CRITICISMS BY MR LYTTELTON

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 86, 10 April 1906, Page 5

CRITICISMS BY MR LYTTELTON

(Received 7.35 a.m.) LONDON, April 9. . Mr. Lyttelton, ex-Colonial-Secretary, in a letter to the Press in reply to Mr. Winston Churchill's speech, said that the educational test required at the Cape had been omitted in the Transvaal Constitution, as possibly being prejudicial to the Boers. Burghers were entitled to vote first in the Volksraad, and retain the suffrage without further qualification. The Constitution was practically manhood suffrage, excluding only the indigent. The proportion of voters to population was one-third, compared with one-fourth in Cape Colony and one-fifth in Natal.

(Received 9.3 am.)

LONDON, April 9. The '-Times" says that British South Africa had welcomed Mr. Winston Churchill's admission that the distribution of electoral areas by voters was not by population or on a scientific or fair working basis, and was not perturbed by his suggestions. The existing franchise ought to be widened. The Government's attitude in the past had unnecessarily created a feeling oT soreness in the British while encouraging the Boers to proceed on purely racial lines. LONDON, April 9. Speaking at the Fishmongers* - Society's dinner, Sir Henry Campbell-Banner-man emphasised the Government's desire for conciliation and harmony in South Africa, with justice and equality for all whites. They would certainly maintain British supremacy. CAPEIOWN, April 9. Mr Churchill's speeches, embodying what the Britishers in the Transvaal have heretofore claimed as essential for the maintenance of British supremacy, and Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman _ desire for conciliatory methods, are regarded in Johannesburg as the Imperial Government's tardy and reluctant concession to public opinion throughout the Empire. Mr W. H. Wyndham-Quin (Conservative ex-member of the House of Commons), speaking at the Ch?mical and Metallurgical Societies' banquet, welcomed the change in the Government's attitude. ~ He said there had possibly been misunderstandings on both sides, and with the exercise of a little charity the name of Mr Winston Churchill might yet be favourably received in South •Africa.