African Affairs.

Hokitika Guardian, 22 March 1922, Page 1

African Affairs.

AUSTRALIAN AND N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION. MR SMUTS. APPRECIATION OF SERVICES. TRIAL OF PRISONERS. CAPETOWN, March 20. Mr Smuts ipaid a very warm tribute to the police. He said it was a young force, embracing many people not in agreement with the Government. Of all the bodies engaged, the policie most deserved thanks. Government has decided that those wounded and the relatives of the fallen will be dealt with on the most generous terms. He also highly praised tine Durban Light Infantry. They were all young men, practically school boys at the beginning of their training, On Sunday evening the centre of Johannesburg would havo fallen into the hands of the revolutionaries, but for this body of brave men. He expressed deep gratitude to the natives. He had greatly feai»ed they might be stampeded, but they kept their heads, -and proved one of the most stable elements on the Rand. The whites owed a deep debt of gratitude to the natives in this grave crisis. Martial law would remain in force till the formal Act of Indemnity was passed by Parliament. Dealing with the question of trials, after reviewing the different methods, Mr Smuts said Government had come to the conclusion that the best course was not to try the rebels by court martial or special tribunal, but by ordinary courts. Many would be tried for murder, and serious offences under the Dutch law. Referring to the appointment of an industrial commission to enquire into matters in dispute, Government had abandoned the idea of nominees of the Federation and Chamber of Miries, but intended to aj>point an impartial body. Messrs Hertzog and Boydell asked for a Select Committee, hut the Premier replied that it would lead to grave confusion and prejudice if such a body were taking evidence at the same time as the courts of justice. Tt might be practicable at a later CAPETOWN. March 20. General Smuts was loudly cheered on entering the Union Assembly. Making a statement on the rising, be said that when he last spoke in House, practically the whole Rand, from one end to the othqr, except Boysburg and a small portion of the centre of Johannesburg was in the hands of revolutionaries. He paid a tribute to the prompt action of the Minister of Defence in mobilising the Burghers, and to the latter, saying they had magnificent organisation. There had, he said been a grave danger that the whole Rand might have become a scene of bloodshed and murder such as would take one back to the days of the French Revolution. Not till the early hours of Sunday, March 12th, was it possible to change this situation. After that, rapid progress was made. When he left Johannesburg on last Friday, the situation was almost as if nothing had happened. The country, he declared had escaped a. tremendous danger. The strike had hpen submerged by the revolution. That had been admitted by the. resolution of the Mine Workers’ Union in dissociating themselves from the revolutionary movement. It was clear, he claimed, that the Trades Unions’ Federation Executive had not been a free agent. Dark influences were in th background. The Executive bad made a fatal mistake in not repudiating the movement for revolution as soon as the Council of Action had ap. peared; but in waiting till after all this trouble and bloodshed before it had repudiated the revolution. The Government had heen blamed for not arresting the revolutionary leaders. There was a time when most of them had been in gaol. They ought to have remained there, but the Magistrates bad let them out on the flimsiest possible bail. It might be asked what were the prospects? The aims of the revolutionaries were from the statements made by their leaders, who were really out for' Red Revolution of the French Republic type. There wa s no doubt about that. The fact that had impressed him most was that if these people, even for -a few days before the commandos c ame up, had obtained the mastery of the whole of Johannesburg Rand, they might have then set up .revolutionary tribunals. People, he. said, might have been executed by hundreds, and Johannesburg been changed into an ocean of blood. That, was their way to create a soviet Republic. It might be said that the revolutionaries were mad, he continued, but they had had a great measure of success. They no doubt had expected assistance. Luckily they were disappointed. One ; of the most consolatory facts was the response made to the Government’s appeal. He hoped that what had happened had cleared the air. It would now be realised all over the world that in South Africa—whatever its politics there was a vast body of quiet, solid, public opinion, which would support law and order and public authority.