5 JUNE 1909, Page 2

The news from South Africa is on the whole favourable

to the acceptance of the Constitution. In its amended form it was adopted by both Houses of the Orange River Colony and of the Transvaal on Monday. At Pretoria the Motion was proposed by General Botha, who stated that the Transvaal had only given up its demand for proportional representation in the face of the gravest opposition. Sir George Farrar, who seconded the Motion, strongly criticised the attitude of the anti-Unionists in Natal, and observed that the isolation of one part regarding itself as peculiarly British was the most likely thing to keep racialism alive. In the Cape House of Assembly Mr. Merriman, in moving the adoption of the amended Constitu- tion, which was carried with only two dissentients, announced that the delegates from the Cape Colony would be Sir J. do Villiers, the Chief Justice ; Dr. Jameson, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Hoffneyr, and himself. The decision of Natal is not yet known, but it is worthy of notice that the Durban Chamber of Commerce, by 60 votes to 4, has approved the acceptance of the Constitution.