SOUTH AFRICA NOW SATISFIED

Manawatu Times, Volume XLXI, Issue 3481, 15 December 1926, Page 7

SOUTH AFRICA NOW SATISFIED

General Hertzog Returns Home

GREAT WORK OP EMPIRE CONFERENCE [By Electric Cable —Copyright.] [Aust. and N.Z. Cable Association.] CAPETOWN, Dec. 13. General Hertzog received an enthusiastic welcome on hi s return from his visit to England, cheering crowds lining the streets. Speaking at the mayoral reception, General Hertzog disclaimed any particular merit for the decisions at the Imperial Conference. The result was the work of the United Empire with the soul and spirit of the whole Empire behind it. They stood there as men who had come into their inheritance in the fullest and most complete measure, not as Boer or Britain, Nationalist or South African Party, but as the sons of South Africa. He added that nobody could deny that what had been achieved at the conference was of the utmost importance not only to the Dominions, but to the Empire itself. No longer had ho any fear of an Empire Conference. The conference had cleared tire atmosphere even. The word “Empire” had not escaped being put under the miscroscope and properly defined. Therefore a tremendous service had been done to the cause of the Empire. All his life he had been a constant antagonist of Imperialism and certainly a very lukewarm worshipper of the Empire. No wonder he could never consent to a Stale organisation being imposed as a superstate authority above the sovereign will of the people of any Dominion. That was how the Empire was represented to them in the past. The conference once and for all had declared that that conception of the Empire shall never apply in the future, and that clearly every Dominion as well as Britain shall be a dominant factor. He denied that thi s doctrine meant the disruption of the Empire. On the contrary, it maintained the only way in whicn the continuance of the Empire was assured. The conference had secured the goodwill and co-operation of the peoples of the Empire as never before. The decisions had cut ties, not real tics of goodwill, but only fictitious ties of allegiance to a power that was not our superior. He concluded; “It is no longer necessary to quibble about whether we wish to remain in the Empire or secede from the Empire. That Is a question wo shall have to deside according to the dictates of the interests of our country. If those interests in the years to come were to say it would be best, then it is not for you or me to say that it should not be done.”