SOUTH AFRICA.
SPEECH BY GENERAL SMUTS. .i 1 . WILL NEVER FORGET BRITAIN'S MAGNANIMITY. SOME BIG PROBLEMS. By Telegraph—Pres? Association—Copyright. (Rec. August 11, 0.50 p.m.) Pretoria, August 11. General Smuts, Minister for Defenco in General Botha's Cabinet, has delivered an important speech on dcicnce and other matters. South Africa, he,said,-needed to train her citizens on a system similar to that in force ill Switzerland. What was required was a small permanent nucleus, capable of mobilisation as a striking force at a moment's notice, together with a permanent corps of instructors and permanent artillery corps. . No other nation in the world, General Smuts declared, would have given South Africa the freedom which Great Britain had bestowed upon them eight years after the close'of the war. The people of South Africa would never forget , the magnanimity, with which tliey had been treated.. Nevertheless, there were dangers ahead. The Constitution of the Union left the native question—their biggest problemuntouched. A cleavage of policy there might one day rend the Union, and the whites, the builders of the ( civilisation which the country was enjoying, must consider the question carefully before granting the natives the franchise, which was nowadays a mightier weapon than the sword. ,
In concluding his speech, General Smuts said that the policy outlined by General Botha was provisional' only. When the elections had taken place and the Govern- , ment party was fully formed, a congress ■would be held definitely to settle . their policy. , . /.
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Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 893, 12 August 1910, Page 5
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240SOUTH AFRICA. Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 893, 12 August 1910, Page 5
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