The Timaru Herald. FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 1924. SOUTH AFRICAN ELECTIONS

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18084, 20 June 1924, Page 6

The Timaru Herald. FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 1924. SOUTH AFRICAN ELECTIONS

“Be of good cJieer,' ’ General ymuts cotumeis Ins supponers m spate of tiaeir reverses. Tiie Header of me boutii African Party proiesses unbounded iuiUi in me future, it is clear, However, mat file iNationalist-JLabour Factis likely to overthrow tiie Government, led by Ge-neeral bumfs, notwitnstancimg tiie nsk of ciiaotio conditions returning'. Some days ago tiie African correspondents were l saying that in ail General Elections -since the Union was established in ISJIO the South j African Party, led first by 1 General Botha, and afterwards by General Smuts, lias been tipped as a sure winner. Not so iu this instance. Nor the first time there are two most incongruous elements acting together, Nation- j aiists and Labour, with but one objective in common —the downfall of General Smuts. It seems a rather sad spectacle to find such i a political vendetta formed | against General Smuts, who' has ; done so much for South Africa j and the Empire, the apostle of reconciliation, and a man recognised the world over as a, statesman of transcendent genius. A few months ago a headmaster of a north country grammar* school in the North of England .expressed the remarkable opinion that brains were vastly over-rated, that many people got along quite well without them. This must be the opinion of those South Africans—and the NationalistLabour Pact represent perhaps the majority—who are willing to lose the services of General Smuts, and give the Premiership to General Hertzog, whose political career has given occasion for moie distrust as to his-states-manship and sincerity Than any other of our South African politicians. It is pointed out, by close j observers on the spot that the ■ position of Labour under - the Nationalist-Labour . Pact is a somewhat humiliating one. Labour: hopes to return ten additional members to the. Assembly. Their present number is 13. Net Colonel Cresswell, the Labour leader, in opening the election campaign in May, in the Durban . Town Hall, had little to say except that they must trust General Hertzog respecting the Pact, and that the general was a most honourable man. To this the critics replied that. General Hertzog dishonoured his signature to the Constitution passed by the National Convention 15 years ago, and had to be discarded bv General Botha on \ account of publicly expressed j anti-British sentiments. The Pact : ceases, says Colonel Cresswell, after the polling day. Then, if successful, the Nationalists obtain , the sweets of office, and Labour gets nothing except,—at the most —possessing a dominating* influence as between the two othei parties. This unique', position it is well to remember, is not proving so satisfactory to the Liberals in the British House of Commons as they had hoped. The Pact leaders- may be strange bedfellows, but the general, speaking at Newcastle, says: “I do not care what my bedfellow is so i long as he is not going* to sleep there, except for the purpose of turning the other fellow (Smuts) out.” As to Socialism, he added: “I do not care whether the Labour Party are .for or against private property so long as tixey j assist ns in chucking* out this i Government.” With Labour ally- ! ing itself with them, the Nationalists have the finest, opportunity to attain to the seats of the mighty that they have ever had. Discontent is widespread. Other circumstances all combine to help them. Reductions of wages in the Railway Department and the obnoxious Medicine Tax, also grievances of civil . servants and teachers, all make. for resentment which have been given silent vent to in the polling* booth, although they may be going' to jump from the proverbial frying pan into the fire. Then there, is the., economic* pressure due to financial stringency, not to mention the extraordinary run of ill-fortnne which has dogged the agriculturalists and pastoralists ot South Africa during* recent years. Both the Nationalists and . Labour have made rash electioneering promises and they find themselves in thee predicament of Mr Macdonald's Government —unnhle to redeem their pledges. I.he final results will be awaited with keen interest, hut the personal defeat of the statesman-soldier will he regretted throughout the Empire.