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1903 might have enabled him to legislate with respect to concessions held by the Crown in Swaziland, yet that it appeared to your Lordship difficult to maintain that those concessions which were vested in His Majesty by right of conquest could have been transferred to the Government of the Transvaal in the absence of any words in any instrument relating to Swaziland declaring that His Majesty so trans- ferred them.

That, in this connection, he was to transmit to us copies of telegraphic corre- spondence between your Lordship and the Governor which indicated the views held by them, respectively, upon this point. That he was to enquire whether, in our opinion, the concessions in Swaziland, held by the Government of the late South African Republic, were now vested in the Government of the Transvaal or not, and, in the former case, whether, in our opinion, the Transvaal Government was entitled to compensation for all or any of then on expropriation.

We were further honoured by Mr. Graham's letter of the 23th December last transmitting, for our consideration, a copy of a further telegram from the High Commissioner for South Africa respecting the concessions in Swaziland acquired by the Government of the late South African Republic.

We were further honoured by Mr. Just's letter of the 21st instant stating that he was directed by your Lordship to transmit to us a copy of a despatch from the High Commissioner for South Africa in which was enclosed the opinion of his Legal Adviser as to the ownership of the land concessions acquired in Swazi- land by the Government of the late South African Republic.

That he was to observe that Mr. Matthews's opinion appeared to your Lordship to be open to question for the following reason, viz.: that His Majesty did not, on setting up a Government in the Transvaal, transfer to that Government by implica- tion all the proprietary rights of the late South African Republic, but, on the con- trary, in Section 2 of the Letters Patent of the 23rd of September, 1902, excluded Swaziland from the territories assigned to the Transvaal, and, in Section 12 of the same Letters Patent, expressly limited the lands which could be granted by the Lieutenant-Governor to lands within the Transvaal.

That even if particular cases could be adduced in which the action of His Majesty's Government appeared to have been based on the principle for which Mr. Matthews contended, such exceptions could not, as it appeared to your Lord- ship, override the general principle that a document like the Letters Patent which was of the nature of a grant from the Crown must be construed strictly in favour of the Crown.

We have taken the matter into our consideration, and, in obedience to your Lordship's commands, have the honour to

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Transvaal, nor are they revenues over which the Transvaal Legislature would have power of appropriation. They are, therefore, excluded from the grant set forth in the Letters Patent establishing the new Government.

Where the assets of the late Government are thus explicitly dealt with, there seems no ground for the implied grant now contended for by the advisers of the Transvaal Government, but, so far as any implication does arise, it is adverse to the contention of the Transvaal Government. Even apart from the general principle that Letters Patent should be construed in favour of the Crown, it is not reasonable to imply that a grant of self-government to a Colony should be taken to confer on it rights of irresponsible government (e.g., taxation) over adjacent territories once, in some degree, dependent on it, but now severed from it.

Neither can the grant of any such rights be inferred from the circumstance that His Majesty has found it convenient for purposes of administration to entrust the Governor of the Transvaal with certain powers in relation to the Government of Swaziland by the Swaziland Order in Council of 1903.

We are, therefore, of opinion that the Transvaal Government is not entitled

to compensation for any of the concessions referred to.

The Right Honourable

The Earl of Elgin, K.G.,

&c., &c.,

&c.

We have, &c.,

JOHN L. WALTON. W. S. ROBSON.

Report-

That, in our opinion, the concessions in Swaziland held by the Government of the late South African Republic are now vested in His Majesty as successor to that Republic, and have not been regranted or transferred to the existing Transvaal Government.

The assets of the Republic passing to the existing Government are sufficiently dealt with in the Letters Patent of the 23rd September, 1902, and the 6th December, 1906.

By Section 12 of the Letters Patent of September, 1902, the Lieutenant- Governor is empowered to dispose of any lands within the Colony which might be lawfully disposed of by the Crown, and by Section 2 of the same Letters the Colony is explicitly defined so as to exclude Swaziland. It is clear, therefore, that no rights were thereby given to the Transvaal Government over the lands in Swaziland which were then vested in the Crown under some of the concessions in question.

Section 53 of the Letters Patent of December, 1906, enacts that all taxes and duties and all territorial, casual, and other revenues of the Crown (including royal- ties) from whatever source arising within the Colony over which the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly have power of appropriation shall be appro- priated to the public service of the Colony.

The Swaziland concessions include the exclusive right to levy certain taxes and duties, they also comprise some "territorial, casual, and other revenues of the Crown," but such rights and revenues do not arise "within the Colony" of the

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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TTIC.O.

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16 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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