The members of the Commission with power to vote were Messrs. Schalk W. Burger, Member of the Executive Council (Chairman); J.S.  Smit, Government Railway Commissioner; Christiaan Joubert, Minister of Mines; Schmitz-Dumont, Acting State Mining Engineer; and J.F. de Beer, first special Judicial Commissioner, Johannesburg.  Mr. Thos.  Hugo, the General Manager of the National Bank, was appointed financial adviser, and certain advisory members were arbitrarily selected by the Government.  The complete exclusion of all those who had had any direct or indirect association with the late Reform movement or with those in any way connected with it strengthened the conviction that the Government designed the Commission to be a whitewashing one; but whatever the design may have been it would be doing an injustice both to the Government officials and to the advisory members to have it supposed that they were parties to such an idea.  They were not; they did their work admirably, and no inquiry could have been conducted in a better spirit.  This, however, was not foreseen, and it was with the greatest difficulty that the Uitlanders were induced to view the thing seriously and to realize that, no matter how it had occurred, this was a supreme opportunity for proving to the world the soundness of their case.  The report and proceedings are published by the Witwatersrand Chamber of Mines in a volume containing over 700 pages of printed matter and a number of diagrams.  The whole constitutes a damning indictment of the Government, as the following extracts from the report of the Commission testify:—­

Your Commission are pleased to state that at present there exist all the indications of an honest administration, and the State, as well as the Mining Industry, must be congratulated upon the fact that most of the mines are controlled and directed by financial and practical men who devote their time, energy, and knowledge to the mining industry, and who have not only introduced the most up-to-date machinery and mining appliances, but also the greatest perfection of method and process known to science.  But for these a good many of the mines now producing gold would not have reached that stage....

To avoid such a calamity (viz., the closing down of the mines) your Commission are of opinion that it is the duty of the Government to co-operate with the mining industry, and to devise means in order to make it possible for lower-grade mines to work at a profit, and generally to lighten the burdens of the mining industry.  This and the development and equipment of the new mines are a few examples among others where it is desirable that the Government shall take an active part, especially when the fact is taken into consideration that up till now the mining industry must be held as the financial basis, support, and mainstay of the State.

The question, therefore, becomes one of national economy, and it is incumbent upon the Government, considering the rapid growth and progress of the country, to so alter its fiscal laws and systems of administration as to meet the requirements of its principal industry....