making
(89961-#) Wt. 91-894. 35. 419. D&B.