meet the costs of working and maintenance, and of interest on the capital invested therein, it shall frame an estimate of the annual loss which, in its opinion, will result from such operation. Such estimate shall be examined by the controller and auditor-general, and when approved by him the amount thereof shall be paid over annually from the consolidated revenue fund to the railway and harbor fund: provided that, if in any year the actual loss incurred, as calculated by the board and certified by the controller and auditor-general, is less than the estimate framed by the board, the amount paid over in respect of that year shall be reduced accordingly so as not to exceed the actual loss incurred. In calculating the loss arising from the operation of any such work or line, the board shall have regard to the value of any contributions of traffic to other parts of the system which may be due to the operation of such work or line.

131. If the board shall be required by the governor-general in council or under any act of parliament or resolution of both houses of parliament. to provide any services or facilities either gratuitously or at a rate of charge which is insufficient to meet the costs involved in the provision of such services or facilities, the board shall at the end of each financial year present to parliament an account approved by the controller and auditor-general, showing, as nearly as can be ascertained, the amount of the loss incurred by reason of the provision of such services and facilities, and such amount shall be paid out of the consolidated revenue fund to the railway and harbor fund.

132. The governor-general in council shall appoint a controller and auditor-general who shall hold office during good behavior: provided that he shall be removed by the governor-general in council on an address praying for such removal presented to the governor-general by both houses of parliament: provided further that when parliament is not in session the governor-general in council may suspend such officer on the ground of incompetence or misbehavior; and, when and so often as such suspension shall take place, a full statement of the circumstances shall be laid before both houses of parliament within fourteen days after the commencement of its next session; and, if an address shall at any time during the session of parliament be presented to the governor-general by both houses praying for the restoration to office of such officer, he shall be restored accordingly; and if no such address be presented the governorgeneral shall confirm such suspension and shall declare the office of controller and auditor-general to be, and it shall thereupon become, vacant.

Until parliament shall otherwise provide, the controller and auditorgeneral shall exercise such powers and functions and undertake such duties as may be assigned to him by the governor-general in council by regulations framed in that behalf.

133. In order to compensate Pietermaritzburg and Bloemfontein for any loss sustained by them in the form of diminution of prosperity or decreased ratable value by reason of their ceasing to be the seats of government of their respective colonies, there shall be paid from the consolidated revenue fund for a period not exceeding twenty-five years to the municipal councils of such towns a grant of two per centum per annum on their municipal debts, as existing on the thirty-first day of January nineteen hundred and nine, and as ascertained by the controller and auditor-general. The commission appointed under section one hundred and eighteen shall, after due inquiry, report to the governor-general in council what compensation should be paid to the municipal councils of Cape Town and Pretoria for the losses, if any, similarly sustained by them. Such compensation shall be paid out of the consolidated revenue fund for a period not exceeding twenty-five years and shall not exceed one per centum per annum on the respective municipal debts of such towns as existing on the thirty-first day of January nineteen hundred and nine, and as ascertained by the controller and auditor-general. For the purposes of this section Cape Town shall be deemed to include the municipalities of Cape Town, Green Point, and Sea Point, Woodstock, Mowbray, and Rondebosch, Claremont, and Wynberg, and any grant made to Cape Town shall be payable to the councils of such municipalities in proportion to their respective debts. One-half of any such grants shall be applied to the redemption of the municipal debts of such towns respectively. At any time after the tenth annual grant has been paid to any of such towns the governor-general in council, with the approval of parliament, may after due inquiry withdraw or reduce the grant to such town.

VIII. GENERAL.

134. The election of senators and of members of the executive committees of the provincial councils as provided in this act shall, whenever such election is contested, be according to the principle of proportional representation, each voter having one transferable vote. The governorgeneral in council, or, in the case of the first election of the senate, the governor in council of each of the colonies, shall frame regulations pre

scribing the method of voting and of transferring and counting votes. and the duties of returning officers in connection therewith, and such regulations or any amendments thereof after being duly promulgated shall have full force and effect unless and until parliament shall otherwise provide.

135. Subject to the provisions of this act, all laws in force in the several colonies at the establishment of the Union shall continue in force in the respective provinces until repealed or amended by parliament, or by the provincial councils in matters in respect of which the power to make ordinances is reserved or delegated to them. All legal commissions in the several colonies at the establishment of the Union shall continue as if the Union had not been established.

136. There shall be free trade throughout the Union, but until parliament otherwise provides the duties of customs and of excise leviable under the laws existing in any of the colonies at the establishment of the Union. shall remain in force.

137. Both the English and Dutch languages shall be official languages of the Union, and shall be treated on a footing of equality, and possess and enjoy equal freedom, rights, and privileges; all records, journals. and proceedings of parliament shall be kept in both languages, and all bills, acts, and notices of general public importance or interest issued by the government of the Union shall be in both languages.

138. All persons who have been naturalized in any of the colonies shall be deemed to be naturalized throughout the Union.

139. The administration of justice throughout the Union shall be under the control of a minister of state, in whom shall be vested all powers, authorities, and functions which shall at the establishment of the Union. be vested in the attorneys-general of the colonies, save and except all powers, authorities, and functions relating to the prosecution of crimes. and offences, which shall in each province be vested in an officer to be appointed by the governor-general in council, and styled the attorneygeneral of the province, who shall also discharge such other duties as may be assigned to him by the governor-general in council: provided that in the province of the Cape of Good Hope the solicitor-general for the eastern districts and the crown prosecutor for Griqualand West shall respectively continue to exercise the powers and duties by law vested in them at the time of the establishment of the Union.

140. Subject to the provisions of the next succeeding section, all officers of the public service of the colonies shall at the establishment of the Union become officers of the Union.

141. (1) As soon as possible after the establishment of the Union, the governor-general in council shall appoint a public service commission to make recommendations for such reorganization and readjustment of the departments of the public service as may be necessary. The commission shall also make recommendations in regard to the assignment of officers to the several provinces.

(2) The governor-general in council may after such commission has reported assign from time to time to each province such officers as may be necessary for the proper discharge of the services reserved or delegated to it, and such officers on being so assigned shall become officers of the province. Pending the assignment of such officers, the governor-general in council may place at the disposal of the provinces the services of such officers of the Union as may be necessary.

(3) The provisions of this section shall not apply to any service or department under the control of the railway and harbor board or to any person holding office under the board.

142. After the establishment of the Union the governor-general in council shall appoint a permanent public service commission with such powers and duties relating to the appointment, discipline, retirement, and superannuation of public officers as parliament shall determine.

143. Any officer of the public service of any of the colonies at the establishment of the Union who is not retained in the service of the Union or assigned to that of a province shall be entitled to receive such pension, gratuity, or other compensation as he would have received in like circumstances if the Union had not been established.

144. Any officer of the public service of any of the colonies at the establishment of the Union who is retained in the service of the Union or assigned to that of a province shall retain all his existing and accruing rights, and shall be entitled to retire from the service at the time at which he would have been entitled by law to retire, and on the pension or retiring allowance to which he would have been entitled by law in like circumstances if the Union had not been established.

145. The services of officers in the public service of any of the colonies at the establishment of the Union shall not be dispensed with by reason of their want of knowledge of either the English or Dutch language.

146. Any permanent officer of the legislature of any of the colonies who is not retained in the service of the Union or assigned to that of any province, and for whom no provision shall have been made by such legislature, shall be entitled to such pension, gratuity, or compensation. as parliament may determine.

147. The control and administration of native affairs and of matters specially or differentially affecting Asiatics throughout the Union shal! vest in the governor-general in council, who shall exercise all special powers in regard to native administration hitherto vested in the governors of the colonies or exercised by them as supreme chiefs, and any lands vested in the governor or governor and executive council of any colony for the purpose of reserves for native locations shall vest in the governor-general in council, who shall exercise all special powers in relation to such reserves as may hitherto have been exercisable by any such governor or governor and executive council, and no land set aside for the occupation. of natives which can not at the establishment of the Union be alienated except by an act of the colonial legislature shall be alienated or in any way diverted from the purposes for which they are set apart except under the authority of an act of parliament.

148. (1) All rights and obligations under any conventions or agreements which are binding on any of the colonies shall devolve upon the Union at its establishment.

(2) The provisions of the railway agreement between the governments of the Transvaal, the Cape of Good Hope, and Natal, dated the second of February, nineteen hundred and nine, shall, as far as practicable, be given effect to by the government of the Union.

IX. NEW PROVINCES AND TERRITORIES.

149. Parliament may alter the boundaries of any province, divide a province into two or more provinces, or form a new province out of provinces within the Union, on the petition of the provincial council of every province whose boundaries are affected thereby.

150. The king, with the advice of the privy council, may on addresses from the houses of parliament of the Union admit into the Union the territories administered by the British South Africa Company on such terms and conditions as to representation and otherwise in each case as are expressed in the addresses and approved by the king, and the provisions of any order in council in that behalf shall have effect as if they had been enacted by the parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

151. The king, with the advice of the privy council, may, on addresses from the houses of parliament of the Union, transfer to the Union the government of any territories, other than the territories administered by the British South Africa Company, belonging to or under the pro