government officials from being elected to parliament or members of parliament from serving in executive positions. The conflict therefore centred on the changing of this specific section. "Although responsible government merely required an amendment to s.79 of the constitution, it transpired only after nearly twenty years in 1872 when the so-called "responsibles" under Molteno were able to command sufficient support in both houses to secure the passage of the necessary bill." Finally, with a parliamentary majority and with the Colonial Office and new Governor Henry Barkly won over, Molteno instituted responsible government, making the Ministers directly responsible to the Cape Parliament, and becoming the Cape's first Prime Minister. The ensuing period saw an economic recovery, a massive growth in exports and an expansion of the colony's frontiers. Despite political complications that arose from time to time (such as an ill-fated scheme by the British Colonial Office to enforce a confederation in Southern Africa in 1878, and tensions with the Afrikaner-dominated Government of Transvaal over trade and railroad construction), economic and social progress in the Cape Colony continued at a steady pace until a renewed attempt to extend British control over the hinterland caused the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer Wars in 1899. An important feature of the Cape Colony under responsible government was that it was the only state in southern Africa (and one of very few in the world at the time) to have a non-racial system of voting. Later however – following the South Africa Act 1909 to form the Union of South Africa – this multi-racial universal suffrage was steadily eroded, and eventually abolished by the Apartheid government in 1948. Former British colonies with responsible government The following is a list of British colonies, and the year when responsible government was established in the territory: 1848 – Province of Nova Scotia 1848 – Province of New Brunswick 1848 – Province of Canada 1851 – Prince Edward Island 1855 – Newfoundland (suspended from 1934 to 1949), the Colony of New South Wales, and the Colony of Victoria 1856 – Colony of New Zealand and the Colony of Tasmania 1857 – Province of South Australia 1859 – Colony of Queensland (separated from New South Wales in that year with self-government from the beginning) 1872 – The Cape Colony, South Africa 1890 – Colony of Western Australia 1893 – Natal, South Africa 1906 – Transvaal, South Africa 1907 – Orange River