PLOTTING CIVIL WAR.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 13299, 7 February 1914, Page 3

PLOTTING CIVIL WAR.

am ] CONDITIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. J GENERAL SMUTS' SPEECH. • MEN WITH DYNAMITE: THE BLACK PERIL. » (Press Assn.— By Telegraph— Copyright.) i (Received Feb. 7. 8.3Q a.m.) CAPETOWN, February 6. ' General ' Smuts, m his'sjHjech on "the ' Indemnity Bill' ih the 1 Union'Parliament;said that tho incident at Magerfohtein was. a providential .flashlight, showing what a ' general conflagration -„ would mean. The strike leaders had contemplated civil war. When they were no longer able to hold mass meetings and inflame the workers they employed small bodies of men with dynamite as pickets. The Trades Hall simultaneously instructed them to form commandoes. Dynamite was found freely along the railways and other places. In the background there was always the terril* menace of the black population on the Rand. The Government were tho best judges of the situation. They saw that the time- was ripe for drastic action, i'hey took courage with both hands, and determined to face the criticisms over the deportations, \rhereto mature consideration had been given. No responsibility rested with Lord Gladstone, and they regretted that attempts had- been made to censure him. The Transvaal Peace Preservation ordinance of 1903 gave power to summarily expel persons •dangerous to the country's peace. The criminal law had not coped with such '. cases. He instanced tho acquittal of Crawford and Mrs Fitzgerald m July. The Government was not prepared to risk a repetition of acquittals. He also cited Galbraith Cole's deportation on September 10, 1911, which Mr Ramsay Mac Donald had endorsed. If this was justifiable, the deportation of labor leaders was assuredly so. He scathingly condemned General Hertzog's "patriotism" m harassing the Government ■at a critical time. He (General Smuts) preferred to reserve the term "patriotic" for Mr Merriman and Sir W. T. Smartt, who had proferred their services as special constables. When the Trades Hall surrendered the authorities found that everything incriminating had been burnt. The Government's only alternative to safeguard the public was to proclaim martial law. The public did not know that after the July strike tons of lethal weapons and assagai had been collected m native compounds. He paid a tribute fo the magnificent response to the mobilization, showing how rich and poor had flocked to the colors.