THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES. MONDAY, APRIL 3, 1933. COALITION IN SOUTH AFRICA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21919, 3 April 1933, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES. MONDAY, APRIL 3, 1933. COALITION IN SOUTH AFRICA.

The cabled message announcing the formal resignation of the South African Prime Minister, General Hertzog, and his immediate formation of a new Cabinet Avith General Smuts as Deputy Px'ime Minister, provides the assurance that the all but impossible has actually come to pass. When Mr Tielman Eoos sensationally resigned his judicial office and announced his willingness to lead the Union out of the political wilderness, the prospect of a pact between General Hertzog and General Smuts was scarcely conceivable. They had been, for more years than many electors could count, sworn political, enemies.'' Something in the nature of a bombshell was required to perform, pai'adoxically, the business of uniting them, and Mr Roo? supplied it. One result of his timely reappearance in national polities was to supply an indication, in the amount of public and parliamentary support he received, that the people of South Africa desired,a coalition Government. Another was to hurry General Hertzog into abandoning the gold standard, a step to which he had declared himself irrevocably opposed. The third result

was that he and General Smuts proceeded to discuss the prospects of co-operation. It would be doing these experienced leaders less than justice to. assume that they were inspired in these negotiations simply by the wish to keep Mr Roos from recruiting the dissident members of both parties and endeavouring to force an election. Mr Roos must, however, be given credit for the fact that, but for his intervention, a coalition would have remained highly improbable. General Hertzog's Government was not very securely installed in office —at the last election the Opposition actually secured the greater number of votes —and he could not afford to lose parliamentary supporters to Mr Roos. General Smuts was probably already convinced before Mr Roos made his dramatic "comeback" that a National Government would best serve the interests of the Union in a time of crisis. The retreat from the gold standard, which he had long advocated, doubtless removed one of the main barriers between his South African Party and the Nationalists. Early in February General Hertzog postulated certain conditions for a coalition, of which the only especially contentious clause was that stipulating the passage of Bills relating to native rights and status which he had been sponsoring for three years. The actual conditions on which the coalition was brought about have not been reported, but it is evident that the South African parties have followed the, example in Great Britain and other parts of the Empire in placing party prejudices in subservience to national welfare. The announcement of the new Cabinet confirms the.previous reports that an agreement had at last been reached. It took more than three months in the making, a fact which may denote either the unwilling spirit of compromise between the parties, or the firm basis on which their truce is founded. When the negotiations were in progress the Capetown correspondent of The Times declared that it seemed incredible that General Hertzog and General Smuts should sit in the same Cabinet for three months without a disastrous quarrel. Time alone can reveal whether they will find it possible to work-in harmony. There are, however, certain considerations which may, apart from the rather obvious one that a Government of a truly national character should be the best for the country, persuade them to remain in partnership. They will know that Mr Roos, though apparently in eclipse at the moment, is ready to shine forth once more following any Cabinet storm, and if the wishes of the South African people have been correctly interpreted by political observers there can be no doubt that the desire of the electorate is for at least a temporary cessation of party strife.