The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1915.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLV, Issue 4070, 26 October 1915, Page 4

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1915.

The great joy which is being felt at.

Home on account A Most Gratifying of the very satisResuit. factory result of

the South African elections will he shared equally in all the Overseas Dominions. General Botha’s own party it will have been noted, will be the strongest party in the now House whilst he can also reckon on the support of the Unionists which will ho the second strongest party and on the help of the Independents who, though only a handful, will be a very valuable acquisition. These combined parties will, it is gratifying to find, completely swamp the Nationalists (or Hertzogites) and the Laborites. In a nutshell the result of the polls is a glorious personal triumph for General Botha and at the same time a notable victory for the British cause in South Africa together with a striking vote of confidence in the great movement for the welding of the British and the Boers into a thoroughly united nation. If the result of the elections had been otherwise it would have led to a state of affairs in South Africa which would have been distinctly detrimental to tin? interests of the British Empire. The probabilities in such an event would have been that the new colony which was formerly German South West Africa might have been excluded from the Union—jierhaps induced to seek its independence; the assistance which the Union is giving witli a view to the conquest of German South East Africa might have been withdrawn; and everything possible might have been attempted with the object of discouraging, if not altogether preventing, troops being sent from South Africa to assist the Motherland in France or in the Near East. One thing at any rate is certain : and that is that if General Hertzog had emerged triumphant as a sequel to the appeal to the people the racial breach—for the existence of which his party is to-day mainly responsible—would soon have become greatly widened and the upshot would soon have amounted toi a chaotic state of things. For the very gratifying result of the polls the Empire- is, as we have indicated, indebted chiefly to the fact that General Botha and, happily, a great proportion of the Boers (in addition to the British colonists themselves) are firmly convinced of the righteousness of the Allies’ cause. On the occasion of his remarks on being presented with a sword of honor at Capetown subsequent to his victorious campaign in what was formerly German South West Africa General Botha, it is interesting to recall, said : “When some time back I. undertook to go to German South West Africa, it was under circumstances which were the most painful in the world to me, because, in the ' place, after the long war which wo had 12 years ago, I had decided that I would never go to war again ; but my sense of duty compelled me to do so when a small minority of the older population took a very wrong step indeed. The older population is the one from which I myself have sprung, and I love unpeople from the bottom of my heart. To preserve the honor of that people, and to maintain its fair name, I took the step I did. Ladies and gentlemen, those are days when one looks upwards for the guidance of God more than at any other time. I am very thankful to say that I have every reason to believe that my action proved to be ine right thing in the eyes of God. Wore it not for the fact that the British Navy kept the seas clear, it would have been absolutely impossible for us to have achieved what wo have done. South Africa can never he sufficiently grateful for the help which it got from the British Navy, and for the protection which South Africa enjoys from it to-day. It- is always ready and prepared to assist us, and we should appreciate that. Five years ago the infant Union was horn in our midst, and there were many amongst us who became afraid of that child. I say to-day that that child has become a young man whose voice is being heard in the family circle. There is one thing I am grateful for, and that is that I used all the powers at my command to bring about this Union of South Africa. God alone knows what would have become of South Africa had we not become a United country and had we not achieved union. Therefore, my feeling is that, it is the duty of every

patriot, to stand by that Union.” Truly a great change lias been wrought in Boor public opinion in South Africa of recent years! Only sixteen years ago the then rebel Boers had the. passive support of the Huns who wore only prevented from lending them aid on account of the might of the Royal Navy. Since the Boer war the Huns doubtless have done their utmost to prevent a complete reconciliation between, Briton and Boer and.in this regard it is noteworthy also that, despite their efforts, they quite failed to establish themselves in the hearts of the discontented section of the Boers to the extent that they would over have been allowed to become their rulers. - It is, no doubt, quite evident that the Boer settlers who rebelled again recenuy would have been only too willing to accept any aid the Huns might have prof erred them. But the rebels wanted nothing more from them. Their own objective lay solely in the direction of the re-establishment of themselves as an independent nation. The Nationalists—for there can no question but that all who rebelled wore supporters of that party—have now, as a sequel to the late polls, met with a further ignominious disaster in their effort to secure by political means what they had so recently badly failed, to achieve by a military

rebellion. It is certain that in the clays to come the people of South Africa will find no reason to regret the decision to which we have been referring.