The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-11-12
THE BOER PARLIAMENT.
a Noble Pile of BuiIdings-Queer
Scenes in the Sessions of the Raad.
From the London Mau

From the London Mail.
A noble pile of buildings, stately, impos-
Ing and dazzlingly white in the blatant
sunshine against the bluest of blue skies.
The Volksraad building fronts on Mar
ket Square, Pretoria, and looks directly
into the church, which is less imposing
almost humble, in its modest absence of
any particular order of architecture, save
the practically utilitarian 10 the right
of the government buildings is great
square block of four or five verandered
stories in hight. This is the Grand Hotel
and stands on the site of what was once
the comparatively humble dwelling of Mr..
Lys, one of the Oldest and most resolute-
ly honest and reputable Transvaal burgh-
ers. He is now dead. and his son lives
elsewhere. To the left of the buildings is
a queer wedge-shaped block Of offices, be-
hind which is the (heater. and in front of
which are two or three gnarled old oaks,
the appointed center of the weekly auc-
lions which take place on the Market
Square.
Every Saturday, in the piping times of
peace, the square is fun of hucksters, buy
ers, wagons. carts. horses, oxen and stray
stalls, where almost anything may be
bought, from a rifle to the latest comic
song. 1t is very ordinary thing to see
sales advertised in the Pretoria papers as
taxing pace 'uudef the OAKS.
The summit of the Raadzaal, or govern
ment buildings, is suTmounted by bronze
female figure which is intended to typify
the Spirit of Liberty. Incredulous Beers,
however, always agog to spy out some hid
den taunt or allusion, insist that ii is a
statue of Queen Victoria.
There is a great portico, and a flight of
steps that gives access to the inner hall.
The doors are guarded by artillerymen in
cords, jackboots, a blue coat, a white he'll
met revolver slung across their Shout
derS and a carbine in the hand. From
the hail a staircase, wide, well proper
toned and handsomely appointed. leads
up to the first floor where the great
Radical, or House of Commons, is stu
ated
A fine, large, lofty hall. well decorated
in somber colors, on the walls portraits OF
past Presidents of the South African Re
public Galleries for the press and the
public. A great dais, on which sit the
chairman of the First Raad, the vice
chairman and Paul Kruger, when he
deigns to be present, which is too often for
the equanimity of some of the members
Below them sit the secretaries and clerks
and below them again are three concen-
trio horseshoes of desks, each with its
own armchair. Here the members sit.
There are not thirty of them all told.
Here and there. between the Raadsleden
glasses, which are much used by intending
speakers
Above the chairman's head Is the Trans
Vaal coat of arms surmounted by the
vierkeur, or fOur-colored national flag
red, white, blue and green-below which
is the eountry's motto, "Eendraagt maakl
magt" Union makes strength.
Round about the horseshoe tables sits a
medley of more or less uncouth farmers
Nearly all have fine, picturesque heads
and by a curious freak of atavism. de-
spite all their terrible degeneration for
nearly a century, the heads in the ag-
gregate distinctly suggest the same type
as in Rembrandt's States General" al
The Hague. And no wonder, for the Boer
of to-day and the burghers of that date
are directly related by descent in the
fourth and fifth generations
The speaking is hoarse, gruff, cultural
hesitating. rarely fluent unless one of the
! leaders and known orators gets up to pour
! forth his views. The President Is a pool
! speaker as to manner, his matter on tht
controversy is often excellent convincing
| full of apt SMILES and exactly calculated
| 10 the mental capacity of his audience
/ Now and then the ever willy Dom Pau
| Stimulates anger or disgust, talks about re.
| signing and stalks out Of the Council
| chamber. But it is mere bluff, and has
! occurred too often for even the youngest
member to be taken in by his periodical cry
! of Wolf"
| The sttings in the Rad take place ir
! the mornings; occasionally in times OF
stress in the afternoons, but never in the
| evenings. Very often a secret session
! takes place All strangers and the pres.
are excluded, and the debates are said tC
wax very hot and personal Each hour
| an adjournment takes place for smoking
and pipes are produced which are prompt
| ~ loaded up with the curiously dry but
very fascinating Boer tobacco from Maya
! liesberg,
The present pile Of government buildings
Is Of quite recent date. Formerly the Rad
| sat in a tumbledown shanty with a thatch.
| ed roof, just across the Church Square
| During the building of the present edifct
| their honors met in the theater, and il
| Is said that the meretricious surrounding.
were not without their effect on the
! speeches
| The present Raadzaal was arranged &C.
| cording TO the designs of Mr. Bourne, a
| well-known London architect.