SOUTH AFRICAN FEDERATION

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 13, 9 February 1909, Page 3

SOUTH AFRICAN FEDERATION

The special correspondent of tlie London Times, who followed the proceeding of the Convention, wrote to tliut joiirnel recently :

The force which, as was obvious from the beginning, dominates the Convention, is the Transvaal delegation ; and altiwugfi other individuals niayjiere and there modify the Constitution, it would hardly be an exaggeration to say that in its essence it will be the production of the band of eight men led by General Botha. It is not that the individuals composing it are immeasurably superior to individuals among the other delegations ; what forms their peculiar strength iu the Convention is their remarkable co-operation. la the first place, they are the only delegation who seriously thought out their programme beforehand, consulted aiming themselves, and had out their point of difference before approaching the Convention. Some of the Cape delegates took credit to themselves for not having had these preliminary discussions on the ground that Month Africa, not the Colony, should be their qare; lint.too much may be made of this point of view, for the Transvaal and Cape Colony at any rate are ill some respects only microcosms of South Africa. Anyhow, the result has been that the Transvaal delegation was the only one which came to the Coavsntion as a body with a clear conception of what they meant the Constitution to be. This was an advantage not merely to the Transvaal, but to the whole Convention, as it undoubtedly tended to define the issues. Further, tlx;confidence felt by llit"members of tlie delegation in one another and the new camaraderie which resulted from their preliminary interchange of vieus, li;iv<had tile best effect o'n the spirit of lliv whole Convention, and have probably done much to secure the harmony which has characterised all the proceedings. Again, the Transvaal delegates look as if they meant business. They have Hooded Durban with a large stall' of secretaries and advisers, by no means an merely ornamental stall', but a bam] of hard-worliing piiid cutibusiastiic rtiuag, men. The staff is fully employed drawing up statistics, elaborating arguments, and presenting cases for the benefit not merely of the Transvaal, but of the Convention generally.