LORD MILNER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13454, 3 June 1907, Page 5

LORD MILNER.

THE STATE OF SOUTH AFRICA. FEARS OF DUTCH ASCENDANCY. '.■■.'".' ■ -——- ;.-;■■■ ■ -'.-.:'-■, WHAT PREFERENCE WOULD DO. By Telegraph Press Association.— ; (Received Jane 2, 433 p m.) I London, June 1. Lord Milker, addressing a Unionist 1 demonstration at York . yesterday, I paid a tribute to the wise firmness of Sir Edward Grey and Mr. John: Morley in regard to the unrest' among the natives in Egypt and India respectively. The Radical fanatics, however, I had diverted the full force of their energies to South Africa, which was now the lightning conductor of their mischievous activities. He quoted statements by Mr. \ Smuts, when Acting-Premier of the Transvaal, .to show the grave state of material depression existing there, and declared that the alarming decline had been due to the reckless! electoral agitation in Great Britain j having destroyed confidence. While he recognised the sincerity of Mr. Botha's speeches, he contended that Great Britain had transferred the Transvaal to a purely ;racial party,, and had laid the foundations of the ascendancy .of the Dutch from Capetown to the Limpopo. The Briton, at any rate, was temporarily the " under dog." , > Commenting on the Imperial Conference, he said that preference must now be argued as a living principle. Fiscal preference within the Empire would give an immense impetus to exports to the colonies, whose inhabitants per head were by far Great Britain's best customers. Preference by encouraging colonial pro- ! duction and population would multiply those customers, and Great Britain's emigration would be directed to British lands, instead of running to waste all over the world, and thus upbuild the Empire.