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Publications & Reports

Bleek's prediction that recent rainfall amid the several-years-long Cape drought of the 1860s would minimise the perceived necessity of "water-preserving works" -- supported by the findings of the last Colonial Botanist (John Croumbie Brown) -- has proven true. The colony's water resources are left to run to waste. Perhaps Wodehouse awaits William Downes Griffith's instalment as the new Attorney-General upon William Porter's retirement, but Bleek doubts the present government's capacity. Local advertisements inviting tenders could only attract questionable entities to undertake railway works showing poor returns for such sizeable expenditure, which may eventually incur debt north of a million sterling. The proposed contracts confer an uncomfortable amount of authority on Frederik Bourne and, by extension, the Wodehouse Ministry (i.e. the executive), to who the legislature will unlikely entrust this vital infrastructure. Wodehouse's intentions are sensible, but his uniquely coercive methods create friction with the legislature, culminating in wasteful expenditure like the works halted at Tulbagh Kloof (Nuwekloof Pass). The colony should pay for the railway lines instead of using a burdensome six per cent guarantee (imperial loan). Bourne's connection to Wodehouse hurts him reputationally with parliament. The executive and legislature, to whom the former must be accountable, must cooperate seamlessly and address public criticism to avoid further wasteful expenditure. Porter believes his constitution can only function optimally under Responsible Government but concedes that the lack of public support will delay its introduction.

Printed newsprint glued on paper

22/03/1866

Two cut out columns of newsprint text, positioned vertically parallel, pasted onto a plus-sized A4 unlined sheet with visible warping. No title was subsequently handwritten onto the mount/paper backing.

William Porter was an attorney-general of the Cape Colony who drafted its first constitution. Porter, according to Bleek, considers parliament (and the public) unready for Responsible Government and the timing inopportune for him to risk unnecessary friction with his former executive cohort by entering parliament to oppose them. This hesitation led some to question his commitment to Responsible Government, but Porter was convinced by Saul Solomon to enter parliament in 1869 and saw its adoption in 1872. John Molteno offered the first Prime Ministership to both Saul Solomon and Porter before accepting it. Further reading on the colonial guarantee system can be found in Nicolas Degive and Kim Oosterlinck's "Independence and the Effect of Empire. The case of 'Sovereign Debts' Issued by British Colonies" (2021). The halted railway works at Tulbagh Kloof was Bourne's debut.