THE COLOUR LINE.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XIII, Issue 283, 15 November 1923, Page 5

THE COLOUR LINE.

UNKNOWN TO SOUTH AFRICAN LAW. AN IMPORTANT JUDGMENT. Capetown, November 13. The Supreme Court delivered an important decision declaring th© colour bar in th© Transvaal repugnant to the general law of the land. The matter arcs© on an application by the Attor-ney-General asking for a ruling in the case where a mine manager was acquitted by magistrates of contravention of the mining regulations by permitting a native to have charge of a locomotive, on the ground that th e regulation was ultra vires, mainly because of its unreasonableness, and because it did not apply to all classes alike. Judge Krause, in delivering judgment, in which the other judges concurred, said that the real point at issue was. whether the regulation, was not ultra vires in that it discriminated between white and coloured persons. At all times, whenever the Legislature had seen fit to place restrictions on the rights of coloured persons it had done so in express and clear words. In the absence of such clear expression there could be no justification for differentiation, and it would be dangerous to hold, in the absence of such express statutory provision, that power existed to make such a regulation.—(A. and N.Z.)

COLOUR LINE ABOLISHED IN MINES.

BOMBSHELL FOR LABOUR.

(Received 15, 9.15 a.m.) Capetown, Nov. 14. The colour bar in the Transvaal mines is legally abolished as the result of the decision of the Transvaal Appeal Court. The decision is a bombshell for Labour.—(Reuter.)