The Dominion. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1910. THE SOUTH AFRICAN ELECTIONS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 925, 19 September 1910, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1910. THE SOUTH AFRICAN ELECTIONS.

Although the complete returns of the first Union general election are no't.likely to reach us for a day or two, owing to the, fact that results in the extreme north of: the-Trans-vaal must be brought in by dispatch rider, sufficient is known to show that the special correspondent who recently predicted a Dutch majority of from'ten to V-six-teen , was. well advised., ', The earlier returns, naturally': flattered Unionist prospects, because they in-' eluded all the Band electorates, and they are their 1 stronghold.- ' : . Later returns, being cxclusiyely rural, may be expected to. more than counterbalance this, and the final majority should bo about fourteen. Prom the personal.point'of view; the outstanding features of the.election are,the defeat of .'.General Botha, the'-se'.vere treatment dealt out to two; other : Ministers',..Both Britishers converted to Dutch methods, and the" uniform success of the mining magnates. General Botha deliberately'left his own district to oppose a. candidate whom, in the days when "he affected .to;favour coalition/ he;considered to' be.-South. Africa'.s -best friend, and to be decisively ; defeated under such circumstances in ' a single-handed' contest,must be .very galling.''.'lt'.is- : impossible to extend -a.-full-measure of. sympathy to General : , Botha in his trouble...:-Hb' has bji.en...-beaten fairly,and squarely in- a Dutch, cen- , tre, on a battle-ground' of his ... own choosing, by an' opponent l who, is one of the ablest all-round men,'.and one of. the: frankest in South , Africa. General Botha's': behaviour: during, the last twelve months'has evidently! revived in -Anglo-African minds the' old opinion, formed', in the/earlier days afttr Vereenigih'g, that'hb was .weak and/vacillating to an 'oxtent that often created the impression of. duplicity.-; It is to. the revival of' this opinion, doubtless, that General' Botha o^es. a ; -' severe, and :.wellmerited re'verse. /Mr. Hull, a conr, vert of!some.' years' standing, has been annihilated in a Worldhgman Band' electorate,' and ,Mr< Moor,', aconvert of yesterday) 'prior to; which' fio_ was/Premier .. of Natal, ; ihas failed: .to_ defeat \ /his' ■'• Unionist opponent in one of the most Dutch' districts of -Natal.'.-" The' defeat of Mb.'.- Abe Bailey by the' nominee of Sir J. B. Robinson is regrettable, and the Unionists-lose'a most able man at Jeppes, where the combined Dutchand Labour vote enabled Mr. Cresswell; .of white labour notoriety,' to defeat Mr. .Feetham,, late a: member of the . Transvaal /Upper House, and before that a conspicuous success, as town clerk.-. of:-' Johan-. nesburg.-..-' Sir. Willem ' van "' Hulsteyn's "recent/ return to the Dutch party, seems to have, been ■curiously, mistimed.; In' the classification 'of., parties"-'.'the. Natal'• members figure.;■:■-;,as, /"Independents." ,/ ; .It .was a quite , unnecessary name for /them "to '/adopt./ If. Union is to harm Natal in anyway, it will be due to Dutch action, and not to Unionist./ It will probably be found; that if. any Natal. '-: member fails to support Dr. Jameson .'he-will. •lose his seat, at'the next electibfi.' For all practical purposes, 'therefore, we class, this little sorcalled Independent: party as Unionist. The Labour party of two,/one, of whom has/never been a "labouring" man, may be expected to support the Gov: ernment at first,, but may change its views later. The Dutch have made racialism the main, indeed the only, issue'of the, .election. The great possibilities, nay, certainties, /of the country as a British colony, cannot, be either fully or quickly realised, so long as the curse of racial antagonism is fostered. Anyone who, directly, or .indirectly, ( helDs.:,the ad-.' vocates of this antagonism is, even in the. opinion of General Botha, so recently./expressed as.: Ju1y...29. an. -active, enemy of his flag and oi ;the 'country/which gives hjm his living. '.The immediate future of General BothA and his.Cabinet is likely to be < very interesting. So far as administration is concerned,.. it is as well to realise at once that there' is a strong possibility that the, British element will be in very,-much the same position as it was with the late Transvaal Government. Public of-' fices will be ,<given_ mainly ,to the Dutch. An exception may,'perhaps, be/made in the technical posts of the Agricultural Department,, because the Dutch are growing so .keen/to learn modern methods that they would _ not tolerate the appointment of their countrymen. ' / ■■

.As regards policy, the' position is novel as well as interesting. General BoTha starts : unburdened with any definite pledges, or any clear other than that; on August 11 General Smuts told.his audience that. "thoiv policy 'was provisional only. When the elections were over the party would arrange another" 1 But whatever his final Dutch majority may bo, General Botha, at least; can know that it is absolutely and always solid.! There is no political party in the world better'diseiplined than the'.African Dutch." Every reader ,of , The Transvaal from Within,-fill remember that oven the most progressive member ". of the First Raacl never failed to, support Mr. Kruger when the final pinch came. In' the days before he "found salvation,". Mr. Merr'iman, the presont loader of' tho Bond, ' directed •streams of his bitterest sarcasm on tho iron discipline with which the Bond was ruled by the late "Mr. Hofmeye. Short of a pledge, however, there is every indication that Lord 'Milner's great schemes of agricultural development will be pressed on. Much the same may, wo think, bo said of railway develops ment, and, perhaps, of defence. It is when education . crops up that General Botha's troubles will begin. He has no known convictions on the subject, he has a Cabinet, and the majority is believed to be against him and, in favour of General Hertzog. Tho probabilities are that the latter will have his way for. the present, but only as regards" the Free State, and little Dutch and English children will continue to be taught one half of their history and Scripture lessons in their ntothcr tongue, and the other half in a language of which at the best they only know just the few words, that .they"should oxsh know. Meanwhile the agitation

against Hertzogism will . continue and increase all over the Union, and before, another twelve months are over pressure of. English and- educated Dutch opinion will, we think, have killed it. Already the agitation is having effect. Six weeks ago General .Smuts was against compulsion. On September 10 he is found telling Hertzogism is. I dead. In the long run each language will 'probably be treated as a foreign language to the other race, but the study of it will be made compulsory; and it will be dealt with liberally in /the': time-table. The native liquor question.must be faced at an early date, because the laws of the States do not agree. The Dutch wine farmers at the Cape ought to be out-voted now by the Unionists and the progressive Dutch of the other/States, and with strict' universal prohibition of the sale of liquor to natives a fruitful source of native crime will vanish. The larger/question known as the native question, involving franchise,.:education; and other changes, has to be settled. _ But it can-.hardly, be said to.be ripe for, or needing, present treatment. 1 "Marking time" on Section 35 of the Constitution, which restricts the franchise to the. white race, is likely to. commend itself' to the Transvaal, the Free State; and Natal, and also, except at election time,-to many in Cape Colony. If. General Botha- meddles with this question he will be meddlings with the only subject on which he could possibly, shatter his party; ' 'On general, social- questions, General. Botha has ho' developed policy, andno enthusiasm. He will doubtless annex industrial compensation and similar planks 'of-the'Unionist platform.. The future' 'prosperity of South Africa can" only be secured by the increase of _ the British population. ■-. That V this increase may. bo large, and.that'itmay come quickly, should ~be.' the hope of. everyone, who has the ■ welfare of the Empire/at heart. • ";.'- ■'-■■•'-.-