DRAWING THE BACK-VELD'S A TEETH.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LIII, Issue LIII, 10 August 1908, Page 6

DRAWING THE BACK-VELD'S A TEETH.

General Botha holds the Boers in the hollow of his hand. General Smuts may make eloquent speeches and draft j excellent Bills; Mr Hull may talk finance — but when trouble is brewing Botha alone can smooth over the malcontents. We saw this & Het Yolk 'Congress a few weeks ago. It was openly stated that the meeting would be an angry one. The back-veld poured into Pretoria shaking its beard" and vowing vengeance. It muttered that it would oppose this and insist -upon that. It plotted industriously outside the very doors of the Congress hall, it drew up lists of complaints for its orators lo voice. . And then. Louis Botha made speeches. He talked to them in the language of the land, of the farm. He addressed them in the real baok-veld Taal, full quaint smiles and of bacK-veld iaioms, till the newspaper interpreters had to confer together in order' to get the speeches into English at all. Probably he told them home truths' he would never utter in a mixed audience. But General Botlia knows his Boer from the top of his slouch hat to the sole of his hob-nailed boots. The com-] plaints wore never made; the hot speeches became merely mild and apologetic suggestions, which- were withdrawn at the smallest hint; r the bearded orators from Potgietersrust and the distant Zoutpansberg sat as silent as schoolboys. ''I don't think we had better discuss this," said General Botha. And everyone at , once agreed that it would certainly be better not to discuss it.,. "I think that might be left to the Executive to consider," said General' Botha as an awkward point appeared. And the backvelcl signified with many guttrals that undoubtedly the Executive were the proper people to deal with the matter.