icient assurance that no measures deemed by Mr. Hofmeyr
to be contrary to the interests of the Bond would be adopted, had
secured for the Government the votes of the majority of the Dutch
members of the Legislative Assembly. An example of the subserviency of
the Sprigg Ministry to the Bond at this date was afforded upon Lord
Milner's arrival. As we have seen, the Home Government determined to
reinforce the South African garrison, in order to strengthen its
demand upon the Transvaal Government for the repeal of the Aliens
Immigration Law. Although no direct opposition was offered by the
Ministry to this measure, the insufficiency of barrack accommodation
in the Cape Colony was used as a pretext for placing obstacles in the
way of its accomplishment. These difficulties were successfully
overcome by Lord Milner, and in the end the reinforcements arrived
without giving rise to any political excitement.[32]

[Footnote 32: By August the South African garrison had been
raised to the very moderate strength of rather more than
8,000 troops.]

[Sidenote: Navy contribution bill.]

A more disagreeable incident was the covert attempt made by the Bond
to obstruct the business of the Cape Parliament, in order that Sir
Gordon Sprigg might be prevented from taking his place among the other
prime ministers of the self-governing colonies at the Colonial
Conference, and representing the Cape in the Jubilee celebrations in
England.[33] This was the beginning of a disagreement between the
Ministry and the Bond, which gradually increased in seriousness after
Sir Gordon's return from England, until it culminated in the
resignation of Dr. Te Water (May, 1898). The offer of an annual
contribution to the cost of the British Navy, which was affirmed in
principle by the Cape Parliament at this time, was understood in
England to be a mark of Afrikander attachment to the British
connection. In point of fact the measure received practically no
support from the Bondsmen in Parliament; while, outside of Parliament,
on Bond platforms and in the Bond Press, the Government's action in
the matter was employed as an effective argument to stimulate
disaffection in the ranks of its Dutch supporters. Mr. Hofmeyr,
however, was careful not to allow the Bond, as an organisation, to
commit itself to any overt opposition to the principle of a
contribution to the British Navy--an attitude which would have been
obviously inconsistent wit