AUTONOMY WANTED.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8043, 22 June 1904, Page 2

AUTONOMY WANTED.

' Among the provisions of the Vereeniging Conference, under which the f Transvaal

and the- Orange Free State surrendered tfceir independence to Great Britain, was a, condition that the* beaten republics ghSuld 'be granted self-goverriment when in the opinion of the authorities the time -was ripe for this step; A vaguelyworded promise of this kind was bound to give rise to friction, antfc at no very <Hatant date after the conclusion of peace an agitation in. favduifc of autonomy 'began to niftifce itself heard. Hitherto this, agitatiqn has beett Oonfined almost entirely to a. discontented minority -which included few/repreB€iitatite leaders. Nowa. however t ..iierfe are aigns that the movement is grovriiig in volume, and is embracing representatives of all classes of the community. ,it ia saidi that it has «vei| ■■ : t : ai* tracted promilient ieeidents of Mthe and Uitlanders who were foremost in opposing the Kruger regime. If the I 'latter Btdry is true, the days of *elf T^birern- ! jnent in. the Transvaal. : tod Orange;^ River • O«J«niee must be thawing appreciafclv

nearer, although the Imperial authorities are apparently unwilling to admit the fact.