A curious political deadlock has arisen at the Cape. The
Bond majority in the Cape Parliament, relying on a pro- nouncement made by one of the Cabinet, carried a Resolution in favour of an inquiry into the operation of martial law. Sir Gordon Sprigg, who has held office by the sufferance of the Bond, had previously declared that if it was carried he and his colleagues would reconsider their position, but after the vote had been taken he announced that he would not resign but appeal to the country, dropping the legislation the Bond wished to see carried. The situation was complicated by the fact that the Appropriation Bill, which the Bond were deter- mined to throw out, had yet to be passed, and that the House of Assembly expires by effiuxion of time on the 15th inst., while the Legislative Council, in which the Progressives have a majority, has still two years to run before the period for which it was elected expires. Hence if Sir Gordon Sprigg resigned and a Bond Ministry were formed, the Progressives would throw out the Appropriation Bill in the Council. Accordingly Parliament has been prorogued, the financial difficulty has been got over by the Governor's issuing money- warrants as he had done during the war—a device denounced as unconstitutional by the Bond—and Sir Gordon Sprigg will
go to the country as a Progressive, retaining the advantage in "controlling the elections" which always belongs in South Africa to the Administration holding office at the time of a Dissolution. It is impossible to regard the recent career of Sir Gordon Sprigg with respect; but, at the same time, satisfaction cannot but be felt at his desire, shown by his latest manceuvres, to emancipate himself from Bond control.
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