THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1909. SOUTH AFRICAN UNITY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3112, 10 February 1909, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1909. SOUTH AFRICAN UNITY.

A recent cablegram stated that Lord Curzon, ex-Viceroy of India, interviewed at Cape Town on the proposal that Caps Town should be the administrative and Pretoria the legislative capital or South Africa, said he believed that this arrangement regarding the South African capital was workable, judging by the Indian precedent of Simla and Calcutta. If South Africa can be brought into unity such little disadvantages as two or even three capitals can well be endured. For vvhea the feder-

atioti is once instituted, when a common Parliament is established, internal Customs lines swept away, common defence arranged, and the whole machinery of nationality set. in motion, the difficulties of legislating in one centre and of administering from another centre will either be found quite endurable or will be removed by drastic amendment. As a matter of fact, there is nothing extraordinary in a movable Parliament. For centuries English Parliaments were called at the most convenient place. Admittedly, it has been found most convenient not only to hold Parliamentary meetings in a fixed spot, but to govern the country from the same place, an obvious convenience which has led to the proposal to centralise all Indian governance at Simla. In all probability South Africa will find the same convenience of centralisation steadily making for the ultimate abandonment of the dual capital method, b"t in the meanwhile federation will have beer, attained in a friendly if clumsy manner, which is by far the most important aim at the present moment A cablegram published this morning states that the Cape Town correspondent of the London "Times" reports that the opinion is everywhere tending to accept the capital compromise, as Ministers aud officials will be compelled to travel immense distances, and will thus see the varying aspects of problems. For this reason, the correspondent says, th s ? dual capital is welcomed.