THE COLOUR QUESTION

Evening Star, Issue 22576, 18 February 1937, Page 11

THE COLOUR QUESTION

RAISED AGAIN IN SDUTH AFRICA PRIVATE BILLS CAUSE CABINET RIFT Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright CAPE TOWN, February 17. (Received February 18, at 1.5 p.m.) An unexpected Cabinet rift has arisen over the introduction of private Bills prohibiting mixed marriages, employment of Europeans by Asiatics, and barring European women who are married to non-Europeans from inheriting property. Anticipating a general election, tho Opposition is blazing over the colour question on the back veldt, which is alarmed at the rejection by Parliament of the Mixed Marriages Bill ■ as being retrogressive and unnecessary. The Assembly was astonished by the Premier’s acoeptance of a motion to refer tho other Bills to a Select Committee, upon which Mr J. H. Hofmeyr (Minister for the Interior), professing to speak for the Government, declined to promise time to discuss the committee’s report. The Premier promptly secured adjournment of the debate. While it is expected that the difficulty has been composed at present, it is inevitable that two schools of thought, roughly representative of the Transvaal and tho Cape, will force the issue ultimately.