,outh Africa
Stit,—The fiftieth anniversary of the peace treaty which closed the Boer War falls on May 31st, 1952. Within a week or so of that historic event a service of thanksgiving was held in the Market Square at Pretoria, and all units in the field sent one or two representatives to bike part. I was one of the lucky ones, and I well remember the dominating figure of Lord Kitchener on that impressive occasion when, I also remember, we sang " The Recessional," that being the first time I had heard it.
I have just returned from a three mcfnth's trip to Kenya, Rhodesia and South Africa, and in the course of that trip I visited Pretoria and was interested to find the spot where that service took place. There are of course great changes, but a few of the old buildings survive, though the large church .which stood in the Square (now renamed "Church Square") has been demolished. Today the politics of South Africa are once again of great interest to this country, not only because of the differences between the Malan Government and the Opposition but because of the even more import- ant racial problem. As regards the differences between Afrikaners and British, everywhere when I asked I was told that in ordinary every- day life there is no feeling at all, but all the trouble is kept going by the politicians. The position seems to be just as it was with the Irish, when English and Irish alwayg liked each other but the politicians and the priests fostered antagonisms; the Predikants in South Africa, I am bold, are largely responsible for any ill feeling which exists. By a coincidence I was in South Africa when King George V died and also when his son died. On each occasion the reaction of the people was most striking. When George V died I was at Hermanus, a little place, perhaps 80 per cent. Africans, and all business stopped and4be memorial services were packed, Again on the more recent sad occasion I attended a packed memorial service in the Cape Town Cathedral when the Archbishop's address was perfect. It was striking too that while in Britain there was but two minutes' silence, throughout the.Union of South Africa the whole day was a day of mourning— no shops or offices open and a Sunday service of trains.—Yours faithfully, NORMAN MACKINNON. Chapel Row House, Bucklebttry, Reading.
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