A COMING CRISIS

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 112, 14 May 1927, Page 7

A COMING CRISIS

AFRICAN FLAG BILL

BITTER SCENES

GENERAL HERTZOG AND THE

SUPER-STATE

The shadow of the impending flag crisis still hangs over the proceedings of the Union Parliament. The Flag Commission, appointed by the Government some months ago, has made a report. The majority recommended, in order of preference, three flags for the consideration of the Government. None ot the three included the Union Jack,, and a strong minority of tho commission—six members in all—declined to associate itself with tho emblem.s named by the majority. Even a unanimous report from the commission would have carried very little weight in South Arrica, for nowhere was it regarded in any sense as a representative body, and it had been weakened materially by the resignation of several of its meml>ers Meanwhile a South African committee known as the Flag Vigilance Committee, appointed by that large body of public opinion in South Africa which adheres to the principle that the boutn African flag must include tho Union Jack, has been holding meetings. On 11th April the conference of the i lag Commission and tho Flag Vigilance Committee recommended that the conlerence should be adjourned till' Hth Mayyin order to enable representatives of the Flag Vigilance Committee to mtorm tneir committee that the desiffn recommended to the Government consisted of the cross of Saint George on a green field, divided quarterly. The representatives proposed to ask tho Vigilance Committee for power to take part without restrictions in an earnest endeavour to arrive at an "agreed-upou dosign In view of a strong feeling that r»n *T" f ack should b0 deluded this report has had a very unfavourable re- £ 0\ an/« does not appear to be Hkely that the recommendation will find favour.

AN ATTACK UPON BRITAIN. The House of Assembly is, indeed, in a highly inflammatory state. Recently ■Dr. Van. dor Merwe, an ardent young Republican and the leader of a little cave in tho Nationalist Party, which has given the Prime Minister a good deal of troublo in the Caucus, delivered a speech in the House which, though unimportant in itself, showed that racial questions, if they arc raised at all, are still dangerously acute. The debute turned on the question of oversea purchases of railway, material. The Opposition had formulated a charge against the Government that its recent purchases of locomotives and rails had been placed in the United States u ml in Belgium to the exclusion of Britain and that the engines and rails purchased in foreign countries had proved very bad bargains. On the whole, however the Minister for Railways (Mr. Charles Ma an) was able to give a satisfactory roply to these allegations, and the debate served an excellent purpose in that it drew from the Minister a straightforward statement to the effect that tho Government would always purchase its requirements in Britain unless tlcre Z?\ overwhelming considerations which debarred it from doing so. The Act of Union requires that the railways a'fUke run « on business principles/" and this, ho pointed out, proven Id a definite policy of preference in purchas ing railway materials. None the less 1* appropriate to qno t o Dean Ing! 8 „ nfn's s Ut Ba e r -y ™y o£.P™ in K that Bri tains stai , s "careering to tho West." His argument was that Britain wan a decadent nation; that she was being outstripped by all her commercial rivUs and that for that reason South Africa would be ni.advii.ea if she conVin, o to make purchases from Britain lie described Natal as "a coolie location » a passage which produced flaming™ sentment among Natal membe r^who aru often inclined to take such in i dents rather too seriously. Tho eftVct of the speech was to arouse rarial «„, sions anew throughout South Afr en lhoy were allayed only by the terms in which Mr. Charles Mala, rebuke lis "PPoars in Parliament. Mo- nvhi c wo hove had a preliminary , ln to „„ tl.o report of tho Imperial" Co,X Pl i°" «»d an astonishing debate it Is been' The Prune Minister was invited by sir Brummond Chaplin, a leading Oppo," h°e n rnnr i t bCr> f 1B"ko a "^ment on DHoH P r and, on r l6t" March ho comPlied. Cencral Hert/.og is ono of the most amiable of men when ho is encounsion ofT a Inoal'nl'lo or in tho seel. - s>on of hia own office. U e h ag a per . asset at the Imperial Conference, and Mhcn -ho rose to speak on the present 11001 ot the House word thronged in of tho conference proceedings. But the Prime Minister elected to turn tlr occasion to ignoble party uses. Ho made scanty reference to the conferonce report, and his chief effort seemed to bo to conviuco the House Hint its conclusions embodied the very i,l e "s for winch he had been endeavouring to ffnro 'J«io Ptan,('i e A ln BoUth AWcil over •since 1912. "Are we standing on our hn,«| B or our heels?" asked nn Oppo' » lion member in bowildernient. Tho I'nmo Minister turned upon Genera hmuts, IVIO sat facing hi,!, across the floor of the House, and rejoiced that, tho Imperial Conference had finally and tor over destroyed General Smuts's eonIt? e°" °f tV' C lOmpir ° nS a "4c ■ htate." Tins was again a bewildering viewpoint, for if there is one Imperial statesman who has laboured to destroy the super-State idea, and to whose work the conception of the fcmpiro ag a family of States equal in' status is due, it is General Smuts.

SECESSION ONCE MORE. Tho. Prime Minister had been steadily working himself into one of his strango hysterical passions. Egged on by tho angry shouts of his supporters no proceeded to delvo into the wretched party quarrels of the Union for tho last fifteen years, and to attack General bmuta.with a vehemence and a virulence which, in tho circumstances, were extraordinary. To most of his audience the speech was a sorry exhibition of bad temper and bad judgment It was wholly unworthy of General flortzog, as General Smuts quietly observed in his reply, and tho House has never witnessed a more remarkable contrast than tho tone and the temper of tho two speeches. General Smuts, speedily swept asido all trumpery bickerings. Ho had a very difficult task, for his rising was tho signal for a volley of taunts and gibes from the Nationalist benches, as if in a deliberate effect to destroy tho effect of anything ho might say. But the storm passed by. Gradually General Smuts asserted las pre-eminence in debate; he brought the Houso back to a mood of calm deliberation, and for an hour ho spoko magnificently, urging that the occasion of the- conference's declaration should be used as an opportunity [ for a new beginning j ft South Africa, j

He paid a generous tribute to General Hertzog'a work at the conference, but maintained that the conference declaration was not the declaration of a new status, but the formulation of a system which had already been established in practice. The speech was a personal triumph., and Mr. Tielman Eoos had the wit to see his opportunity. Instead of following the unfortunate lines laid down by the Prime Minister he smiled sardonically upon the House, kept it in a good temper, and declared that the conference settlement had implicity recognised the right of secession, which had hitherto been denied and that now tlhat it was recognised as a right it would bo extremely difficult for him or anyone else to attempt to exercise it. A rather lnke-warm method of approving our relationships with the Empire, but we arc thankful in South Africa for oven such diluted enthusiasm as this.