THE TRANSVAAL AND NATAL.
IN a speech on Monday. at Charlestown the Natal Minister of Justice made a declaration of the greatest significance. He hoped, he said, that the amalga- mation of Natal and the Transvaal would soon be an accomplished fact. ' This is the first time that a responsible Minister in either Colony has declared himself on a question which we have always held to be of the most immediate importance to the future of British South Africa. We are glad that the first proposal should have come from the smaller State, for in such schemes it is the smaller States who show the most acute sensi- bilities, and are most easily wounded by any patronage. Three weeks ago, when the form, of the new Transvaal Constitution was announced, we urged the British party in the Transvaal to put amalgamation with Natal in the forefront of their programme. We welcome this proof that the question is being seriously, considered, and we would again impress upon all who have the interests of South Africa at heart the duty of accepting what is a simple, and we believe a permanent, solution-of several of its gravest problems.
Natal is one of the smallest of autonomous Colonies, but few have a stronger individuality. She has been the theatre of two of the fiercest of our modern wars, and she has shown in these and other matters not only a true sense of Imperial solidarity, but a vigorous national life. But admirable though her achievements have been, she suffers from two serious misfortunes. Her territory is very small, a little wedge shut in between the mountains and the sea, and it is mainly occupied by a dense native population. She has nine hundred thousand odd aborigines, well -over a hundred thousand Asiatics, and only ninety-seven thousand Europeans,—about one-twelfth of the total. Moreover, she has no great field for expansion, for land for new settlement could only be secured by dispossessing existing native occupants. She is thus faced with one of the gravest problems possible to a State,—how to secure the safety of her whites in the midst of the native races which it is her duty to govern. Further, the matter has been complicated by the introduction at an earlier stage • in her history of large numbers of Asiatics, who have settled up and down the country and have monopolised most of the petty trades. Economically and defensively Natal is therefore confronted with serious difficulties.
• With a population numbering only some eighteen thousand adult males, she has had to fight a six months' war and put several thousands of troops in the . field. It has cost her £600,000, which with her small area of taxation is a serious burden. ,It is enormously to her credit that up to now there has been no trace of panic ; but with such a dark cloud around her she might be forgiven if she became impatient and lost her head. Her wealth, again, is largely pastoral and agri- cultural, and fluctuates with the vicissitudes of rural South Africa. She has no minerals save coal, and no established industries. Hitherto she has made a good income as a kind of forwarding agency for the Rand. with her railways and harbour ; but at any moment this source of revenue may cease if the Transvaal should decide that the Delagoa Bay line is more economical, and should retire from the existing Conventions. As she stands, therefore, Natal wants money for development, and has no means of getting it. To balance her Budgets she must continue her railway• and Customs receipts at their present level, and there is no security for such continuance. Finally, she has a native problem which at any moment may entail war, and out of her eighteen thousand males she must provide an army to wage it. The Transvaal possesses many things which Natal has not got, and lacks a few things which she has. To her have fallen a large country full of unoccupied . lands, great actual wealth and still greater poten- tialities, and the foundations of one of the two or three greatest industries in the world. She suffers mainly from a lack of men and. from a bad position. Situated on the high veld, she has no means of , access to the sea of her own, and must make elaborate ' arrangements with her neighbours. These, naturally, seek their own interest, so that there is a danger of perpetual friction under the present system, and the chance that by some agreement with Portugal she may specialise on one non-British port. Her exports and imports are far greater than all the rest of South Africa combined can show, but she has only a cumbrous and roundabout way of dealing with them. If the Transvaal prospers, this difficulty will increase rather than diminish. Again, she lacks British population. What she has is con- . oentrated. in one industrial centre, and. under the new Con- stitution is unable to use its power. Further, her British citizens are too much of one type, too exclusively town- dwellers, to provide that variety of classes which is necessary in a strong party and a strong nation. Union with Natal • would. give her precisely those elements that she lacks. Durban Harbour since it has been deepened ranks probably third among the harbours of South Ahica: From there to the Transvaal border it is a comparative ry short and easy railway journey. After union the Transvaal could control her own road to the sea, and prevent those charges which increase the cost to the consumer and cripple enterprise without adding to her revenue. She would get a large number of British voters of the best type, who would turn the balance decisively under any Constitution on the side of British interests. Moreover, she would get farmers and. pastoralists and sugar-growers and half-a-dozen elements which are lacking in her present one-sided political life. Natal would,gain financial security, for the wealth of the Transvaal would be used in her development, and the traffic to the Rand would be ensured to her. The heavy debt of her war would be shared with a richer neighbour, and the danger of an outbreak would be lessened when all the forces of the northern Colony could be called out to help in its suppression. And there is one further -point which we would emphasise without any reflection upon Natal. A: small people must perforce take limited views. Now Natal is a small people with immense problems, and we should. be more confident of their wise settlement if they were entruated to a larger organisation, which may be assumed, because of its greater size, to have more balance and. perspective.
The old argument against the scheme—that since every unit counts in a Federation, every separate British unit must be cherished in view of a coming federated South Africa—has lost much of its force. It was assumed when it was first used that the Transvaal would be predominantly British ; but since that hope has failed, it is wiser to have one strong and reliable unit than one weak and one doubtful one. Cape Colony may object, but only on the ground that she will thereby lose the Rand traffic.— an event which is likely to happen in any case. We cannot believe that among the British Colonists of the Transvaal and. Natal there will be any serious oppo- sition, if they can once be made to understand clearly their own interests. The Boers will, of course, protest ; but we do not see that they can have much to say.. The annexation of Natal was an old desire of President Kruger's, and the amalgamation should delight all good Transvaalers, as increasing the prestige of their country. There was a great outcry from the Boer leaders when Utrecht and. Vryheid were added to Natal after the war. They cannot surely complain if they get these provinces back with interest. It will undoubtedly increase the British voting population, but then Mr. Smuts and Mr. Botha have declared of late that they accept a British, but deprecate a Rand, majority. The Natal voters will, at any rate, have no taint of the Rand. To our mind, the only real argument against an amalgamation is that thereby a distinctive national life goes out of existence. But in this case no such nationality is destroyed, for the two units by themselves are imperfect, whereas in union they would supplement and counteract each other's defects.
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