uary next. Several witnesses and some of the
Commission have urged the expropriation of the N.Z.A.S.M. by the
Government. Your Commission, however, for several reasons known to
them, and after same have been communicated to those members of the
Commission who wished to urge the expropriation of the N.Z.A.S.M., do
not at the present moment desire to urge expropriation provided by
the other means terms can be secured from the Company so as to obtain
the reduction at present urgently required on the basis as above set
forth. Your Commission have been informed that the Company have
proposed to adopt the dividends of the three years 1895, 1896, and
1897 as a basis for the expropriation price, and your Commission can
agree to such proposal. The expropriation price being thus fixed, the
Company will have all the more reason to co-operate towards the
lowering of the tariffs. Further, it appears from the evidence of the
managing director of the N.Z.A.S.M., that in consideration of the
reduction of tariffs, he wished to have secured to the Company a
certain period of existence. Your Commission cannot recommend this
course, because they do not deem the same to be in the interests of
the State, and it would be contrary to the wishes of the public.

As to gold thefts:--

According to the evidence submitted to your Commission, gold thefts
are on the increase, and although the Volksraad has given the matter
their favourable consideration, and have, at the instance of the
Mining Industry, so amended the Gold Law as to provide for the
punishment of the sale and being in possession of raw gold, still it
has been stated to your Commission in evidence, that the gold thefts
amount to about 10 per cent. of the output, equivalent to an amount
of L750,000 per annum. It follows that the administration of the law
must be faulty, because there are only very few instances where the
crime has been detected and punished. If those figures are not
exaggerated, and your Commission have no reason to suppose so, then
this matter deserves the serious consideration of the Government. The
suppression of this crime can be considered as a real saving to the
industry, and this amount of three-quarters of a million would,
especially in times of depression, exercise a large influence on the
yield and financial position of the mines. The industry ask that the
penal clauses regarding this matter shall be eliminated from the Gold
Law, and that a separate law be p