SOUTH AFRICAN NOTES. [f^rom our own correspondent.]

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 107, 2 November 1909, Page 2

SOUTH AFRICAN NOTES. [f^rom our own correspondent.]

DURBAN, 16th September. Most people are aware that the shadow which always overhangs South Africa — the skeleton in the cupboard that is always on the point of emerging — is labelled "Native Rising." It is never discussed in public ; in private it is an exhaustible topic, and one that is regarded from innumerable points of view. But there can be no doubt that the bogey looms largest in the eyes of the authorities. Otherwise — and this is very special and private information — said authorities would* not have issued orders for all the country magazines to be emptied of all their explosives and ammunition before the time for the collpction of (he hut-tax came round. Of course, nothing less than wholesale storming of the magazines was feared, but the policy seems a questionable one, for in the event of a disturbance the settlers would have been bat badly off, with no ammunition and no means of obtaining it at hand. Rumour is busily forecasting the identity of the future "Governor-General of the State. So far, Lords Selbourne, Pentland, fieauchamp, and Sandhurst, Sir Arthur Lawjey, and Mr. Winston Churchill have been mentioned as in the running. Sir Arthur Lawley, at present Governor of the Madras Presidency, is the gentleman who, when LieutenantGovernor of the Transvaal, and under notice to leave, celebrated his departure by signing, at the last moment,* permits for some extra ten thousand Chinese to be imported. Of course, many questions were asked in the House of Commons, but_ the influence of his friends, the capitalists, was too etrong-, and nothing came of the enquiries." The inclusion of Winston Churchill's name is regarded in Africa as a questionable joke, and not in the best of taste. The wine-making industry at the Cape is in a parlous state, and a strong deputation of vignerons recently waited on the Government to ask for the abolition of the excise duty now in force. As it is, locally-grown wine is almost as expensive as imported, and, as it is far inferior to Australian, .being for the most part strong^ heady, and immatured, as well as prohibitive in price, very little is consumed by the general public. At the moment of writing, the Anglican Church is holding its yearly Synod, and the account of the proceeding* makes mournful reading. From what mere laymen can gather, it appeals that the Church is all but bankrupt, and all the energies of the clergy seem to be devoted to solving the problem of ways and means. Indeed, to such a pass have matters come, to such straits are the shepherds reduced, that the concluding announcement of the Bishop presiding appears, apart from its quaint reading, eminently justifiable. He said : "If it -were the wish of Synod, he would appoint a day of general prayer and fasting and intercession to beseech from God the stirring-top (sic) of' greater liberality among the wealthier laymen of the diocese." Which\ with all due deference, seems to a mere layman a roundabout method of attaining one's object. 1 suppose we become less fastidious as the world grows older, yet it has certainly come as a shock to many loyalists out here to learn that Arthjjr Lynch, who fought on the side of the Boers eight years ago, and afterwards ' stood his trial for high treason, has been returned unopposed as Nationalist member of Parliament for the constituency of West Clare. The South African headquarters of Dame Rumour are situated in Johannesburg, in which dusty city of gold and aliens more private scandal to the -square foot is manufactured, and more canards of a public nature invented, than iii any other part of the Union. As an example, a few weeks ago the press was' filled with nothing but' accounts of a stray airship, which has been seen by any number of people willing— nay, anxious— to be interviewed. It was never heard of again, and the alleged airy vision has given place to a report of the discovery of an improved explosive, which is to bankrupt Nobel, Kynoch, and every other high-explosive manufacturer. One of the merits of the new dynamite is its total absence of deleterious fumes; indeed, I understand that on explosion it gives off a mingled scent of violets and roses, with no ill effects to the miners. Next week we may hear of the discovery of Kruger's buried millions; they have not been rediscovered for some months, and are about due.