SOUTH AFRICAN POLITICS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 91, 17 April 1913, Page 4

SOUTH AFRICAN POLITICS.

In reading the cable news from South ! Africa nowadays it is necessary to guard' ; against error in several directions at i once. In the first place, it is extremely . probable that our cable messages give far more prominence than is necessary to General Herzog and his furious denunciations of Botha. Itemsof this sort, being more or less sensational, arc "good news," and modern journalism 's inclined to make the most of them. Further, it must be remembered that Hcrzog, though a forceful and arresting personality, certainly does not represent any very large or powerful section of public opinion in .South Africa. No doubt, among the "dopper" Boers, the men of the "high veldt," and the old order, his very narrowness and bitterness and bigotry make him a hero. But his influence upon the genera] course of events in South Africa is not likely to be permanent or appreciable. He represents the last efforts of the traditional racial antagonism of the Boers to assert itseif against the JEnglishmau, who has always been to them an interloper and a foreigner. JBut so far as the main body of public feeling, even in the Transvaal and Orangia, is concerned, Botha is quite safe in challenging Hcrzog to appeal to the people or to Parliament to decide the case between them. Botha has behaved admirably in a very difficult position, and he has retained the confidence of the great majority of the peopld of his own race, while proving himself absolutely loyal- to the fcrusf reposed in hihi by England. But it must'also be remembered that the existence of popular institutions in South Africa and the concession of ' political independence to its people are an eyesore to the Unionists at Home. The Unionist newspapers have done everything in their power to exaggerate whatever signs of discord still manifest themselves in South Africa; they still insist'that the settlement after the war has been a delusion and a sham, and we. may reasonably assume that the information' supplied in our cable messages is sometimes not altogether clean from the taint of partisan prejudice. But we believe as firmly as ever that the Libfcrals, in giving South Africa the right to govern itself, took a wise and statesmanlike step that must justify itself in the fullness of time; and Botha has given such strong proofs of hh. honesty and ability in the past, that we have no doubt that he will be equal to this prei sent trying emergency. '.