SOUTH AFRICA

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 May 1931, Page 10

SOUTH AFRICA

THE NATIVE BILLS. The next session of the South Afri-* can Parliament, due to open early in the new year, will see Geneial Her*" zog’s Native Bills onee more under discussion. Finality however, is as far off as evef, fdf there is no jfrospect of the ffieifesufes securing the tWo-thirds majority of a joint sitting of the Seriate atid House 01 Assembly necessary tri make therii law the Cape Town erirteSpoiidririt of the “Sydney Moffifrig ttetald” oil February 27). ... ■ What the nerti tiirive ivill be it is impossible to forecast. In some usuallv weti-drifrimed circles there is a strong' feelifig that if the bills are rejected—as they uridriubtedly will be if the debate progresses sufficiently— General Htjmog Will go to the country on therii. On the other hand, there is an equally competent body of observers wild believe that the Government will not risk forfeiture of its remaining three years of Office on an appeal to the electorate on a subject over which, hitherto, it has been in no hurry; Haste, indeed, is the thing least to be desired on measures, whieh, in the words of General Smuts, are the most important ever brought Ujpfofe the Union. On them, of rather, on the decision which Parliament must some time make on the issues involved, hangs South Africa’s future attitude towards its millions of native subjects. The bills thfemselves have already once been rejected, but the faith of the Nationalists is them is unshaken.- With them they hope to solve the problem of the black man, a problem whose danger it would be foolish to minimise. All sections recognise the need of putting the relationships of the white and coloured races once more and for all on a definite footing, but the opposition to the Prime Minister’s segregation policy—opposition that is yet successful—is taken on riiany grounds. Some are historical, some economic, some ethical, and in support of each there .can be marshalled an imposing array of arguments. The cnix of the matter is whether of not there is to be interference with the bld Cape franchise holicy, a policy that gives the vote to; all men who can comply with riertaii minor educational and property irrespective of whether they are European, Asiatic, 4hd native blood. The South African Act “entre'nched” this policy by laying down that it .was to be altered only by a two-thirds majority of both HoriSes in j6int session, and it is failure tfr secure this majority that has kept General Herizqfg’s bills Off the Statute Book.

NATIVE FRANCHISEThe Natives J > ai : liamentary Representation Bill, the first of the trio, leads the attack- on the existing sys tern Wfe depriving present Native' voters of their rights, it would & tftfif this generation none of their race will appear on the same toil as Europeans; They will, be enrolled on a separate native voters’ list, the necessary qualifications being identical with those now required for registration as an ordinary Parliamentary voter. Natives on this new roll will[ not exercise the franchise until the numS ot native Parliamentary voters drops below three-chatters of the total registered at the passing of the Act. They will then elect cine European to represent them in the House of Assembly. When the number of Parliamentary voters drops below half the original number they will elect two members, and, when it falls below one-quarter, three members, the Cape Province being divided into as many electoral areas as there are members to be chosen. A decrease of four-fifths in the number of native Parliamentary voters will bring, the people on the new roll the addtional right jointly to elect two Senators. Natives in Natal, where the franchise is practically confined to Europeans, and in the Transvaal and Orange Free State, where it is entirely so, are, under the bill, to have representation only in the Senate. The voting is to be done by members of the native local councils and advisory boards, and the chiefs, Natal returning one Senator and the other two provinces another. However, if at any time after ten years the GovernorGeneral is satisfied that the system of local government by the councils has reached a stage of development justifying an increase in the Parliamentary representation the number of Senators for each of the electoral units may be made two. Inextricabzly interwoven with this measure is the Coloured Persons Rights Bill, a bill whose chief importance is its delineation of races. This, of course, leads back to the franchise problem, the two being impossible of separation. Hitherto all persons, one of whose .parents was European or coloured dnd the other a native, have been regarded as coloured. But, if the present bill is passed, all that will be ciiaiiged. After it becomes law any person born of- a native parent will also be classed ns a dative. If, When he comes of fige, he desires to be classed Ets coloured, there is a long and cumbersome process to be gone through. First of all, he will have to make a petition to the GovernorGeneral, who will refer the request to a board consisting of a Judge of the Supreme Court and two other members. This Board may recommend the granting of the .petition only if it shows that the applicant “is by reason of his intellectual attainments more akin to a European or coloured person than to a native, and conforms in his standards and habits of life to the standards of European civilisation.” Every such recommendation is to be laid on the tables of both Houses of Parliament, and if both pass resolutions confirming it the application will be declared coloured.

ALL EMBRACING. The bill contains nothing to disqualify any coloured voter in the Cape or Natal, or any person who, but for its passing, would have been capable of being registered as a voter. AU coloured voters outside the Cape will be placed on a separate roll, and will return one member to the House of Assembly. The Natives Land (Amendment) Bill is the third and last of the series. It is an involved measure, amplifyingan Act of 1913 legislating on the acquisition of land by natives and deterumng the conditions upon which tliev may reside upon land in areas in which they are prohibited from owner"

ship. Its aim. in short, is theif therance of territorial t ‘ he The bills, greatly alteretl 01 [““ ntf o. form in which they were first mtto duced nearly four have Iffiffientar?. RepfXtftato W graduated < joint rttegi of toeW Houses on the eve of the 1929 el tibri. There was a deadlock. Natives Parliamentary was rejected, and General Hfertzog a - nouficed that, in cofiseqtierice, he did not- intetid to proceed with the otne* measure. The two frills, lie said, were so inter-dependent tferit to phsS dne without the other wdiila be absdrd. And as the Govefninetit iriteritirifi is to' take the frills through together or hot at all, the Natives Land (Athenamerit) Bill whs dropped in the Horise of Assembly. At the election the bills Wefe right in the vanguard of the Gdverhihent’s policy with the cry, “Kbep South Africa White/’ arid the Nationalist victory meant another attenipt to make them law. A joint sitting was held early this year, and the bills sent again to A select committee —this time of both Houses. The time, however, was too short to allow of that body reaching any decision, and the bills were withdrawn, the Prime Minister announcing that he would ask for the appointment of a similar committee during the next session. That session is nearly here, a fact which is again focussing attention on the contemplated legislation. The subject has also been kept before the public by Ministers’ exhortations to the newly-enfranchised women that it is their duty first and foremost to see that South Africa is kept for the white races, and that the “danger” of a swamping native vote is eliminated. It is on these statements, together with the Government’s partial capitulation to the railway vote by failure to enforce all its proposed wage cuts in face of a Storm of opposition, that some observers base their view that the Government will make an early appeal to the country. The bulk of opinion, however, supports the opposing view. And, because of tliri inadvisability of holding an election during the prevailing depression, it certainly seems that the Union has still a long time to wait for the legislative attempt to settle its greatest problem.