The Daily News MONDAY, JANUARY 16, 1933. SOUTH AFRICAN POLITICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 January 1933, Page 6

The Daily News

MONDAY, JANUARY 16, 1933. SOUTH AFRICAN POLITICS.

OFFICES: NEW PLYMOUTH, Currie Street. STRATFORD, Broadway. HAWERA, Hi«h Street.

The progress of political happenings in the Union of South Africa is not easy to follow. Even the nomenclature of the principal parties in the Union Parliament is apt. io mislead. The Government led by General Hertzog is “Nationalist,” but the term does not denote a Ministry from which party politics have been eliminated as is the case in New Zealand, Great Britain and Australia. The first Nationalist Government of South Africa came into being in 1924 as the result of a combination of Nationalist and Labour parliamentary forces, but in 1929 the Nationalists gained an absolute majority over all other parties. The National party in South Africa has for its principal platform the determination of the Union to be entirely self-govern-ing in every respect. . It has counted among its chief supporters the more conservative elements, and particularly the Boer section of the electorate. To this policy of self-determina-tion may be traced the Government’s insistence upon such policy matters as the continued use of the Dutch language in schools, courts and legislatures. In some quarters the decision to remain on the gold standard after it had been abandoned by Great Britain is considered; to have been another indication that South Africa was free to establish her own , currency whatever might be the views of Downing Street or London City. Until the last few months the Government seemed to have public opinion on its side, and even the Ottawa agreements were framed in a manner which would in no way ruffle the susceptibilities of the Union Nationalists. Lately, however, and particularly since the decision to maintain the gold standard was made, the Government has lost caste even among the Dutch. South Africa is feeling acutely the general depression, and the Government’s fiscal . and currency policies are being blamed for adding to the difficulties. A few weeks ago it was considered certain that a Ministerial defeat would mark the new session of Parliament and that a general election would follow. Apart from the Labour Party the only effective opposition to the Hertzog Ministry has come from the South African Party led by the ex-Prime Minister, General Smuts. He is the leader of those who place full reliance upon the association of the Union in the British Commonwealth of Na-

tions, who would like to see English become the one language used, and who realise that the native problem must be handled upon mure progressive lines than those which regard the African native as little more than a beast of burden. For practical purposes the South African Party may be termed the progressive, though it does not go so far as the Labour Party, which, at least so far as the white wage-earner is concerned, is frankly Socialistic. Hitherto the South African Party has failed to attract the younger Boer element to whom the military struggles with Great Britain are a mere matter of history, though there are said to be indications of a change of view in that section of the electorate. It is said the younger Dutch do not approve of General Smuts' leadership and would not like to see him Prime Minister again. It was thought a way of healing the differences in the South African party had been found when Judge Roos resigned from the bench to re-enter politics. As a former Nationalist Minister it was thought he would rally a good many Dutch voters to the ranks of the South African party, but the latest information seems to indicate that the breach between the two wings of that party will not be healed so easily. Meanwhile economic conditions have gone from bad to worse, and it may be that if an election is held the position will be one of stalemate with no party retaining a majority. If that should happen the Union may find it desirable to emulate other self-governing Dominions by setting up a non-party Government.