The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1932. SOUTH AFRICA’S LEADERS.

Hokitika Guardian, 30 December 1932, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1932. SOUTH AFRICA’S LEADERS.

Tne Prime Minister of South Africa, ueneval joints Dairy -uamik Hei-uzog, has iield ollice since 1924. lie is or uernn.n origin. He was born in South Africa in lbod and educated at Amsterdam University. He settled in the Orange tree State, and vva's appointed a .judge m leilo. Dur.ng the Boer War lie was a Boer general and one of the leaders of the Free State Dutch. He tome a prominent .part in the consultations tnat preceded the peace of Vcrceuigmg, holding out to the end against the moderate counsels of Gen- ; epils Botha and Smuts. General Herty.og was one of those who drafted the scheme for the Union of South Africa and lie took office under General Botha jn the first "Union Government ae Minister of Justice- He quarrelled with the moderates and was left out of the reconstructed Botha Ministry, a.:d he then formed his Nationalist Party. When the Great War broke out General Hertzog resisted the ■ co-opd ation cl Generals Botha and Smuts with Britain in the campaign. At the 1924 election the Nationalists be-, came the stro-go-.t party and General Hertzog became Prime Minister. 1-lis administration wars successful to a greater degree than had been anticipated. He obtained the support of the Labour Party By pledging himself not to demand sece..sion from the British Empire during the life of that Parliament'. T'e l man Jbhannes Be Villiars Roos, the South African lawyer and ipoliticiah, was horn at Capetown in 1879, and educated at the South African 'College there, taking the B.A. and LL.B degrees. He became an advocate and at the end of the South African War in 1902 started practice at Lichtenburg, in the Transvaal, and became a K.C. He ■was elected to Hie Union House of Assembly in 1915 and joined the Nationalist (Dutch) Party, being one of its most ardent members. As such he was bitterly opposed to the policy of General. Smut.;, Leader of the South African Party, who wn s working for a union of the two white races in South Africa, with a view to their co-operation in the development of the Dominion. Among, the Nationalists there wms a movement toward trying to secure ti.e independence of South Africa under the control of the Dutch-speaking people. In 1924 the Nationalists came into power with the support of the Labour Party and General Hertzog, the Prime Minister, made Mr Roos Minister of Just'ce. Tw'o years later the Imperial Conference in London, on General Hertzog’s initiative, laid down a new definition jf the status of the Dom’nions. Mr Roos then moderated his extremist attitude, as he saw that South Africa had now in effect obtained the essentials of nationhood for which he and his followers had been striving. A bitter controversy arose over the design for the new South African .flag. General Hertzog supporting a design which excluded the Union Jack. Mr Root;, seeing that it was the last point holding the two sections apart, arranged a conference between Generals Hertzog and -Smuts, at which a compromise was efleeted by the inclusion of the Union Jack as well as the Transvaal and Orange Free State emblems. At the end of 1927 he advocated the deletion of an article in the eomytitutioni of the Nationalist Party, which declared a republican form of government to be its ideal. Hi« object was, he said, to pave the way for a union of the Nationalists I with the South African Party, so that all well-meaning Afrikanders might work solely for the economic pros- ' perity of the Dominion. In 1928 dissensions in the Labour Party threatened to develop into a definite split- As the Nationalists relied on Labour’s support in the 1929 elections, lie worked hard to heal the.breach. He then had much to do wij.h the conclusion of the sovcrolv-critiohs''d treaty .w’th Germany, which, ho hold, did not interfere with the preferences given to Britain.