The Cape Native Vote The Cape natives apparently have the
choice between losing their vote altogether and accepting the compromise framed by General Hertzog, which would place them on a separate electoral roll and give them the right to send three European representatives to Parliament. The disadvantages of the proposal are obvious. It means that however the natives may increase they will still have only three representatives, and these, of course, as at present, will not be natives themselves. On the other hand, it may be argued that to accept the compromise is to keep the idea of some-sort of native franchise alive, whereas there is a certain appearance of finality about complete disfranchisement. The present arrangements have worked perfectly well in the Cape Province and opinion there is not hostile to the native vote, but General Hertzog has to carry the Transvaal, Natal and the Orange Free State with him, and in all those provinces a reac- tionary attitude prevails. The indications are that the Prime Minister intends to persist in his compromise plan, regardless of what native opinion is. On the whole it will be better for the natives than complete loss of the vote, particularly if the proposal for the -creation of a Native Representative Council still stands, for it at least • leaves the way open, as a next step, to representation by natives themselves instead of by Europeans. There are already native leaders who could fill seats in Parliament with distinction.
