SIR G. SPRIGG. ON THE SOUTH AFRICAN SITUATION

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11857, 8 January 1902, Page 6

SIR G. SPRIGG. ON THE SOUTH AFRICAN SITUATION

Speaking at the annual dinner of the Caledonian Society Capetown on November - 30, Sir Gordon Sprigg referred at soma length to the •war, In the course of i his I remarks she said: —These :is another matter I I wish to refer to, and that is the question of what is -to be the character ;■■ of the settlement by-and-bye. We know that this war,- severe as it is, is steadily drawing to an end. ' Now I was not one of those who were optimistic two years ago. In fact,'l may say that I stood almost alone here in the expression of the belief that, we were; entering upon a prolonged struggle, that it would not be over in a short time, that it was a great civil war that was commencing, and that a civil war here would be like civil wars in any other civilised coun-. tries in the world's history, and that it would last a very long time. You cannot " name any definite period as;the termination of a civil war. It will not be as it is' in the case of a war between two great' . Powers in Europe, for instance, where it is < war , to-day ; and peace to-morrow. You have nothing of that sort here. In a European: war there is "the Government of the other, country ■■ which '•; can authorise peace at the proper .time, but what • we. have to , contend - with here is that i there is no Government whatever against us. They are simply small bodies of men scattered about over a vast geographical area, and the only way to bring this war to;an end is to wipe those-bodies; out, vas the chairman has said, one by one. The war will come to an end when the last! man is killed or captured and the last gun taken, the last round of ammunition seized. Now I ; said I was not optimistic two years ago, -but I am -not pessimistic to-day. (Cheers.) I lam fully convinced in ;my own V mind, : and being gi ted to some ' extent with the power of foresight, that.- the i war> is; drawing to a close, and . that not;! a; : ,very-ilong:i time :is going to elapse: before we shall again have peace in ; the land we live ; in. (Loud and prolonged cheers.) So long ago as last February ; we put on record by I way of advice to >■ His ;: Majesty's ;:.;-' Government c the views we entertained as to the best means of securing ia satisfactory settlements of • affairs in not, the colony , alone, but South Amca at large. 5 I. am not at liberty to ; detail, to you precisely; the views we put on record, and which, we communicated to Mis Majesty s Government, because thev were sent in u secretly, and were received by Mr. Chamberlain in that way, and until he wishes to make them public—to which we have no objection whatever—l cannot go into detail in the 'matter.. But I can tell you -this, that y since our advice was , given ■■■. several' members of .His -Majesty's i Government, as ; well as the V. High Com-! missioner have spoken upon this; question of. the future settlement when the war has .come to ~an -end,:ands..&:■■ every respect, where they have indicated the, lines on winch it is probable they will proceed for effecting that ? settlement, they are exactly the lines laid down :by us in the advice .we ; tendered nine months ago. I may tell you, as it is a matter which has been referred to quite recently ;in this colonv, that we did not, in making that proposal, indicate that we thought it would be an advantage, -and would tend to the future settlement of South Africa, to split up the , Lape Colony into two sections. ':> On the contrary, we think the colony would be much stronger if it grands together as a' whole—(cheers)— so 'takes, as I believe it ; will take, a leading part -in : the ' great confederation of ; the future. Y (Loud cheers.) And in regard to the method which that federation is to be brought about I would say this, and you will gather from the remarks that - have been made by ; several of His Majesty's Ministers, and also by the' High Commissioner' at Maritzburg, that it is to be evolved from 'within ; that it is not • to be a cut and dried; scheme'.; flung down upon us here in South Africa, and we are to be told: " That is the ; system under which you are to live for the future." My firm conviction is that .if. : you are to make a success \of : confederation in South Africa, you will have to do it as it has been done in Canada, . and . quite recently ;in Australia.: It has to be effected by the people themselves, ;■ whose Government: it :is that is to be established in the future. ; I am one of those that never advocate doing' anything in a hurry, wherever you 'maybe, and if; that is true. of "other., parts of the world, it ;is : absolutely true of South. Africa. You must; go gradually, step by..: step. . If . you introduce suddenly a huge scheme you will either fail in its inception or you will find that it will break down in its operation very soon after, it has started. We shall certainly begin • in' this matter' by a. Customs Conference. That will be assembled :so soon as the state « of : South Africa admits; of it. All the States : and colonies of South Africa will be represented there, and I hope we shall be able to come to such an agreement as that the Legislatures of the different colonies and States will be able to accept the convention; to be drawn up at that conference. And that will be of such a nature, I hope as to give us a better tariff than we have 'at present.- ; (Cheers.) That is by no means an ideal tariff, although ,the best, we could get at the time it was;established.? In addition to that we shall ; find , that it ; will ■; be: the first link of the , confederation which : is to come—(cheers)—arid: we shall find, too, how general and-; common '■''■ is our interest '•'.'■ in standing together. r; (Cheers.) And> so £we shall .go,on step by step, until ultimately we get ; the great • confederation of all the States, and colonies in South Africa, which we all look forward to come in time. Now, do not let it be supposed that I believe tins to be within a short distance as regards! time. il may tell you I have:talked over this subject very deeply indeed with the High Commissioner, both down here and in Johannesburg the other day, and he .;.agrees;: with me in. the view I "have expressed, that you are not to look forward to federation being accomplished in a hurry. To be successful it must come gradually, and it will take a considerable time to work out. What he said—and that is the policy I have always endeavoured to pursue during the long time I have been connected with public affairs— "Be very careful; you. start on the right lines and having decided that, then go steadily along on those lines, keeping the goal?in front of you, and though you may 20 slowly you are sure to reach the goal at length. (Loud , and prolonged cheers.) that ] M- king generally, the policy ■ winch., this. Government is-, determined '.to pursue, and which it has recommended a, a wise and safe policy for His .Majesty's Government to pursue in South Africa -"