208 THE BRITISH EMPIRE: — UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA
Province of the Cape of Good Hope.
Constitution and Government.— The Colony of the Cape of Good Hope
was originally founded by the Dutch in the year 1652. Britain took possession of it in 1795 but evacuated it in 1 803. A British force again took possession in 1806 and the Colony has remained a British Possession since that date. It was formally ceded to Great Britain by the Convention of London, August 13, 1814. The original Colony has been extended from time to time. East and "West Pondoland were annexed in 1894 and Bechuanaland in 1895. For many years the form of government in the Colony depended on the terms of the Royal Letters Patent and Instructions to governors. Letters Patent issued in 1850 to Governor Sir Henry Smith declared that in the Colony there should be a Parliament which should consist of the Governor, a Legislative Council, and a House of Assembly. A Constitution Ordinance was enacted by Order in Council of March 11, 1853, and took effect on May 1 ensuing. This Order in Council provided that nothing it contained should prevent the Parliament of the Colony from making Acts (subject to the power of Her Majesty in Council either to disallow or assent to such Acts) in amendment of the said Ordinance. ■ This power of amending the Constitution was exercised from time to time as the bounds of the Colony were extended. In 1872 an Act was passed at the Cape and assented to by Order in Council, providing for the system of executive administration known as Responsible Government. The Constitution formed under these various Acts vested the executive in the Governor and an Executive Council, composed of certain otfice holders appointed by the Crown. On the 31st May, 1910, the Colony was merged in the Union of South Africa, thereafter forming an original province of the Union.
Cape Town is the seat of the Provincial Administration.
Administrator.— The Hon. Sir Frederic de Waal, K.C.M.G. (Salary 2,500Z.).
The Colony is divided into 119 magisterial districts, and the Colony proper, including Bechuanaland, but exclusive of the Tr.inskeian territories, into 82 fiscal divisions. In each division there is a Civil Commissioner, who is, in all cases where the fiscal and magisterial areas coincide, also the Resi- dent Magistrate. Each division has a Council of at least 6 members (18 in the Cape Division) elected triennially by the owners or occupiers of im- movable property. These Councils look after roads, boundaries, and beacons ; return 3 members to the Licensing Court, and perform other local duties. There are 123 Municipalities, each governed by a Mayor or Chairman and Councillors, a certain number of whom are elected annually by the rate- payers. There are also 85 Village Management Boards.
Area and Population.— The following table gives the area and popu- lation of the Province and native Territories according to the preliminary census returns of 1911 : —
