SOUTH AFRICA TO-DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22448, 18 December 1934, Page 4

SOUTH AFRICA TO-DAY

DUTCH AND BRITISH INTERESTS DIFFERENCES VANISHING A WELL-INFORMED SURVEY Some interesting aspects of life in South Africa to-day were touched on by Mr Morris Alexander, K.C., M.P., of Capetown, in an interview with a Daily Times reporter yesterday. ' Mr Alexander, who is paying a short visit to the city during the course of a tour of New Zealand, was the official delegate from the city of Capetown to the Mel* bourne centenary. Besides being a member of Parliament and a prominent figure in the public life of South Africa; generally, he is the recognised leader of. South African Jewry and holds many religious and civil positions there. Discussing the present political situation in South Africa, Mr Alexander said it was most interesting. To appreciate it fully it was necessary to go back for a good many years —in fact, to the time of Paul Kruger, President of the Transvaal Republic, and of Cecil Rhodes, Prime Minister of the old Cape Colony —two great idealists who fought respectively for a great South African republic and a great addition to the British Empire. Until the Jameson raid of IS9G Rhodes was supported by the Dutch, but as the result of his connection with that affair the whole position changed, and the Dutch disowned Rhodes and formed a solid block. Rhodes then formed the Progressive Party, largely composed of English members. The Boer War intervened from 1899 until 1902, and owing to the fact that the Dutch rebels were disfranchised, Dr Jameson became Premier of Cape Colony in 1904, holding office until 1908. In that year the Afrikander Party, led and, supported by the English, came into power led by the late Mr John H. Merrimau.

In 1910, Mr Alexander continued, the four colonies became one Union with one Parliament. The various Dutch parties, with a sprinkling of English supporters, amalgamated under the name of the South African Party, and the English parties, with their sprinkling of Dutch, became the Unionist Party, In 1912 General Hertzog quarrelled with General Gotha and was excluded from the Cabinet, after which he formed the Nationalist Party. The year 1921 saw the amalgamation of the South African Party, under General Smuts, and the Unionist Party, led by the late Sir Thomas Smartt, under the name of the South African Party, the Opposition consisting of the Nationalists, under General Hertzog, then very strong, and the Labour Party, led by Colonel Cresswell. At the general election in 1924 General Smuts was defeated by General Hertzog. The latter became Prime Minister and entered into a pact with Labour whereby he took three members of that party into his Cabinet. Thus the position remained until 1929, when General Hertzog was again returned to power, but with a reduced majority, while the Labour members were also smaller in number. FUSION OF PARTIES The next important development, Mr Alexander continued, was when South Africa went off the gold standard, and that marked the beginning of her economic prosperity. Meanwhile a strong move had come into existence to form a coalition of the two great parties, and this had come about, the Government being composed of five members of General Hertzog's party and five of General Smuts's. A further development since that time had been the decision to fuse the two parties into one, and in his opinion at the next election, which might take place any time during the next three and a-half years, the new fusion party would sweep the country. "I would say," Mr Alexander went on, "that the party will get at least 120 out of the 150 seats in Parliament, judged by a recent by-election in/ South Africa, at which the Government candidate was returned with more votes than his three opponents together. The reason why we feel so hopeful is that two differences, one constitutional and the other racial, which have separated the English and the Dutch in Souih Africa for many years, have almost been done away with. The constitutional question has now been finally settled by Imperial Conferences and the Statute of Westminster, the resolutions adopted at which have been embodied by us in a Status Act, and the co-operation of the two races in the new party has almost obliterated the racial question. " There are, of course, some malcontents," he continued. "Three members of the party under General SmutsColonel Stallard in the Transvaal, Mr Marwick in Natal, and Mr -Coulter at Capetown—have refused to join the new party. Briefly, their reason for not doing so is that they are afraid that the result of the Status and kindred has been to weaken the connection between South Africa and the British Commonwealth. This, however, has absolutely no substupce in fact, and it is notable that the other malcontent;-;, who arc Dutch and are led by Dr D. F Malan, a former member of Gener.il Hertzog's Cabinet, are objecting to joinin" the new party for exactly the opposite reason; they fear that the Acts mentioned have so completely riveted ns to the British Commonwealth that: they refuse to have anything to do with the movement. There remains the Labour Party, which refuses to join any fusion party, but it is very weak in South Africa. Its representation in the newAssembly will probably not be more than 10 or 15 out of 150." Asked whether General Smuts retained the confidence of the people, Mr Alexander said there was little doubt that if he again came into conflict with General Hertzog at a general election he would become Prime Minister. "He is the most popular man in Sou'.h Africa," Mr Alexander concluded, "bovh with the Dutch and the British peoples." PRODUCTION OF GOLD

Questioned concerning the production of gold in South Africa, Mr Alexander said that, as the result of the rise in the price of that commodity during the past two or three years, there had been

a great increase in mining development, with the result that mines which had been closed down for years had been reopened, and an intensive search was being made for new reefs and extensions of established areas. All this was taking place in the Transvaal,, however, and outside that area the country was not deriving a great deal of immediate benefit from the gold boom. Where the advantage to South Africa at large came from was in the levy made by the Government upon gold production, which amounted to 50 per cent, of the increase over the old price. A large surplus had been built up in this manner, and it was being used to help the farmers, who were suffering similarly to the farmers in New Zealand, in the provision of relief works and other means of absorbing the unemployed, while some small relief had been gained from it for the income tax. There was no unemployment tax in South Africa. DECLINE OF DIAMONDS But while gold was booming, Mr Alexander continued, diamond production, once South Africa's leading industry, ! had dropped away to nothing. "We still produce more than half the world's supply of diamonds," he said, " but the market has disappeared. America, which was formerly the best buyer, is not going in for diamonds now, and, in fact, the supply far exceeds the demand. Alluvial areas are still worked by individual persons, but the deep mining which was formerly carried on in the search for diamonds has ceased. The famous de Beer mines at Kimberley have been closed down for four years, land in fact they have still more diamonds in hand than they could possibly sell without creating a glut in the inarket and consequently lowering the price of diamonds to a very great extent. The production of diamonds is at present very much restricted, and it. is likely to remain thus until there is an economic recovery throughout the world, particularly in the United States of America."

\ JEWS IN PALESTINE Mr Alexander also had some interestinn- remarks to make concerning the return of the Jewish people to Palestine, a matter in which he is deeply interested. There were now about 400,000 Jews settled there, compared with 50,000 to 55,000 before the war, and a good number had already gone from South Africa, aiid were settled on the land or industrially. The aim of the Zionist movement was to have as many of the Jewish immigrants as possible settled on the land. Already enormous areas had been cleared of swamps, and with intensive cultivation had proved very fertile indeed; orange cultivation had gone ahead by leaps and bounds, and the waters of the Jordan had been - harnessed to provide light and power for the whole of Palestine. The Dead Sea had proved to be a mine of wealth, with a potassium yield which would prove of the greatest benefit to the whole world. "The Jewish people who go over there, whatever their occupation has been before,, and whether they belong to the working or the university classes, are getting down to work in no half-hearted manner," said Mr Alexander. . "They are b.uilding their own houses and making their own roads, and, generally speaking, are helping in the building up of the country by hard work enthusiastically done, because of their faith in the ideal which brought them there."

Asked about the flight of the Jews from Germany, Mr Alexander said that about 20,000 of these had settled in Palestine. If the British Government would'; allow free immigration of Jews into Palestine, there could be little doubt!that it would be quite easy in a short time to double the present Jewish population and more. The British Government was beset with special difficulties, however, since it felt that it could not allow more immigration than would Jneet the absorbent capacity of the land, having regard to the Arab population. While appreciating those difficulties, however, the Jews felt that that attitude was a mistaken one:

"The";advent of the Jews to Palestine has beeii of distinct advantage to the Arab race," Mr Alexander concluded. " It has improved their standard of life, has raised their rate of wages, and has taught them scientific methods of farming which are replacing the primitive methods.of the past. There is no racial feeling between the two peoples, and the Jews are assisting the Arabs in many ways."