of the leading members of Parliament. Mr. Brand, who later on in this year became President of the Orange Free State, said :

That while giving the hon. member for Albany credit for acting bona fide in the matter, he must express his surprise and indignation at the course pursued by the instigator of this motion. Fair play was said to be the characteristic of Englishmen. Boldness was also a characteristic of Englishmen. Therefore let the instigator, whoever he might be—whether he filled a high position or not-come forward if he had the courage and put a motion upon the paper impeaching the hon. member for Beaufort of the crimes of which it had been insinuated he had been guilty. With regard to what has been said as to the warmth of temper displayed by the hon. member for Beaufort, he was astonished that in respect of unworthy insinuations made for political purposes, without an atom of truth, by individuals who had not the courage to bring forward a charge against him, he had displayed so much coolness to-day. He considered this an attempt to destroy the political influence of the hon. member for Beaufort.

Mr. F. S. Watermeyer followed with a vigorous speech in vindication of Mr. Molteno, and Mr. Solomon said :

He could not but believe, as he had said, that it was a concerted movement of the anti-responsible government party to strike down the leader of the opposite party. He might judge wrongly, but he must say that it looked very much like a concerted movement when two motions of such a character were put upon the paper on the same day—and that day the day following the discussion on responsible government—by two gentlemen occupying prominent positions in the anti-responsible government party, living in the same town, and probably talking together as to the most effectual means of striking at the influence of certain hon, members. This was his view of the case.

Finally the Government were compelled to appoint a commission, which took evidence and reported. This report was presented to Parliament upon the motion of Mr. Molteno in the session of 1864, and finally disposed of the whole question. It appeared that the original survey, as had been the case almost throughout the Colony, had been made with extreme carelessness.

Some amusing stories are told of the manner in which these surveys were originally made. The land was of little value, and it mattered not whether a few hundred or thousand acres were included or not. Many boundaries were laid out by taking a natural object, such as the top of a hill, the area to be a square obtained by riding on horseback for one hour in a particular direction, and then turning at right angles for another hour, and so on until the original point was reached. At other times the chain bearer, being a native, would be directed to mark off the distance from where the surveyor stood to some distant point, but being unable to count he was supplied with a stick on which he was to make a notch for each chain. The surveyor would then busy himself about other matters; the native when out of sight would cut as many notches as he considered necessary, and after a proper time in his opinion had elapsed he would return to his master.'

At other times the surveys were conducted without theodolites—an upright post upon which was a cross was used, and the directions were settled by running the eye along the direction of this cross—the beacon was to be placed where this crishout,' or rough instrument, had stood. No beacon was erected, and the Conrts had frequently to settle from conflicting evidence as to the exact position on which many years previously the 'crishout' had originally stood. On other occasions an ant-bear's earth, being the most conspicuous feature in the neighbourhood, was selected. In the course of time the ant-bear, having established its offspring in other earths in the neighbourhood, naturally it became a matter of extreme difficulty to ascertain the exact earth which had been originally selected.

In this case the land had been occupied by Mr. Molteno in accordance with the measurements pointed out by his predecessor, which he had accepted as correct until, as was natural with such inaccurate surveys, disputes began to arise

with his neighbours. It then became clear that the original surveys did not harmonise. The Commissioners pointed out in their report that the original claimants in these cases were sellers leaving the Colony, who sold without a diagram or title, and were not indisposed to exaggerate the extent of their farms. The original surveyor was before them, but they were unable to attach much value to his evidence. He stated that he was obliged somewhat hurriedly to proceed to a Kaffir war in 1835, and in consequence his papers and notes had got into confusion—some were mislaid and lost. Being ordered officially to send in a diagram in 1843, he then framed it to the best of his ability. They further reported that the inspections mentioned in the evidence were almost worthless, as it appeared upon examination that they had been merely conducted in a house in Beaufort, and not on the spot as should have been the case.

It will readily be understood that as the land increased in value the disputes were frequent, and afforded ample employment for the lawyers. It was finally decided in the Supreme Court in the case of Barrington versus the Colonial Government, that where the diagram and the extent actually occupied and proved to have been in occupation for the period requisite to acquire a prescriptive right were at variance, this area should prevail against the diagram. The Commissioners who dealt with the Beaufort case took an opposite view, and the whole subject was disposed of by their report, which effectually killed this unfounded accusation.

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CHAPTER VI

MAINTENANCE OF THE UNITY OF THE COLONY.

1863-67

Governor summons Parliament in Grahamstown- Sketch of Mr. Molteno by 'Limner '-Mr. Molteno Leader of House-Serious position of Western Members-Opposes Governor's Separation Measures-Motion for removal of seat of Government--Strong Party Feeling-British Kaffraria-Transkei -High-handed action of Governor-New Session-Mr. Molteno challenges action of Governor-Annexation and Representation Bills-Governor censured by Parliament-Legislation paralysed-Violent Obstruction by Eastern Members-Carelessness and Incompetency of Executive-Redress of Grievances precedes Supply-Disastrous Condition of Colony-New Session Withdrawal of Troops-Strained Relations between Executive and Parliament-Griffiths appointed Attorney-General-Crown Lands, necessity for sale of-Retrenchment Committee-Work of Session-Sir Philip Wodehouse and Responsible Government.

MEANWHILE we have been somewhat anticipating matters. Mr. Molteno had obtained leave of absence for the session of 1861. He visited Europe, spending some time with his relatives in Scotland. The best known member of the circle in which he moved was the author of Rab and his Friends,' Dr. John Brown, with whom he formed a valued and interesting acquaintanceship. All through his life his visits to Europe had a stimulating effect upon him; he followed European politics very closely, and took an informed interest in all public questions, keeping himself well abreast of the subjects of the day, and ever seeking to apply his experiences in their bearing to Cape affairs.

His observations on matters of public utility made during his travels on the European continent were of service to him subsequently, when he was in a position to put them in practice. The rest and change were of great value after his assiduous work, and served to prepare him for the still more arduous

duties which awaited him on his return, coinciding as it did with the arrival of Sir Philip Wodehouse and the commencement of the great constitutional struggle which was to last nearly ten years.

A general election took place in 1863. Mr. Molteno was returned unopposed for Beaufort. The Governor had proposed, in the session of 1862, that Parliament should be held alternately in the east and west. This had been negatived, but he nevertheless announced in his prorogation speech that he was going to hold the first session of this new Parliament at Grahamstown, and he forthwith proceeded to the east and took up his residence there.

He was naturally received with acclamations of delight by the public of Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown. The hopes of the eastern province were raised to their highest pitch, and the west was now at a serious disadvantage. It had to depend for its parliamentary reports upon the eastern press, which was, without exception, violently hostile to the western members. The Great Eastern ' was to be the leading paper—it had been founded by the extreme eastern party, who had enlisted the bitter pen of the former editor of the "Argus,' Mr. R. W. Murray. The avowed

. objects of this paper were to report the Grahamstown Parliament, and to render effectual the separation of the east from the west. We are indebted to it for a sketch by Limner' of Mr. Molteno as he appeared in this Parliament; clever as the one given on a previous page, but now imbued with a bitter feeling which the writer had since exhibited in his attacks upon Mr. Molteno's political work :

I select this gentleman first, of the elected members, because he is put forward as the leader of the party with whom he is associated, and because it appears to be taken for granted that if a change of government took place, he would occupy the first place in the Treasury benches. When persons think of party government in active operation, they picture to themselves a government in which Mr. Rawson is superseded by the Hon. Mr. Molteno.

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