NATIVE RACES

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 129, 3 June 1935, Page 13

NATIVE RACES

SOUTH AFRICA PLANS

THEIR OWN COUNCIL

The eagerly awaited report of the South African Native Select Committee, which has been sitting for many years, has been tabled, says the "paily Telegraph."

It takes the form of two Bills: the Natives Trust and Land Bill, and the Natives Parliamentary Representation Bill.

The latter prohibits further registration of natives as Parliamentary voters, but safeguards the rights of natives now on the register. This means that no native other than those at present registered will, in future, have the right to vote at Parliamentary or provincial elections.

It may be emphasised that no native outside of Cape Province has the right to vote, and in the Cape only 11,235 out of 410,000 voters are natives. The object of the, Bill is not to deprive natives of representation in Parliament, but to introduce a uniform system for the whole Union, the effect of which will be the separation of political energy as between white and black.

Thus the Bill proposes to allocate to natives of the whole Union an additional four Senators, to be elected by natives, over and above the four nominated at present in the terms of the South Africa Act. The Union will be divided into four electoral areas for this purpose. These are:—

(1) Natal, (2) Transvaal and Orange Free State, (3) Transkeian territories, and (4) Cape Province, excluding Transkei.

In these areas the natives will elect their representatives through "electoral colleges," giving, it is claimed for natives throughout the Union, a more satisfactory representation in Parliament than today. NATIVES' OWX COUNCIL. In Cape Province the position of the' existing native voters will be strengthened. They will not only retain the existing Parliamentary vote, but also have the right to elect two native members to the Cape Provincial Council, and to take part in elections to the proposed Native Representative Council.

This council will deliberate upon all matters concerning natives, and all legislation specially affecting them. The council will consist of twenty-two members, with the Secretary for Native Affairs as chairman. They will

be made up of the five chief Native Commissioners (Europeans) for the Union and sixteen native members^l'our nominated and twelve elected by the colleges. Only the native members will have the right to vote in the council.

No Bills or provincial ordinances affecting natives can be introduced in Parliament until the Native Representative Council has had' full opportunity of discussing and making recommendations upon them. This, it is claimed, will give the native a genuine and hitherto unexisting influence upon the final decisions of Parliament. An important feature of the Bill is the definition of a native. This substantially lays down that a person is a native if he is a member of one of the native races of Africa; or if one of his parents or grandparents is native; or if he is not European and desires to be looked upon as a native, lives in a native area, and speaks a native language. MORE LAND FOB STOCK. The second great feature of the report is the Native Trust and Land Bill. Outstanding points of this are: The allocation of more land to the natives with a view to giving them more scope for their stock, a greater opportunity for local self-government, and the reduction of points of contact and friction between them and Europeans. Areas released for future native occupation total 15,000,000 acres, of which 3,000,000 will be in the-Cape Province; 10,000,000 in the Transvaal, nearly 1,000,000 in Natal, and about 200,000 in the Orange Free State. The plan is to establish a South African native trust, in which will be vested all Crown land reserved for native occupation. It is a principle of the scheme that native settlement shall be promoted on land so acquired, and that the white man must confine himself to his own areas.

The minutes of the report indicate that the crucial moment turned on the question of abolishing the native, vote in the Cape Province. The committee rejected the vote by 15 to 8, the minority including General Smuts.

Though in Cape circles—where the principle of equal rights for civilised men as laid down by Cecil Rhodes is a deeply cherished one—the committee's rejection of the future native vote is regretted, the general character of the report is hailed as far more liberal than could have been hoped for.

It is reported as being capable of great development in the future, and possibly as laying down a native policy for the whole of the African continent.