South African Unrest
It is not yet clear how far the disturbances at the township of Newclare, on the outskirts of Johannesburg, are of more than local significance, but the situation which has developed there is obviously charged with dangerous possibilities. The serious rioting which took place on Tuesday not only at Newclare but at two neighbouring townships appears to be connected with trouble which broke out in Newclare on January 29, when police arrested some 650 natives after a riot which had followed the arrest of a single native for possessing liquor. The origin of Tuesday's disturbances is not known, but the likelihood of such outbreaks, in view of the antagonism between Africans and Europeans created by the present South African Government's native policy, is plainly not to be ignored. South Africa, of course, must manage her own affairs, but it must be clear by this time even to Dr. Malan himself that the deliberate frustration of native aspirations for self-development can lead only to unrest to which no limits can be set. It has, of course, the incidental result that no British Government, of whatever party, could hand over the inhabitants of the three protectorates to such treatment as the South African Government is according to the Africans under its own jurisdiction.
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