cuap. m1] THE UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA 991 
position, and as naturally the Transvaal was not prepared 
to yield so long as it required native labour. It was there- 
fore of great importance that the Transvaal was able to 
promise to the two Colonies concerned one-half of the trade, 
30 per cent. to Natal and 20 to the Cape, while the rest 
goes to Delagoa Bay. The proportions recently in force 
were 24 per cent. to Natal and 12 per cent. to the Cape, so 
the change was a popular one. This concession by the 
Transvaal to Natal, coupled with the grant by the Cape of 
the right to an excessive representation of seventeen members 
in the House of Assembly, instead of the twelve to which it 
is qualified by the population, were designed to render that 
Colony disposed to accept unification instead of federation, 
0 which the most prominent Natal statesmen have leaned. 
There is not much of constitutional interest in these 
financial clauses. They avoid any such difficulty as faced 
the Commonwealth, that of settling the proportions of 
revenue from customs to be assigned to the central and 
the state Governments, a problem which seems almost 
incapable of satisfactory settlement. On the other hand, 
it seems very doubtful whether the new Constitution will 
tulfil the hopes of the framers for economy ; it appears that 
so impartial a judge as Mr. Merriman has expressed himself 
with hesitation on this topic. The attempt to take the 
railways out of direct political management is noteworthy, as 
there is no doubt that in the Dominions generally there is 
too much tendency for the Government to construct lines— 
as has notoriously been done in the Cape—on purely partisan 
considerations, but its success is doubtful. 
There is to be free trade throughout the Union, but other- 
wise the existing tariffs and excise duties will remain in force 
fs, 136). 
* See Parl. Pap., Cd. 3564, pp. 20 seq. The arrangement as to traffic 
was made binding on the Union Government after the Bloemfontein 
Convention as s. 148 (2) of the Act; see Cd. 4721, p. 3. Its position in that 
clause is curious, but natural. It was only rendered possible by a new 
Convention in 1909 with Mozambique, Cd. 4587 (Art. xxiii).