THE REFERENDUM IN NATAL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9552, 27 July 1909, Page 3

THE REFERENDUM IN NATAL.

Receipt of the South African files enables us to see how overwhelming ' waa the majority which carried union in the State ut Natal. It also enables the majority to be analysed. Total El c;orate For Against. 1907. Maritzburg 1,122 722 3,094 Urneeni 171 82 595 Lion's River 317 124 726 Ixopu 31G 252 873 Durban Boro' 3,509 1,435 5,998 Durban City 747 200 2,315 Victoria 506 177 1,244 Umvoti 424 79 709 Weenan 500 174 1,088 Klip River 547 141 1,138 NewcasiJe 1,124 189 2,214 Alexandra City 185 25 492 Alfred City 194 33 389 Utrecht 504 5 794 Vryheid 679 39 1,402 Melmoth 71 7 227 I Euowe 201 17 388 | 11,121 3,701 23,686! The voting was: For Union 11,121: i against 3,701; a total of 14,822 votes out of a registered total of 23,686. The polling beinu' slightly under 63 per cent is not from a New Zealand pjint of view satisfactory. At all events it may be assumed that the absentees were indifferent to the proposed change. But there is the question of the facilities and other i conditions with which w-j are not ' sufficiently familiar in this country ; to be able to come to a perfect un- ; derstaiving of popular referendum, j From this, however, the Durban returna are an exception. In that district the very great majority are British, theregbeing but few Boers, i There the voting was over 82 per | cent, and the majority was more than a two to one majority. The i majority of the whole was, we see at j the same time, just over three to one. In Newcastle the voting was ; I five to one, and that is not a Boer ! district by any means. In lha Boer ! districts such as Vryheid ard ! Utrecht, the majorities were over ! ten to one, but there the percerI tage of voters enrolled seems to J have been smaller. On the whole, j the three to one of the total of | Natal is a strong and straight rei ply to the outcry that preceded the voting. From that one was led to lose all hope of a favourable verdict. The result is only another proof of the fact that the minorities always make the most noise at election time, and indulge in the most prophecy. Then enemies of Union prophesied as usual and were as usual wrong. The analysis of the voting shows that, according to the Dubran figures, it is a true declaration that there is in South Africa now but little race hatred. The consolidation of that part of the Empire then is unexpectedly and wonderfully complete. It is become a perfectly safe base for the extension for which the progress of the Cape to Cairo railway stands. It js indeed one of the beneficent coincidences that this line should have taken on a decided "spurt" at the very time the base of the future development was being so satisfactorily arranged.