SOUTH AFRICAN UNION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9577, 25 August 1909, Page 4

SOUTH AFRICAN UNION.

In a recent interview in London, Sir Charles Saunders, Commissioner for Native Affairs is Natal, dealing with the position of the natives with regard to South African Union, said: "I do not go as far as Mr Schreiner. I do, however, believe that there are many educated natives who are fitted for the franchise, but it should be only after a very spvere test t'nat this is allowed, other vise it will not he used to the natives'own arlva-it-age. Take the case of Cape Colony, where the natives have the franchise. It is a very generally accepted idea that this franchise ha 3 been largely employed for party purposes, and not in the interest of the natives themselves. This certainly would be te case in Natal. To extend the franchise would, in my opinion, be fatal to the interests of the natives themselves. There can be no doubt that there is a growing feeling in South Africa tor responsibility towards the natives, and it is absurd for people in this country to suppose that there are not in South Africa just as honest and broad-sighted statesmen as there are in England—statesmen whs fully realise these responsibilities. "