SOUTH AFRICA'S LEADER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 210, 6 September 1939, Page 8

SOUTH AFRICA'S LEADER.

In the hour dtf fateful decision, South Africa has ranged itself on the side of General Smuts, nnd so taken the only stand consistent with the maintenance of Empire traditions, co-operation and loyalty. Veteran statesman though he is, he still retains much of the vigour of body and mind which long ago won him a foremost place in the counsels of the Empire, and his experience and character give him tremendous personal influence. Of all the figures who took part in the making of the peace treaties he alone remains with undiminished reputation. A man of great vision and a forceful thinker, General Smuts said shortly after the Great War: "I look on the Germans as the most cultured race in the world." He has seen that culture trampled into the dust under the heel of Nazi domination. With his hatred of tyranny and his love of the people, it was impossible that he should share General Hertzog's feelings towards Nazi Germany. So the years in which he has curbed his impatience of the dull and slow-witted Hertzog have ended in the return of Smuts to the Premiership. At a time when it required courage to speak of racial unity in South Africa Smuts said: "There must be a blending of the races. . . . There must be no more race feeling." For more than thirty-five years, with all his energy and drive, he has worked towards this end. The logical extension of his aim is his desire to promote the welfare, prosperity and safety of the Empire.