THE MAN OF THE HOUR.

Evening Star, Issue 17923, 20 March 1922, Page 4

THE MAN OF THE HOUR.

BURGHERS OHEER SMUTS. PRIME MINISTER'S STATEMENT. ATROCITIES BY REBELS. CAPE TOWN, March 18. (Received March 20, at 9 a.m.) The Prime Minister and tho Minister of Justice (Hon. N. J. Do Wot) visited a largo force of mounted burghera at Auckland Park, and had a remarkably enthusiastic reception, tho burghers cheering, breaking their ranks, and crowding around the car.

General Smuts said ho assured them that he did not have a sleepless night. He knew that thousands and tens of thousands would stand by him and not stay to ask the reason why. The revolutionaries wore broken. They had learned a lesson. Ugly things—horrible thingST-had happened, atrocities which he never would have expected even from barbarians. People had been murdered in cold blood, and even mutilated. He could not allow that sort of thing. It was a great filing for. tho Government to know that it did not need to keep a standing army, but could rely on: tho burghers when an emergency arose to do their duty without pay or reward.—A. and N.Z. Cable.

BOLSHEVISM WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. % CAPE TOWN, March 13. (Received March 20, at 9.20 a.m.) Addressing tho burghers at Auckland Park, the Minister of Justice said they had shown tho rebel revolutionaries what stuff they -were made of. They were net going to to"lcra/te nil these foreign ideas, which had taken root at Joharcnesburcr.— A. and N.Z. Cable. 3 RED MACHINATIONS. - CAPE TOWN, March 17. Many tributes have been paid to tho splendid behaviour of the burgher forces engaged in the suppressing of the revolution. In thanking the burgher forces on parade, Colonel H. Mcntz, Minister of Defence, said the people had a. right to stand up in defence of their rights, but not to shoot policemen and walk about with clubs lulling everybody who did not agree with them. They stood for a White South Africa. Their children were going to inherit a White South Africa, but not composed of the class of people who were responsible for the recent disturbances. General Brink said that persons from other countries had como and sown poison among tho people of South Africa. He trusted, however, that the lesson they had now learned would never bo forgotten. What had l>een done would show that Euch a state of affairs would never again bo tolerated.—A. and N.Z. Cable.

DISTRESS ON THE RAND. CAPE TOWN, March 18. (Received March 20, at 9.20 a.m.) General Smuts has issued an appeal to the public to raise a great, fund for tho relief of distress on tho Rand. He efcates that the Government and the provincial and local authorities will do their best to provide work for the unemployed; but there was certain to be want and distress on a large scale. The admirasifcatars of the provinces had been asked to take a lead in the collection of funds.—A. and N.Z. Cable. AN APPEAL TO EMPLOYERS. SMUTS ASKS FOR CLEMENCY. CAPE TOWN, March 18. (Received March 20, nf 9.20 a.m.) . General Smuts has also issued an earnest appeal to the employers to err on the side, of generosity in re-employing men and to rofrairi from anything which would bo likely to be interpreted as a desire to take advantage of those who in many cases bad acted unwillingly and under compulsion. He' asks the employers to be generous, not only in the re-engagement of men, but also in the question of wages. A heavy legacy had 1 been left by the recent deplorable events, and a spirit of goodwill and generosity were needed to enable the country to recover and to commence a process of industrial development.—A. and N.Z. Cable.