The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. MONDAY, MARCH 25, 1907.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2038, 25 March 1907, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. MONDAY, MARCH 25, 1907.

From every item of information received from Soutli Africa of late tlio experiment of granting self-gov-ernment to the Boors and other inhabitants of the Transvaal Colony is likely to provo a success. That tiio British Cabinet in granting self-gov-ernment so soon wero taking a bold and highly problematical stop was not only assorted but loudly proclaimed, especially by the opponents ol the Government. At the time that the granting of a Constitution was first announced there seemed to be no reasonable hope that the Boois would so soon forget their disappointment for the loss of their independence by conquest, or that they could be induced to act as loyal subjects of His Majesty the King, nor can it bo imagined that the Government had any sufficient guarantee that the granting of self-government would not have resulted in the encouragement and perpetuation of disloyalty. Evidently this was to some extent anticipated too, for we find that in the framing of the Constitution and the apportioning of tlio constituencies some kind of attempt was made to counter-balance the Boer vote; yet the Boers, notwithstanding, scored all along the line at the elections, and secured an absolute majority which gave to them a power that it is sale to say was never apprehended by the British Cabinet before the Constitution was signed, and if it had been it is possible that the Government would have stayed its hands in fear of the expected consequences. But ‘nothing succeeds like success,” and the policy of extreme magnanimity adopted by the Campbell Bannerman administration has apparently succeeded where less risky and more tardy treatment might not have been advantageous to the best Imperial interests. In political, as in many other movements, the unexpected somotimes happens, and it can hardly be said that the present loyal and friendly attitude that is being shown by the Transvaal Cabinet is what was until quite recently expected of it, for while it is no surprise perhaps to find a chivalrous man like General Botha (who fought like a Trojan for the country; but always fought fairly) adopting an attitude of unfeigned loyalty and giving promise of increasing friendliness, it is not! a little surprising to those who have studied . _tbo Rncv character and paid atten-

Boer traditions, his love of freedom, and natural hatred of a foreign yoke, to find that tlio whole Boer population is apparently content to bear that yoke without resentment. That resentment would be useless is of •course recognisable without much effort of the imagination; but discontent frequently simmers under, and is not deterred by disadvantageous circumstances. It is therefore more than reassuring to find that tlio risks taken by the British Government

have not been misinterpreted by tlio Boer population, but rather that the increased powers and privileges entrusted to them have been accepted as a guarantee of friendship and fair treatment as long as tlieir conduct and loyalty merits the confidence. The assurance of such a man as Air. Byers to “follow the best Parliamentary traditions of the Motherland, and also the Motherland Colony at the Cape” is a strong and spontaneous evidence that the granting of self-government was not a mistake, and the pronouncement in another quarter that “the Afrikander Bond would do nothing to retard federation” of the South African colonies is another pleasing evidence that the Boers have realised their mistakes in mistrusting the British people and treating them as enemies of tlieir country. The Boers evidently wanted enlightenment and they have got it, for they have found t'hat tlieir nurtured spirit of isolation is not to their advantage. They have found also that their reliance upon German and Dutch support was but a delusion, and that tlieir real friends are tlieir erstwhile enemies. It was to

them a costly experience, but they are wise enough to know how to turn their losses into a permanent profit by graceful submission in the first place, and ultimate fusion with the British race whom they arc now beginning to rccogniso as their real benefactors.