Kaffraria

KAFFRARIA, the descriptive name given to the E. part of the Cape province, South Africa. Kaffraria, i.e., the land of the Kafirs, is no longer an official designation. It used to com prise the districts now known as King William's Town and East London, which formed British Kaffraria, annexed to Cape Colony in 1865, and the territory between the Drakensberg and the coast, from the Kei river to the borders of Natal, known as Kaffraria proper. As a geographical term it is still used to indicate the Transkeian territories of the Cape provinces comprising the four administrative divisions of Transkei, Pondoland, Tembuland and Griqualand East, incorporated into Cape Colony at various periods between 1879 and 1894. They have a total area of 18,310 sq.m. (See UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA and CAPE COLONY.) Much of the land is held by the natives under tribal tenure.

Towns, Communication and Administration.

The chief town is Kokstad (q.v.), pop.: 1,15o Europeans, and 2,15o non Europeans, the capital of Griqualand East. Umtata (2,100 ft. above the sea, pop., white, 1,639), on the river of the same name, capital of Tembuland, is the residence of an assistant chief magis trate, and seat of the Anglican bishopric of Kaffraria. Port St. John is the chief town in Pondoland, and the only harbour of the country. Butterworth is the chief town in Transkei. A rail way, the first link in the direct Cape-Natal line, runs through Indwe to Maclear, an agricultural centre in Griqualand East. Another railway parallel but south of that described also tra verses Kaffraria. Starting from Amabele, a station on the main line from East London to the north, it goes via Butterworth (132 m. from East London) to Umtata m-) The Cape administrative and judicial system is in force, save as modified by special enactments of the Cape parliament. A "Native Territories Penal Code" which came into operation on the ist of January 1887 governs the relations of the natives, who are under the jurisdiction of a chief magistrate (resident at Cape Town) with subordinate magistrates in the Territories. In

civil affairs the tribal organization and native laws are maintained. No chief, however, exercises criminal jurisdiction. Since 1898 certain provisions of the Glen Grey Act have been applied to Kaffraria. (See GLEN GREY.) The franchise laws are the same as in the Cape proper. Though the Kaffirs outnumber the whites by fifty to one, white men form the bulk of the electorate.

Purely native affairs are dealt with by the Transkeian Terri tories General Council. District Councils were established in 1895 in the districts of Butterworth, Indutywa, Nqamakwe and Tsomo, and the four were united into the Transkeian General Council. A district council consists of a Resident Magistrate, and six members, two nominated by the Governor-General and four either nominated or elected by local headmen or tax payers. Each District Council nominates two of its members to the General Council. '1 he Governor-General nominates a third, and these members from each district, together with the white magistrates, form the Transkeian Territories General Council, which meets annually in the autumn, the session lasting about a fortnight. The General and District Councils are advisory bodies, and allow the people to express their views on local affairs. Among the subjects discussed are native marriage and inheritance laws, education, stock diseases, etc. The responsibility for action rests with the white magistrates and the higher authorities. The Dis trict Councils are also executive organs of the General Council, and are made responsible for road maintenance, cattle dipping, etc. The General Council's revenue is derived from all quit-rents collected in the districts, and from a local tax of o/– payable in respect of every hut, according to the number of wives. The system has been gradually extended to other districts as the natives have progressed and become able to profit by it. Nineteen districts are now included, and comprise the whole of the Transkei and Tembuland, and the whole of East Griqualand, except the Mount Currie district.