The Raad adjourned, as Mr. Esselen refused.
FIRST RAAD.
LOCUST EXTERMINATION.
July 21.—Mr. Roos said locusts were a plague, as in the days of King Pharaoh, sent by God, and the country would assuredly be loaded with shame and obloquy if it tried to raise its hand against the mighty hand of the Almighty.
Messrs. DECLERQ and STEENKAMP spoke in the same strain, quoting largely from the Scriptures.
The CHAIRMAN related a true story of a man whose farm was always spared by the locusts, until one day he caused some to be killed. His farm was then devastated.
Mr. STOOP conjured the members not to constitute themselves terrestrial gods and oppose the Almighty.
Mr. LUCAS MEYER raised a storm by ridiculing the arguments of the former speakers, and comparing the locusts to beasts of prey which they destroyed.
Mr. LABUSCHAGNE was violent. He said the locusts were quite different from beasts of prey. They were a special plague sent by God for their sinfulness.
July 26.—Mr. DE BEER attacking the railways said they were already beginning to eat the bitter fruits of them. He was thinking of trekking to Damaraland, and his children would trek still further into the wilderness out of the reach of the iron horse.