The new Ministry at the Cape is not very favourable
to con- federation. The Premier, Mr. Sprigg, judging from a speech on the native territories, briefly reported in the Times of Thurs- day, dreads the expense of military establishments, and says that if the idea of Colonial responsibility is pushed too far, it must lead directly to separation. The mother-country must concede and compromise, as well as the colony. Nevertheless, he desires the annexation of all native territory between the Cape and Natal, not in the interests of the colony, he says, but in those of the natives themselves. He would like, apparently, that Great Britain should garrison South Africa ; that all natives should be subdued; and thatthe colonists sho uld then govern them according to their own ideas. That is an impracticable, as well as an unjust, proposal, based on the radical misconception of all Cape colonists. They persist in believing that South Africa may be organised like Australia ; whereas, from the preponder- ance of the native population and its readiness to appeal to arms, it is really an India. A greet central, though local, Government might manage such a dependency, but a number of minute white Governments cannot.
