MINISTER’S BROADCAST

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20078, 26 October 1939, Page 5

MINISTER’S BROADCAST

! OLD FF.UDS FORGOTTEN I FREEDOM AND SECURITY DANGERS OF NAZISM

(Eltw. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) i (British Official Wireless.) Reed. 12 noon RUGBY, Oct, 25. i The South African Minister of Na-; tive Affairs. Colonel Denys Reitz, in j an Empire broadcast from London re- J ferred to the forthcoming presence in i London of Dominion Ministers, which j lie said, would be a great service to j a common cause and proof, not only j of Imperial, solidarity, but also of. the j realisation of the fate awaiting smaller j nations in the event of a Nazi victory, j South Africa, especially, was under j no delusion; her strategic position and j small white population, and the fact ! that she produced three-quarters of I the world's gold supply made sure j that she would be the “first to go I under” should Germany succeed.

Colonel Reitz, after dealing with I fundamental distinctions between j South Africa and the other Dominions j in race and language, said: “In the ! past we fought two bitter wars against j the British. I myself who am speak-; ing to you this afternoon served for j three years under arms against the British Empire, and I went into exile ; in a strange land rather than serve \ under the British flag. I mention these things to show ybu the difference be- j ■.ween our own past and that of the ! other Dominions.

Progress Within Empire “But the generosity of Britain, un- I | Known in history, has conferred -on j j us an even greater measure of lib- j c-rty than we enjoyed under our own former republics. To-day, as a volun- i tary partner of the Britisii Common- f wealth, we are not only free, but far i safer than we could hope to be if we i i were on our own with the smash and j i grab policy which is now trying to I dominate the world.

Passing to events in South Africa'* on the outbreak of war, the Minister j said that many Afrikaans-speaking I peoples favoured at first neutrality, | but the position was rapidly improv- : ing because it was realised that a ] neutral South Africa would be dis-; graced and would be at the mercy j of Germany, who would strip from ] her South-West Africa, which South African troops captured in 1915. “We have achieved liberty, progress :ind security within the four corners | of the Empire and we are not going to exchange the substance of what we : possess for the shadows that await j us without.” The King received Colonel Reitz to-day, and later received Sir Eric; ’hipps, the former Ambassador at Paris. i