The Dominion. MONDAY, APRIL 14, 1913. THE BITTER STRUGGLE IN SOUTH AFRICA.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1723, 14 April 1913, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, APRIL 14, 1913.

THE BITTER STRUGGLE IN SOUTH AFRICA.

The political situation in South Africa is every day becoming more difficult to the, Botha Ministry, and more interesting, if somewhat puzzling, to observers outside the Union. General Hertzog, after a period of sulky silence, seems to have regained full possession of his vituperative powers, and, when the latest-received newspapers left Cape Town, was daily pouring out the yials of his bitter wrath,, not on the heads of the Opposition, as formerly, but upon tho heads of General Botha and other members of the Ministry. The ex-Minister is throwing logic and common-sense to the winds in order that he may denounce his former colleagues ; Measures which last session had his approval and his authority, ho this session condemns. In connection with one Bill, dealing with natives, yet to be introduced, he moved an amendment, which, if carried, could., have been construed only as' a. vote of no-confidence in the Government, Me. S/\ueh, who succeeded General Hehtzo'G as Minister for Native Affairs, is to bring forward a Bill this session to prevent natives either buying or selling land until a commission has inquired into tba question of native lands and locations. When General Hertzog found himself one of tho disjecta membra, of the Botha Oabinet—Colonel Leuchars was the other—he was preparing some more or less fantastic scheme of segregation for tho natives. He seemed to believe it possible to keep blacks and whites apart, though how this was to bo accomplished he never explained. But be has decided that Mn. Satjer has stolen his ideas, even though t Mr. Sauer'g Bill has not yet' beeji prepared. The Gape Times provides this passing glimpse of the discomfited ex-Minister attacking a former colleague: "It was easy to see that General Hertzog was very angry. With most bitin? snrcasm he thanked Mr. Saner for. his proposals, adding that his gratitude was all the more profound because that policy was so closely in accord with the policy lie had himself been advocating in pub-

lie. Ho clc&clied his teeth, and benl neXTlriTft S 'Y ag ° *<> ™ Jieafcd Ins thanks again and again." General Botha is mcnaccd by General; Hbrtzoq and his following within tho House nf Assembly, and by Gbnehad Db Wet, and other ficrct 'iprccht Ajri.kmur.lin orators in different parts of the Union. Those gentlemen, to whom the pleasant ari of euphemism is unknown, bluntly demand the reinstatement of General Hertzog or the resignation ol General Botha. General De Wei is more entertaining as n. political speaker than he was as a guerrilla leader. Ho has taken up the cansr oi General Hertzog with quite praiseworthy ardour. His eulogies of the rejected Minister have becomc stale through repetition; but his comments on General Botha invariably possess in a high degree the merit of newness. Some one, it is whispered, is keeping the zealous General well supplied with ammunition. Last month he was at Kopjes in. tho Free Stateand the Sunday Post, states that his words were "as wild and whirling as they were when he delivered his famous 'dungheap' oration in Pretoria last December." The General is painfully candid. General Hbrtzog," he.reminded the Kopjes gathering, "has in plain language denied every statement made by General Botha regarding the negotiations that took place between. the two parties in the Cabinet. Personally, I will not say. that General .Botha has lied j but we are still i? /? dark." The ex-Minister, BayE the Oape Times, has prepared an answer to the Prime Minister's letter to the South African party, and that in a portentous document oi thirty-six foolscap pages. General Botha is reaping tho whirlwind, and, probably, the worst has not yet ( been revealed. General Hertzoo's reply will doubtless- prove instruc- ' t-ive. -.. . _ General Hertzog has recently found influential allies in a considerable section of clergymen belonging to the Dutch Reformed Church. In the regions of the backveld the Dutch Beformed clergymen wield power to an extraordinary extent, so that _ this new accession to his forces will doubtless greatly hearten the ex-Minister, in his contest with the Premier- and Ministry. , These clergymen have suddenly discovered that i 'National Teaching University, to be erected within the grounds of Groot Schuur, will, for some obscure reason, be more to the advantage of English than Dutch students. _ Half a million sterling has been given to establish this university by De Beers, the late Alfred Beit, and the late Sir Julius WernHERj 'and one objection formulated by the clergymen was' that this money had been presented for political and party purposes. As a matter of fact, the idea of a great university in the Cape Peninsula, a Parliamentary paper phows, first occurred to General' Smuts, a member of the Botha Ministry. He succeeded in diverting to the Groot Schuur scheme £200,000, which had been .bequeathed by Mr. Beit for the erection of a college at Johannesburg, and induced Sir Julius Werniier to contribute no less a sum than £250,000. Now, the clergymen have fallen back on the'plea that the University Bill fails to give the Dutch equal language rights. It is the Free State quarrel over again, but on a grander scale. A memorandum issued by the Church Council demands that the British and Dutch languages be placed on an equal footing in the new university. This means that the professors, like teachers in elementarj schools in the Free State, shall give instruction first in the one tongue and then in the other. Such a demand as this can bij characterised as but the outcome of sheer ignorance, and rampant 'racialism. The University Bill, if persevered with, may bo productive of a definite crisis. General Smuts threatens to resign if the Bill is rejected. The Premier has now an excellent opportunity to discover his strength and bring about a regrouping of parties.