SOUTH AFRICAN CONSTITUTION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8169, 31 July 1906, Page 3

SOUTH AFRICAN CONSTITUTION.

- m A STIKBIXG AUSTBALI.YX APPEAL, I'MTY OF EMPIRE E.VDAiSUKKEU. liecein.il 30, y. 12 I'.iii. Eomxi.n, July 30. Mr B. R. Wise, m a letter iv >'=<- "Tunes," appeals to the iiou=e oi Commons to consicer the cor.:U;utiun ot the I'i..nsvaal unJ as affecting the whoa. Lmpiie. Every year Lana.'a, Australia, ana South Africa are drawing nearei together, more mutually dcierid.rii, and the dream ol c!o?ei union has .»:- ready hrci the imagination vi meir peoples. But it is obvious," iit says, "that tiie couuiii"n ot any pol.Utal union i» ainularuy ot civilisation and sympathy <>i political ideals. There can be no sucii similarity betueen tlie iirogresMve democracis ot Australia and Canada, and the narrow-minded predicants of un read farmers, who, if the Transvaa! were handed back to the Dutch, vuli within five years rule in South Africa. If we believe that British rule is more conducive to personal freedom and social justice than any of the nations, it would be a crime against the Empire and humanity to hand the government to a race so undevelopd as the Boers. It should be remembered hat such Libera! statesmen as Lord Durham and the • first Lord Elsin, in wiving Canada self-government, made British su premacy the paramount consideration."' "The Boer, like the French-Cana-dian," continues Mr Wise, "can become loyal and British. The transformation requires time, patience. and administration accordinß to spirit instead of the letter of the Liberal doctrine that, geographical ly, South Africa is the keystone of the Imperial Arch. Never since the Stamp duy which lost us America. have proposals lx-en submitted tParliament more fraught with dan jrer to the fabric of our union than those relating to the constitution of the Transvaal and Oranpia. The peace of the world depends on Parliament's decision." The "Times" <V«rribos ,f,,» t,. ttrr as a striking and sis of the narrowness ~' • ■ „ rnnrgin whereon the vita! issue- !'->ng.