SOOTH AFRICA

Evening Star, Issue 12205, 25 May 1904, Page 6

SOOTH AFRICA

Press Association —By Telegraph— Copyright. A BOER CONGRESS. A GAPE GOVERNMENT DEFEAT. CAPE TOWN, May 24. Mr Louis Botha is presiding over the Boer Congress now being held in Pretoria. He urged the farmers to organise on the lines of trade organisations for financial and agricultural purposes. He declared that the Congress had not. assembled to demand responsible government, which bad been guaranteed at the Vereeniging Conference. He added: “If the administration is entrusted to a few instead of the multitude, the responsibility is the Government’s. The future of such Government depends on the Constitution. Unless it is based on broad lines, compatible with our existence and adequate to secure prosperity, it remains an open question whether we shall co-operate/” In the Cape Parliament a motion proposing a reduction in the Estimates was carried against the Treasurer by 43 votes to 33. A SCHOOL BOYCOTT. AN IMPERIAL UNION. OAPF. TOWN, May 24. (Received May 25, at 8.34 a.m.) Mr' Botha, at the Congress, advocated boycotting the State schools and sending their children to Boor schools only. A South African Imperial Union has been formed, with tbs object of amalgamating all the Gape Progressives. Dr Jameson, Premier of Cape Colony, is president. BOTHA’S POLICY. “ AGIN ” THE GOVERNMENT. CAPE TOWN. May 24. (Received May 25, at 7.32 a,m.) Speaking at the Pretoria Conference, Mr SchaJMrargcr, former Acting-President of the Transvaal, complained that British constitutional liberty nkd not been granted in accordance with the Vereeniging compact. LONDON, May 24. ’•The Times’s’ Pretoria correspondent says that Botha’s tone was moderate, but he apparently looked to the Congress to strengthen his hands in opposing the Government at every possible turn. Only in tbc matter of cattle diseases did he admit that the Government were working on ririit lines. His remarks in reference to assistance for the poor and compensation for war losses show that his dominant idea is that the Government exist to get something out of, instead of putting his shoulders to the wheel to assist those in distress.