y that they administered the lashes
in accordance with the orders and sentence given by Commandant
Cronje. The Court held that a sufficient _prima facie_ case had been
made out by the plaintiff, and that the onus now lay on the
defendants to prove their case. The witnesses called were Commandant
Cronje and Mr. Stiemens, secretary to the former. Mr. Stiemens in his
evidence fully corroborated Trichard's evidence as to the passing of
the sentence by Cronje upon the indunas and the absence of any
form of trial; and nothing more need be said about this witness. With
Mr. Cronje's evidence, however, it is necessary to deal at length.
Mr. Cronje admitted under cross-examination that he had not observed
any particular form of trial, although, as was pointed out, the law
dealing with native trials stated specifically 'that the rules which
govern procedure in civilized courts shall be followed as closely as
possible.' He stated that as regards the Chieftainess, he called her
up and read over to her 'point by point' 'the indictment under
which she was charged,' which indictment, however, as he admitted,
consisted merely of a letter of complaint written by Field-cornet
Schoeman to him as Superintendent-General of Natives. He claimed
that no form of trial was necessary, inasmuch as he acted under the
authority of the President, who has supreme power over natives, and
was not obliged to observe any particular form of trial. 'Point by
point I read the charge,' to use his own words, 'against the woman,
and point by point I could see by her demeanour that she was guilty.'
As regards the thirteen indunas, Mr. Cronje admitted that he did not
know whether these were indunas. He considered them guilty, not
because they had done anything, but because in their position as
advisers of the Chieftainess they ought to have advised her better
than they appeared to have done. Instructions had therefore been
given to arrest these indunas, and they had caught as many as they
could. There was no evidence to show that they were indunas, or that
they were ever in a position to advise or had advised the
Chieftainess; in fact, it was admitted that they were a lot of
thirteen caught out of a tribe as one might catch so many sheep out
of a flock. Mr. Cronje denied that he had sentenced these men, and
repeatedly stated that he had handed them over to Erasmus and
Schoeman, to be dealt with according to law.

Mr. WESSELS cross-examined the witness upon this p