divisions are unduly emphasized by such disfranchisement. Only
one--Barberton--of the twenty-six country constituencies of the
Transvaal returned a member who did not owe allegiance to Het Volk,
although the figures of the polls showed that the minority numbered more
than 25 per cent, of the electors. In Pretoria the Progressives gained
but one seat, and that as the chance result of a three-cornered contest.
The disfranchisement of minorities heightened the natural difference
which existed between Johannesburg and the rest of the Transvaal--a
difference which would have been still more pronounced had not Het Volk
succeeded in obtaining six and the Nationalists five out of the total
of thirty-four seats allotted to Johannesburg and the Rand. The first
elections in the Orange River Colony resulted in a similar exaggerated
contrast between Bloemfontein and the rest of the country. Five seats
were allotted to Bloemfontein, four of which were won by members of the
Constitutional party, whilst the fifth was only lost to them by the
extremely narrow majority of two. Before the election _The Friend_, the
organ of the Orangia Unie, stated that "if Bloemfontein ventures to vote
for the Constitutionalists it will be setting itself in opposition to
the whole country, and will be manifesting a spirit of distrust of the
country population for which it will have to suffer afterwards." On the
morrow of the election the same paper declared that "the election
results of Bloemfontein will be read with deep disappointment throughout
the colony, where the feeling will be that the capital has now shown
itself politically an alien city." But would Bloemfontein have "shown
itself politically an alien city" if the electoral method had been such
that the minorities, both in Bloemfontein and in the country districts,
had been able to secure representation in proportion to their strength?

Had the Constitution of South Africa provided for the representation of
minorities in the House of Assembly, as proposed in the original draft