Aelson Evening Mail TUESDAY, JUNE 22, 1937 SOUTH AFRICAN AFFAIRS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 22 June 1937, Page 4

Aelson Evening Mail TUESDAY, JUNE 22, 1937 SOUTH AFRICAN AFFAIRS

THE reported difference of opinion between the Secretary of State for the Dominions and the Premier of South Africa, in reference to the future of native protectorates in that country, emphasises the need there is for some legally-constituted tribunal within the British Commonwealth of Nations competent to decide differences of opinion and disputes between the nations which accept the Statute of Westminster as an instrument for promoting harmony among them. Apparently the divergence of opinion between Mr Malcolm MacDonald and General Hertzog was in reference to the future of such protectorates as those of Bechuanaland, Swaziland, and Basutoland. The British Government, whose solicitude for the native races of the Empire is proverbial, is anxious that the peoples of the three protectorates, named, shall enjoy good government and complete protection. On the other hand, the Boers appear to be desirous of including the protectorates within the territory for which, the Government of the Union of South Africa is responsible; and it is a question as to whether the natives concerned would be happier under the British or under the Government of the Union, which to-day may be in the hands of the Boers and Cape Dutch, but to-morrow may be in the hands of the British elements of the South African population. There is no doubt that the attitude of the Boers and the Cape Dutch towards the coloured part of the population has prejudiced their case in regard to the protectorates under consideration, and there is not much doubt that, if the natives of those territories could be consulted, they would ask to remain under British protection, rather than be placed under the Boers and Cape Dutch, who at the present time loom so large in South African politics. If there were, as some people think there should be, an elective body, representative of the Dominions (including Great Britain), sitting in London and managing the foreign affairs of the British Commonwealth of Nations and the relationships between those nations, such a matter as General Hertzog's provocative statement could be referred to that body for its opinion and decision, and much trouble might be prevented. Furthermore the welfare of the natives of South Africa, though primarily the concern of the Cape Government, is also the concern of the government of Great Britain, and cannot be ignored by the rest of the Dominions. They will certainly support the British Government in its solicitude for the welfare of the native protectorates of South Africa, and will hardly approve of the attitude adopted by General Hertzog.