South Africa and Its Natives The long-delayed report of the
Joint Select Committee of the two Houses of the South African Parliament on General Hertzog's Native Bills raises large questions, to which it will be necessary to recur at an early date. The report has a direct bearing on the question, which General Hertzog is understood to be discussing during his visit to this country, of whether the Union is to secure the three Protectorates of Bechuanaland, Swaziland and Basutoland, which it is anxious to include within its borders. It has always been regarded here as a funda- mental principle that before fresh bodies of African natives are handed over to the Union the official native policy of the Union must be such as can inspire full confidence. It can hardly be claimed that the Select Committee's report justifies such confidence. It abolishes the franchise which the natives enjoy in Cape Colony, a privilege which, though only a few thousand votes are involved, has always been regarded as symbolic, and encouraged the hope of larger developments in the future. These hopes are now dispelled, and though there is to be a native representative council—a definite . step in advance—election to the council will be largely in the hands of head-men, who are themselves in various ways dependent on the Government.
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