ESTABLISHED 1866. The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 1914. A LESSON FROM SOUTH AFRICA.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVIII, Issue 71, 25 March 1914, Page 4

ESTABLISHED 1866. The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 1914. A LESSON FROM SOUTH AFRICA.

The Press Association agent in South Africa has been singularly neglectful in failing to supply detailed information as to the victories of the Labor party in the Transvaal elections. That Labor has won a decided, almost a sweeping,- victory is made clear by the references to the general result of the' elections in the cablegrams received during the last fewdays; but the exact extent of the party's triumph. has not been disclosed. In all probability it is on the Rand 'and in the mining districts generally that Labor has won the day, and there can be little doubt thai the changed political situation is very largely due to the declaration of martial law and the - deportation policy. Labor has taken" its revenge at the polls—there is the 1 position in a nutshell! At the time the deportations were 'announced the opinion was expressed by tdiis journal that the Botha Government had behaved with very doubtful wisdom. At1 the same time, it was absurd to suppose that Lord Gladstone could have acted in any other way than he did, or that the Imperial Government could, did it even desire to do' so, interfere in any way with the management of the internal affairs of a, self-govern ing Dominion by its ownproperly responsible Government. Whether the Botha Government was actually justified in taking such, extreme measures is the affair of the people of South Africa. In the Transvaal, at.,the first possible opportunity, a majority of the electors have, it seemtfoertain, very practically exhibited 'serious disapproval of t<he course ?<Mjpted, and m the cities, at least, "of the other States, when other State flections occur, it wall be surprising if a similar verdict be not entered at the polling booths. In the country districts, where the syndicalist movement naturally retceives no support, the verdict will be otherwise, and as there is in South Africa a majority of country constituencies, the Union Government is not likely to be r driven from power when the Union or Federal elections come round, on the score of any mismanagement of the now famous Transvaal strike. , In the Transvaal, however, the result' of the Labor party's victory may materially alter the position of affairs so far as the great Rand-lords am concerned. In the past the mining magnates have nad things pretty" much their own ,'way, and although the misconduct of the strikers last January is not wholly to be justified by the selfishness and greed of the mine-owners, there appears to be a consensus of opinion amongst recent rf lto. rs South Afirica that the lot ot the European' workers left very much to be desired. , Two wrongs, however, do not mate one right, and it is no good making -martyrs of men who if their actions did not exactly meras> the extreme penalty of deportation, undoubtedly Waved in such a reckless and downright revolutionary manner as to threaten the social wellbeing of the community, as well as S?S'lly^raly tin 1 g the industrial machuiery of the whole country. Certain English journals have, we notice, respectability, the intellectual capafn/nf aS? the,gen^»y decent bearing of those who were deported. But iif we are to judge the leaders of the W fM 1 S£ lke ib£ one of their number, a Mr Kendall, organiser of the Amalgamated Society of SotthAfr? can Wineers, who escaped from the Y^ to come-of Botha and his police-and made his way to Mell^'tje South African typTof Syndicalist appears to be even a more mischievous and impudent demagogue | than are, his bretl^n in New Zeai i a f nd- .*! hl<&, as our readers will SE^T™ i i?\ 1S l aying not a littleMr Kendall has been boasting, to what was probably a highly sympathetic assemblage at the Socialist Hall, Melbourne, that they had the South African workers, "educated up to intermittent strikes, also to sabotage"' sabotage, we may parenthetically reJ™ m 01l. r. readers, means ,the forcible interruption of transport and other ' public services and utilities and the destruction pf property. "Personal, ly added th© amiable Mr,Kendall, nI ag u 6! d mth ihe l«tter"-that is with sabotage. "An industrial strike," he proceeded, "was really war, and every possible means must be employea. ±Ie was not averse to the murdering of a scab"! If Mr Kendall may be accepted, as we supoose he SSI ' if a fa, ir^sample of the men \?% WJ Cl?■■.* h?: Botha Government <£ +t? ?f al ' xtls difficult to blame the • r A/f lean authorities for proceeding w> the extreme measures which deemed it advisable, to '. adopt. Men who openly boast that they not disapprove of the murdering of men whose only crime—if it be a crime—it is^to come to the rescue of employers whose own regular workers choose to -leave them suddenly and witnout adtequate cause, utterly and wantonly regardless of the discomfort inconvenience, and' actual loss' which; sucn conduct may occasion to the oommmuty of which they are jr<*mt bers, are better out of South Africa

or any other decently governed country.

The Botha Government may hav<strained the law to rid the country, even temporarily, of its ''Red Fed" enemies; but it is difficult to blame them very severely for doing so, when the circumstances were provocative of such extreme measures as the proclamation of martial law and of deportation of the leading mischiefmakers. In New Zealand the strike! never attained the same proportions as did the Transvaal strike; but it came very near to'doing so. Had it not been for the prompt and patriotic action of the farmers, backed by a strong Government which, in the persons of Mr Massey and Mr Herdman, behaved with most praiseworthy decision and firmness, who can say what might not have occurred at Wellington, Auckland,- and elsewhere? Fortunately,, in this country the law was found equal to the demands made upon it, and it was unnecessary to resort to the extreme measures employed by the Botha Government. But we may rest assured that in the cities, at least, the New Zealand strike has left a legacy of bitterness amongst the "Red Fed" element which is sure, at the next general election, to manifest itself in a well-organised attempt at revenge upon the Massey Government. That the Prime Minister himself recognises this as more than a mere possibility was shown by his speech at Greymouth the other night, in which he emphasised the danger to the community which would arise were ever the Dominion to suffer the national disaster of having a "Red Fed" Government in office—or, he might have added, any Government .which could not be trusted to display the same firmness with regard to future revolutionary movements as that exhibited by himself and his colleagues last year. In the cities, no doubt, the "Red Feds" may—we do not say will—win a seat here and there; but we trust to the common-sense of the electors in the smaller towns and the country constituencies to prevent the occurrence of any such general success of the Labor party as appears to have occurred in the Transvaal.