The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 1910. GENERAL BOTHA AND SOUTH AFRICA.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 778, 30 March 1910, Page 6

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 1910. GENERAL BOTHA AND SOUTH AFRICA.

Intelligence of , an ' extremely agreeable character, it would seem, may be received any day from South 'Africa; Interesting developments are expected with regard to the future of General Botha.- The latest information is to the effcct that the Transvaal: Premier' in the. Union Parliament may load, not the Dutch party, hut tho English party. If .this news he based on fact the somciwhat lengthy period of 'apprehension should he promptly terminated. What . has particularly interested Now Zealand,- and apparently all sections of the British public, have been the questions whether . peace .would prevail in South Africa, and whether the British would, receive fair play from the Dutch during the Ifirsfc period'of the Union. Two months ago the prospects of Dutch dominance were just as bright_ as the i prospects of the British holding their, own wore gloomy. But a sudden, and an unlooked-for, change has. come over the, scone. '■ Mb, John X. Merriman,. Premier of Cape Colony, and Parliamentary leader of the Afrikander Bond, without any quite valid reason, recently took to the platform'and instructed South Africa ,on' the need for maintaining unimpaired the country's present party -divisions. Mb. Merriman's position, at tho first' glance, seems peculiar. He refuses to countenance ,a coalition Gpvern-, :ment," v even during, the interim between the inauguration of thq Union and the election of tho first Parliament. His contention is' ! that the Union Government should, begin, and, be continued - entirely. ontho basis of 'existing party, and'racial' ; lines. Other party leaders and more prominent politicians—both •,' Progressive,. and strongly deprecated the continuance - of old racial cleavages. Full advantage, they advise, should ho, taken of the opportunity now. offoring for. the cr.oatipn of pew' distinctions, new policies, and new parties. ,Mr., Merriman must, realise the wisdom of the aclyice, .-yct. he continues to iter-, ate his demand^for an Opposition. "You must .have ail Opposition," says the Cape. Premier. "If you ;take the leaders of the Opposition and put them-round a table with tho leaders of the people you simply stop the system ox Parliamentary Goyernment." A puzzling man at times apparently is Mr. . Merriman of . the Cape. ■ . The Cape Premier,' in very _plain terms, has' intimated that he is ontitled to be "sent for"- by the Gov-ernor-General, that he will ' accept the position -of firsi Prime Minister of South Africa,. and that he, deserves the honour. In makiiig these announcements Mr. Jlerriman has rendered" a service to' the country as great as it was unexpected. He has called, forth, a considerable volume'of indignation from every one of;the four Colonies, and has brought to light the. knowledge that South Africa, will, scarcely on any account; accept him as first: Prime Minister. 1 This, at all events, is our reading of the situation, as depicted in the leading South African journals. The effect of Mr. Merriman's pronouncements- has been to change completely the progressives' attitude towards the Transvaal Premier. General Botha, it would now appear, is much more acceptable to the Progressives in all the Colonies than is Mr. Merriman. Thus the Sand Daily Mail is found declaring : "It is curious that numbers of people who would regard with complacency the government of South Africa by the. South African party under General Botha's leadership nevertheless are bitterly opposed to government by tho same party under Mr. Merriman's leadership." In 'another issue the same paper remarks: "Mr,. Merriman apparently docs not mind much whether the people arc deceived or not so long as the Premiership is secured to him. He wants the party system, a systom of open war, to ensure office for himself." The Transvaal Leader has the following: "There are things, however, not mentioned by Mr. Merriman which might conceivably hold his iiarty togethersuch as racial feoling and the desire io monopolise office and patronage. It is for Mr. .Merriman to show what else he is depending upon for a united following." The Johannesburg Star says: "Mr. Merriman and his friends have created a [situation proving that none of them have the remotest intention of relaxing their old political Allegiance. They have flung coalition overboard, and with it have gone co-operation; conciliation, and all its other subtle varieties."

Though (Jeneiwl Botha took tho field-with the Boer forcos and ultimately became Commandant-Gen-eral, the circumstance is well known that, until hostilities wove actually near, he strenuously .opposed the. war policy of President Kruqer.

He was born a British subjeefc and has nothing of the "typical Boer" about him. A convenient handbook supplies tho information that he cultivates music and literaturetwo varieties of refinement not unknown, but not common, to the veld. While a momber of the Transvaal Volksraad he 'distinguished himself as a politician - possessing broad views and a liberal mind. For those reasons he was seldom on very friendly terms with the President and was never a member of that autocrat's inner circle, where, it is to bo feared, mischief was too often hatched. The conviction seems to be rapidly deepening in South Africa that General Botha's true and proper place is, not with Het Volk, dc Unio, and tho Bond,, but with the Progressives. All-men of Dutch descent in the sub-continent are not members of one or other of the Dutch organisations named, and tho formal adhesion of the Transvaal Premior to the more advanced or English party would, as far as may be judged, cause no lasting surprise. General Botha has, of lato, had many communings with Progressives, Dr. Jameson, . Mr. : Walton, and others. Has he been preparing the way for his reoeption within the party, and is this, tho .explanation of Mr. Merriman's. declamations for the_ retention of all the old , party divisions? Tho.outcome of the.turmoil may therefore prove, highly dramatic; Mr. Merriitan may be> come leader of the Dutch, and General Botha leader of : the British, The Natal Mercury strongly advocates his leadership. It states that General Botha has been fettered by ; Het Yolk, do Unie, and the Bond, but he has given evidence that lie is about to abandon those shacklcs and come out as a true Liberal loador. He and General Smuts, the Durban journal believes, would form "a strong nucleus for a real Progressive Ministry." '