POLITICAL TRUCE

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 48, Issue 2886, 29 March 1939, Page 6

POLITICAL TRUCE

SOUTH AFRICAN LEADERS MORAL ARMAMENT FORCES The political truce between General Hertzog, Prime Minister of South Africa, and Dr. Malan, the Nationalist leader, was attributed to the forces of moral rearmament by the South African correspondent of the Manchester Guarlian in a recent article. The truce, which lasts for one month covering the Voortrekker centenary celebrations was explained in a manifesto issued by Dr. Jansen, Speaker of the House of Assembly, and signed by both (General Hertzog and Mr Malan.

The first three points of this manifesto stated: —

1. The Christian basis of our national and social life, and the acknowledgement of the necessity of a conscious search after the guidance of God in all matters affecting the national life.

2. The acknowledgment of the absolute necessity in this time of strain and confusion for the building up of spiritual and moral values as an essential sub-stratum in the life of the people by at all times aspiring to honesty, truth, uprightness, willingness to serve, discipline, and self-control in all branches of the national life.

3. The maintenance of a truly Christian spirit, attitude and dignity in our public life, in the Press, and at public meetings and debates in Parliament, and the abandonment of everything that may-give offence, or create ill-feeling or enmity, between one person and another.

Commenting on the origin of the manifesto, the Manchester Guardian says: “Dr. Jansen and the unnamed persons who have co-operated with him in the drawing up of this manifesto are to be congratulated. ... It is clear that behind this appeal is the same spirit which has produced the manifestos in favour of moral rearmament in Great "Britain. If consistently acted upon, it should raise the whole of political life in South Africa.”