Editing Transvaal Colony (section)

== 1907 election ==
{{see also|Cabinet of Louis Botha (Transvaal Colony)}}
[[File:1907 Transvaal Colony parliamentary election map.svg|thumb|1907 election results.]]
The election was held on 20 February 1907 and Het Volk won the election gathering 37 of 69 seats.<ref name="Bright">{{cite book | title=Chinese Labour in South Africa, 1902-10: Race, Violence, and Global Spectacle | publisher=Palgrave Macmillan | last=Bright | first=Rachel | year=2013 | location=United Kingdom | isbn=9781137316578}}</ref>{{rp|173}} It stood 43 candidates and won 34 seats outright, all the country seats were gained except [[Barberton, Mpumalanga|Barberton]], three seats in Pretoria and four on the [[Witwatersrand]] with three independents aligning themselves with the party.<ref name=Bright/>{{rp|173}} The Progressive Party stood 34 candidates and won 21 seats, twenty on the Witwatersrand and one in Pretoria with five Randlords winning seats.<ref name=Bright/>{{rp|174}} Other parties included the Nationalists (old Transvaal Responsible Government Association) that won 6 seats, four on the Witwatersrand and two in Pretoria but their leader [[Richard Solomon (barrister)|Richard Solomon]] failed to win his seat.<ref name=Bright/>{{rp|174}}  The [[Transvaal Independent Labour Party]] won three seats in the Witwatersrand after contesting 14, but their leader [[Frederic Creswell]] failed to gain a seat.<ref name=Bright/>{{rp|174}}

Louis Botha became Prime Minister of the Transvaal and Agriculture minister with Jan Smuts as its colonial secretary.<ref name=Readers/>{{rp|270}} Other new cabinet ministers included J de Villiers, Attorney-General and Mines, [[Henry Charles Hull]], Treasurer, Johann Rissik, Land and Native Affairs, Harry Solomon held Public Works and Edward Rooth as [[whip]].<ref name=Bright/>{{rp|174}} The Progressives in opposition would be led by [[George Farrar]] and [[Abe Bailey]] as the opposition whip.<ref name=Bright/>{{rp|174}} They all assembled for the first time in March 1907. After the 1907 election, the issue of Chinese mining labour was revisited with Het Volk believing there was enough labour in the form of black and white miners.<ref name=Bright/>{{rp|174–5}} Taking into account the economic interests of the Transvaal, Botha ensured a gradual policy of repatriation of Chinese labour.<ref name=Bright/>{{rp|174–5}}

By 1908, the Boers had won control, in elections, of the [[Colony of Natal|Natal]], [[Orange River Colony|Orange River]] and Transvaal colonies, but under British influence there was the need now to unite the country under one government.<ref name=Readers/>{{rp|270}}