GENERAL BOTHA.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1879, 13 October 1913, Page 6

GENERAL BOTHA.

General Botha has been Prime Minister of the South African Union for three years and four months. His record during that period is interesting in a nigh degraj, difficult though it bo to arrive at a clear and definite understanding concerning his mind on the important questions now occupying the attention of the country. Since he assumed office he has experienced a defeat, Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, the rival whom he probably dreads most, successfully ousting him from the constituency which ho in a spirit of something very like bravado had invaded. Within his Cabinet there seem 3 from the first to have prevailed dissension to an extent which undoubtedly affected for ill both its legislative and its . administrative functions. First, Mr. Hull, tho Minister of Finance, resigned from the. Ministry, finding it impossible to submit to, or work harmoniously with, the Minister of Railways. Then Mr. Hertzoq, tho Minister of Justice, rendered himself obnoxious, not so much to General Botha as to the general body of English and of moderate Dutch electors, and ho had to bo ejected. This was accomplished by means of tho_ somewhat clumsy device of the Ministry resigning and being re-formed, with Mr. Hertzoq left out. Natal has been frequently described, its large Indian and nativo populations notwithstanding, as tho most British of all the South African provinces. That circumstance may, or may not, have influenced General Botha, but tho fact remains that he has dealt with that province in a most niggardly and particularly irritating manner. Sir Frederick Moor was first chosen as the sole representative Minister from Natal, but at tho general election which followed the inauguration of tho Union he, like his chief, was rejected by the electors. _ Colonel George Leuchars, a poorly-equipped politician, was selected; to give place, in time, to a self-styled Independent, in the person of Sir Thomas Watt. Now, the Cabinet has been once more _ reconstructed: in other words, owing to the death of Me. Bauer, and the resignation of Sir D. Graap, four Dutch gentlemen have been added to the Union Ministry. The third session of tho Union Parliament terminated recently, the occasion naturally leading/ to considerations of what had been accomplished since the bringing together of the_ four Provinces. It is an uninspiring history as far as concerns legislation. In the administrative sphere there has been much discontent. Civil Servants have been complaining, railway employees may, any day, go on strike. ' The Nafal Mercury, in a retrospect of tho three years of Union, after alluding to the belief, apparently held pretty widely, that Union has not been a success, goes ou to observe: "We hesitate to say that the Union system is proving a failure, but it is certainly not proving the success that the Unificationists predicted. The fault lies not so much with tho Act of Union as iu tho {act that tho I

letter and spirit of the Constitution are not sufficiently respected by those who have been entrusted with administering it." General Botha, speaking at Rustenburg at the end of' August, defended himself against the criticisms of Opposition members and the aspersions of the Hertzog faction. The sole personal achievements ho was able to mention were the formation of the Land Banks and the passing of laws to encourage immigration and settlement. The Land Banks —or, rather, the Union Land and Agricultural Bank—c.amo into in October last year, and full statistics to date aro unavailable. Tho first report published, however, revealed somo singular features with respect to tho areas in which loans were made. The Cape Times, in May, this year, pointed out that these advances had been confined almost entirely to tho two ex-Republics. Three-fourths of the money lent went to the Transvaal, and more than half of tho remaining fourth to the Orange Free State. A mere fraction, relatively, _ was bestowed upon the two essentially Eng-lish-speaking Provinces, tho Cape and Natal. Touching immigration and settlement, despite Acts of Parliament practically nothing has been accomplished. At Rustenburg General Botha regretted that so little had been done. "It is my intention," he declared, "in future to go in for these matters on a large scalo." This is precisely what he said in London two years ago. At Rustenburg, General Botha showed that his personal interests rank as of the first importance. The Gape Times, of late, has been supporting him against tho savage onslaughts of General Hertzog. But after Rustenburg that journal seemed to _ turn from him in bitter disappointment. "The dirty ropes and the tallow candles," it said, "are plainly visible through tho wings of tho political stage, and the chief actors before the footlights are concerned with the more sordid and petty details of the serio-comedy of party disputes rather than with tho larger features in tho great drama of national politics." Mr. Hertzog, it now appears, in a caucus of Free State members, insisted ■on a collective protest to the Prime Minister against his exclusion from the Cabinet, and in favour of his ifnmediate reinstatement "because ho could not afford to spend his time in Capo Town for £400 a year." The Gape Times refers to this incident, and proceeds to deal with the case of Mr. P. Grobler, who, at the outset, opposed Mr. Hertzoo and supported the Primo Minister in the dispute between tho pair, which yet continues to rage tumultously. Mr. Grobler, said General Botha—with Mr. Grobler on the platform beside him —after he had voted against the no-confidence motion in the Assembly, ''came to me, and told _me that he could not get on with' his salary of £400 as member of Parliament. He suggested to mo that Parliamentary Under-Secretaries should be appointed, which posts could then bo filled by young members of Parliament." General Botha declined to increase the salaries of members, and blankly refused to appoint Parliamentary Under-Secretaries. Mr. Grobler forthwith joined Me. Hertzog. As tho Gape Times remarks: "It is disappointing to find young South Africans who are so eloquent on the virtue of disinterested patriotism, and so sympathetic with General Hertzog's aversion from all 'foreign adventures' so quick to determine their political allegiance by tho prospects of an advance on £400 a year." These, the latest, pictures of Dutch methods and Dutch rivalries are not pleasant to contemplate. The spirit of President Kruger has not yet disappeared from South Africa.