A public meeting, convened by the Progressive Association, was held
in Pretoria on Friday week. Sir Percy FitzPatrick described the attempt, now promoted with all the resources and energies of Het Volk and its allies, to change the electoral basis from voters to population. This meant, he contended, that the Boer child would rank equally with the British workman. The Progressives, he urged, must persist in opposition to Het Volk policy, though he admitted that both views might be legitimately held, and their vindication would come "when, having the power to do the evil our opponents profess to fear, we use it only to do good." Sir Percy FitzPatrick went on to say that he, for one, had no sympathy with threats of secession : "our loyalty can stand more than the wit of the enemy can devise or the folly of others impose." A resolution in favour of "One vote one value " ; equal electoral districts on a basis of voters ; single-Member constituencies ; and automatic redistribution of seats, was carried with only five dissentients.
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