News of the Week
THE South African Parliament opens next Friday, and the odds now are that General Hertzog's Government will be soundly beaten on the first division, if indeed it does not deCide to anticipate defeat and resign before the House assembles. The early uncertainties to which Mr. Tielman Roos's dramatic move gave rise appear to have been cleared up, and both his position and General Smuts' are revealed as so strong that if they can strike a harmonious alliance they will obviously be in a position to defeat the Hertzog Cabinet and form a Government at once. The prospects of such a develop. ment are very much improved by the self-abnegation of General Smuts, who is quite prepared, if necessary, to take second plaCe in a Coalition Government. That would almost certainly mean his serving under Mr. Tielman Roos, though the alternative of an administration under Mr. Patrick Duncan, in which both Mr. Roos and General Smuts had places, is not to be completely excluded. Mr. Roos's object in driving South Africa off the gold standard has been achieved, but it remains to link the currency definitely with sterling, which no doubt would be the policy of the Coalition. The rise in agricultural prices due to going off gold is already winning Mr. Roos wide support. With anti-racialism as a second plank in its platform a Roos-Smuts adminis- tration should substantially increase both prosperity and harmony in South Africa.
