cap. ii] THE UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA 963
hand, it was argued that there was little chance of the
passing of any disfranchising measure of this kind, and
that the safeguard of a two-thirds majority of both Houses
should be adequate. The Bloemfontein Conference strength-
ened the position by in effect requiring any such Bill to be
reserved,! and in introducing the Bill in the House of Lords,
Lord Crewe indicated that such a Bill might be refused the
royal assent.?
Under the original draft the election of members of the
Assembly was to take place on the principle of proportional
representation with the single transferable vote, and the
Governor-General in Council was to issue regulations as to
the arrangements for counting the votes on this principle ;
on such regulations being promulgated they were to have
the force of law unless and until Parliament otherwise
provided ; but at the Bloemfontein Conference this proposal
was rejected at the wish of the Cape and the Orange River
as a compromise in order to obtain the retention of the prin-
ciple of equal electoral areas.
The Governor-General has, as formerly in the Cape, the
anusual power of dissolving both Houses simultaneously
or of dissolving the Assembly only ;® he cannot, however,
dissolve the Senate for ten years after the Union, and in no
case is the dissolution to affect senators nominated by the
Governor-General in Council. There must be a session
every year! The Parliament will sit at Capetown (s. 23),
though the capital of the Union for other purposes is Pre-
toria (s. 18), while the Supreme Court will sit normally at
Bloemfontein.
The disqualifications for membership of the two Houses
are the same :® they follow the usual lines and include
1 A clause is placed in the royal instructions to this effect, as the legal
juestion is not free from doubt; see Colonel Seely in House of Commons
Debates, ix, 1635, 1636, who had discussed the matter with Mr. Schreiner,
* See House of Lords Debates, ii. 761, 863-5. Cf. Lord Curzon (766),
Lord Lansdowne (795), Archbishop of Canterbury (789 seq.) ; see House of
Commons, ix. 1634 seq., 958 seq. (Colonel Seely).
® 5 20. 1g, 22. % 5.53.
Dd2
