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20751

No. 33.

(TRANSVAAL AND ORANGE RIVER COLONY.)

LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.

[Land settlement funds. Questions connected with the repayments made by settlers in respect of advances.]

MY LORD,

Royal Courts of Justice,

June 7, 1906.

WE were honoured by your Lordship's commands signified to us by Mr. Graham in his letter of the 25th April last stating that he was directed by your Lordship to call our attention to the papers enclosed, and to request our report upon certain questions which had arisen in connection with the funds which had been devoted in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony to the purpose of land settlement.

That by the Act of the Imperial Parliament, 3 Edward VII., c. 27, the Treasury was authorised to guarantee the payment of interest and of sinking fund for the repayment of principal of any loan raised by the Transvaal for certain purposes set forth in the Schedule, and, inter alia, for land settlement for which a sum of £3,000,000 was appropriated out of the loan of £35,000,000 contemplated by that Act. That by an Ordinance of the Transvaal, No. 31, of 1903, the Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony was authorised to borrow by means of the issue of inscribed stock the sum of £35,000,000, and by Section 10 of that Ordinance the money raised was to be applied for certain purposes set forth in the schedule which was substantially identical with the schedule to the Imperial Act, but that power was taken with the approval of the Secretary of State for the Colonies to apply any savings under any head or heads in the schedule to any other head.

That it would be observed that, although the loan was to be raised under an Ordinance of the Transvaal, this being necessary for financial purposes, the proceeds were to be expended in or on behalf of both the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony. That accordingly the sums received under the Ordinance were handed over by the Lieutenant-Governor of the Transvaal to the Inter-Colonial Council, a body which dealt with certain matters in which the two Colonies had a common interest, in accordance with the various Orders in Council.

That by a resolution of the Inter-Colonial Council two sums of £1,250,000 have been allocated respectively to the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony for the purposes of land settlement. Ordinances were passed in the two Colonies, Nos. 45 and 22, of 1902, respectively, providing for land settlement, and up to the 31st January, 1906, the amount spent in the Transvaal has been £1,162,000, and in the Orange River Colony £1,190,000, but that of these sums a large portion had been devoted to advances to be repaid by settlers under the provisions of the Ordinances already mentioned, and that it was in connection with the repayments made by settlers in respect of these advances that the questions upon which our report was requested had arisen.

That it would be observed that under the provisions of Article 9 (d) of the Order in Council of May 20th, 1903 (which was no longer in operation) the Inter- Colonial Council was empowered to receive such portions of the Guaranteed Loan as the Lieutenant-Governor of the Transvaal might hand over to it for the purposes specified in the schedule to the Loan Ordinance."

That it would be seen further that by article 4 (c) of the Order in Council of 10th May, 1905, the interest on any unexpended portion of the loan which might, for the time being, be in the custody of the Treasurer of the Council formed

part of the revenue of the Council, and that under Section 7 (1) of the same order the Treasurer was made responsible for the custody of any portion of the Guaranteed Loan transferred to the Council at any time by the Lieutenant-Governor of the Transvaal.

That in a despatch, dated the 31st July, 1905, Lord Selborne raised the question as to the manner in which repayments of capital by settlers under the Settlers Ordinances should be dealt with, and that in his reply of the 6th December, Mr. Lyttelton, then Secretary of State, asked for consideration of the legal position as regards the application of the sums so repaid. That Lord Selborne, in replying on the 5th February, 1906, enclosed an opinion of Sir Richard Solomon, Attorney-

25 Wt 1649 7,08 D & S & 26138

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

TTILHC.O.88

Reference :-

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO

16 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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