"
It is Home Rule that has saved the British Empire up to the present. Is
it not likely that it is Home Rule that will save her in the future?
"Ah! but"--again will come the cry of the critic of the narrow
vision--"look at the South African Union. Is not that an instance of
unionism as against Home Rule? Have we not there in this latest
achievement a specimen of State authorities over-ruled by a central
power?"
In answer to that cry, I turn to the eighty-fifth clause of the South
African Act, 1909. In that clause I find the following powers reserved
for the local authorities of Cape Colony, Natal, Transvaal, and the
Orange River Colony:--
(1) Direct taxation within their provinces.
(2) The right of borrowing money on their own credit.
(3) All education other than higher education.
(4) Agriculture.
(5) Hospitals.
(6) Municipal institutions.
(7) All local works and undertakings within their provinces.
(8) All roads and bridges within their provinces.
(9) Markets and towns.
(10) Fish and game preservation.
(11) The right of fine and imprisonment, and
(12) Generally all matters which, in the opinion of the
Governor-General in Council, are of a merely local or private
nature.
Pages:
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154