The Timaru Herald MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1907. SOUTH AFRICAN FEDERATION.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13457, 2 December 1907, Page 4

The Timaru Herald MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1907. SOUTH AFRICAN FEDERATION.

It is surprising to learn that the cancji- v dates in Uho election , campaign *in Cipe Colony 'who. have been making references to the federation of the various coloriitfii in South Africa, are apparently btusiiig their - opposition to "the 'process of unification upon the political recognition of; tjii , native races. Nobody needs, to .be told thali the Boers, who hold the balance' of power in the. Transvaal, • - and who coft•stitiite : practically ' the whole " population, ol the' Orange River Colony, have tm. Uttpr contempt for. the statesmanship. whictapiVt? a vote in the, hands'of a- Kaffir, 1 andj-W© do not know, but what -their 'refusal to ■exteM political rights and privileges to the coloured people, is. : hot. endoreedtrbjr, Englishmen wlio have a personal expert ence of the-. country and its racial pr6|)lems. -It ii certainly unthinkable - tliat. there can 'fee anything like/political equality between the whites und blacks so, long; as the former are in a hopelew? minoriijr and depend for their very existence £hiesy upon the prestige of thfrir colour. Nor can an outsider regard ,it as a Rhod thing when white candidates have to trucklo to capture lh(> native vole. If the col outbid population ■ is- to have parliamentary I .repre-. sentation, as in theory is only., whjat is right aiid proper, South Africa mig)it< cojiy- tlie example ol New Zealand,.> «n ( d allow the. natives to send a limited niuftber of, their own repivse-ntotiven to thft legislature. Wo rihould. imagine, however, that when once the South -African colonies are ripe for federation, the cb- • loured representation in Cape Colony \ml I not be allowed to stand in the way of its acconVpltehmeht. In any easo. the Federal Parliament would deal with subjects in th'^ ; rta liven would hilVd 110 direct concern, and if thoothw nvntl*. bers of the Union objected'to any recognition of the ,Kaffirs., Cape Colony could agree to retain her present franchise; for her local legislature, while choosing 'hel* Federal representatives froih a purely white;' constituency. Xhat ' fedieiiAlion is the ultimate goal of South' Africa, is apparent; to every isbudent, of cblonial .deI Velopment in Canada, in Australia, nad in South; Africa itself., Jll Sir Georgfl Grey, 1 -tried to federate South Africa, aM he' might.liave (succeeded if-;- thk ' Hoot?! doyeriimeht had -'not''dticoui:a|e& iUe ipfti--jecl 1 . Tn 1875 .Lord! Carnarvon, satf thdt Sir ,George Grey had bten right; life sanction to another attempt, which, unfortunately, ended in failure.. , The campaign 0f1899-1902 had■ to be fought before federation became possible. campaign ' cleaml away obstaeleswhich N blocked the road to federation,, and' while it did not, give South Africa political union, it gave tlie basis of it; Nor hftß the germ of ' union bfefcn slo\v to work since the country has settled down under representative institutions. About ' months ago, at the. request of the Goyejiii-* nient of Cape Colony, the-. High ComiAis- • eioner of South Africa, Lord SelbortWJ, a memorandum on the conditioila of federation which won tfce approval of all tlie .self-governing colonies. Lord Selborne * dealt chiefly with the question of the railways, which constitute the most iinlnorlant intercolonial problem. His memorandum <hscu6sed a number bf .othw matter*; which would have to be before federation became a definite possibility, but none of there touched' thfe question of the native vote to which the. politicians are now giving their attention. For that reason alone we should 1 tli'lk the coloured franchise one of the Ipnst ..substantial obstacles ■ to the federation which is sure to come.