THE CAPE AND WAR

Grey River Argus, 4 January 1940, Page 8

THE CAPE AND WAR

FAVOURABLE REPORT ON RECRUITING. [British Cfficial Wireless] (Received January 3, 9 p.m.) RIGBY, January 3. A survey of military preparations in South Africa! made officially in the Union stares khat the Union’s new citizen armyjs making remarkable progress. Rrports from town and country in alltauarters of South Africa reflect enthusiasm with which volunteers are coning forward. A single example is the Botha Regiment which had risin from a peacetime strength c.f fotr hundred to a war-time strength oi over nine hundred. The formationlof another battalion in this regirtent is in progress. New unitstare also being formed in such typictlly rural areas as Messian, Barbertor, and Vereniging. A spirit of cordhl co-operation dominates all the aetvities, the survey continues, and ant sectional differences have been sei aside. Everywhere the fact is apprriated that all are South Africans, aid complete unity is expressed in l the common cause. The survey pdnts out that the lie is given to Nazi propagandist insinuations that discrimination against the Afrikaans staking members of the defence for® obtains, by the fact that Ly far fha larger number of senior officers permanently serving in South Africas Army are men bearing Afrikaans’! names, and they, like the officers tearing English names, are bilingual Anxiety on the part of native peoples to participate in th defence of South Africa was expres ed at a recent meeting in Pretoric of the Natives’ Representative Cimcil, the most important organ o native opinion in the Union. Durr g the meeting one delegate sumned up the position as ifollows: “Sice the war broke out, every African organisation that has held a meeting las expressed its unsWer.’ing devcion to the King and -his Governmeit in the Union. An Account recenly appeared in the press! of how nath? employees in a big concern in the Transvaal have startea a fund to buy a warship for Britain, and thi , I am convinced, is typical of What people throughout the Union ire feeling.”