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Award. South West Boundary of the South African Republic. On the 5th August, 1885,t the Referee appointed by the President

of the Orange Free State, under Article II of the Convention between Great Britain and the South African Republic of 27th February, 1884t respecting the South West Boundary of the South African Republic, pronounced the following .A.,vard :

" Whereas it is stipulated by Article II of a Convention between Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the South Mrican Republic, signed in London on the 27th day of February, 1884, by the Representatives of the respective parties to the said Convention, that ' Her Majesty's Government and the South African Republic will each appoint a person to proceed together to beacon off the amended south-west boundary as described in Article I of this Convention, and the President of the Orange Free State shall be requested to appoint a Referee, to whom the said persons shall refer any questions on which they may disagree respecting the interpretation of the said Article,' and that' the decision of such Referee shall be final ' ;

" And whereas Her Majesty's Government did appoint Captain Claude Reignier Conder, R.E., and the Government of the South African Republic did appoint Tielman Niewoudt de Villiers, Esq., as such persons to proceed together to beacon off the said amended south-west boundary;

" And whereas thereafter the President of the Orange Free State, being thereunto requested, did on the 5th day of June, 1885, appoint Meluis de Villiers, one of the Judges of the High Court of Justice of the Orange Free State, to be such Referee as aforesaid;

"And whereas the before-mentioned Captain Claude Reignier. Conder, R.E., and Tielman Nieuwoudt de Villiers, E:sq., did refer to the said Referee the following question on which they disagree respecting the interpretation of Article I of the said Convention, namely, what extent of ground to the west of the roads from Lotlakana to Kunana, and from KunR,na to Taungs, as such roads have been accepted and agreed upon by the Commissioners of the Governments of Her 1"lajesty and of the South African Republic respectively, was intended to be included in the South African Republic by the words' skirting Kunana so as to include it and all its garden ground, but no more, in the Transvaal ' ;

" Now therefore I, the said Referee, do hp.rehy decide and declare that the said words denote the ground included between the said roads and the following boundaries, namely, a straight line from a point on the road from Lotlakana to Kunana, as accepted and agreed upon by the respective Commissioners before-mentioned, 1 mile south-west of the 'point where that road crosses the 'spruit' known as 'Tlakayeng' to a point on the' kopje ' immediately behind Batubatu's kraal where the line next to be mentioned reaches the summit of that 'kopje' thence a straight line to a point 200 yards north-west of an isolated hut whereof compass observations were taken by the British Commissioner in the presence of the Referee and of the Commissioner of the South African Republic, this straight line passing immediately behind the huts of Batubatu's kraal so as to exclude them from the South African Republic; next a straight line from the said point 200 yards from the said hut to the north-western corner of Ramatlane's garden, of which similar observations were taken; thence a straight line skirting the western side of the garden to its south-western corner, that point being very nearly magnetic north of a ' kopje,' being the northernInost of three 'kopjes' forming the termination of a range of hills which is crossed by the road from Kunana to Marebogo~ about 6 miles from the former place; next a straight line from the said south-western corner of Ramatlane's garden to the summit of the said' kopje ' ; thence a line along the ridge of the said range of hills to the point where the hill is crossed by the road last mentioned.