UNITY OF SOUTH AFRICA.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3022, 20 October 1908, Page 5

UNITY OF SOUTH AFRICA.

-ONE STATE, ONE GOVERNMENT, ONE PEOPLE." SPEECHES AT THE BRITISH SQUADRON BANQUET. Received October 19, 9.55 p.m. DURBAN, October 19. At the Government banquet at Durban, give'i in honour of the visit of the British squadron, the speeches chiefly referred to the spirit of hopefulness with regard to South African unity. ■MrJ. De Villicrs, the Transvaal Attorney-General, said that he regretted that the convention was a secret one, as the statesmanlike utterances of the delegates wera well calculated to convince the public and to secure a satisfactory solution of the matter.

Mr J. C. Smuts (Colonial Secretary of the Transvaal) appealed to the"public to banish suspicions that the Convention was either hostile to Natal or to the British throughout South Africa. On the contrary, the delegates were trying on a basis of perfect equality and justice to, secure an enduring non-racial settlement of the question. Although peace between the British and Boers was concluded at Vereeniging, yet until a further larger step had been taken there would remain a certain element of disunion and discord. The Convention, he trusted, would perfect the work begun at Vereeniging, otherwise State bickerings might strangle South Africa's future. The people must make sacrifices to secure the high ideal—"one State, one Government, one people."