The Dominion TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 1929. A SOUTH AFRICAN CRISIS

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 136, 5 March 1929, Page 10

The Dominion TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 1929. A SOUTH AFRICAN CRISIS

What (he describes as a » » in lhe criticism, mainly, from the tact tnat Great Britam> preference terms with, regard t general trade policy of P re^ enc % W^ h ‘ n J c “has no preferential policy, “Germany,” he said in a recent interv e , Drese nt South African and will give South Africa no pre .’ f the future by giving to GerGovernment has actually tied her hands Britain, many whatever further preferenc t Zalise w hat our connection with It is clear that our. light-heartedly to throw —“h* <»' BmP Trade interests in Great Britain are very much concerned at ,• . ■ Spheral Hertzds’s policy. In a statement on the subject recently published by the Federation of British Industries itwas poihteZ (St (he United Kingdom .s most important customer. In 192/ it purenasea i-t , , of South African products, compared with * ™ niirchased by all foreign countries combined. Further, the Union purchased £32,000,000 worth of Britishgoods, leaving a trade, balance in Smith Africa’s favour of £16,000,000. Turning to Germany, the export of South African goods to that rmintrv in the same year totalled only £4,000,000, but the German sales to South Africa exceeded that- amount by half a million, leaving the Union with an unfavourable trade balance on her trading account wfththe country to which it is. now .proposed to -tend the advantages of preference as are. now accorded-, to the - United K, ’ n OnX financial side iiffis pointed out, as- worthy 'of-consideragn from sentiment as well as business, that .a vast amount of Bntis capital has been sent to South Africa to assist in o/that country’s resources. The provision of this capital has been facilitated and y cheapened by the operations of the Colonial Stock Act of 1900. According to the last official, return, Joans to South Africa, under this Act total over £lOO 000,000. What is apprehended is that the German Trade. Treaty if operation, may be followed by repercussions affecting the United Kingdomis power to absorb. South African products, and lend money, to the same extent as formerly. Tr«fv «' It will be seen, therefore, that the opposition to the treaty is founded on grave reasons. The' bonds • between the ■ overseas Dominions and the-Mother Country are commercial as well as political and sentimental, and the weakening of the first may tend to weaken the other two. The Smuts Party has evidently reckoned on the South African-Senate dealing with the measure’in an Imperial spirit. General Hertzog’s decision not to send it to the Senate is obviously a move to counter this expectation,-but it has raised., 4- serious constitutional question, which no doubt will have fo be settled before the Treaty becomes operative. '...