General Smuts continued his defence of the Government's action and
policy on Thursday. After having pointed out the extreme dangers which threatened the country last July from the Syndicalist agitation owing to the condition of unrest among the natives—on one mine alone one thousand five hundred assegais were found—he described bow the railways were only kept open by constant patrolling extend- ing over hundreds of miles and absorbing thousands of men. Coming to the question of the deportations, he took what was very much the wisest course. He used no subtle argu- ments to show that his action was not as illegal as represented, but boldly declared that after three revolutionary attempts in six months, Minister, resolved to strike a blow against the ringleaders, the men who bad committed themselves to a conspiracy against law and order. In answer to the question "Why not a trial ?" he declared that they could not run the ordinary risks of the Law Courts. South Africa, with its peculiar conditions and more than usually inflam- mable elements, and above all, with its background packed with a huge mass of uncivilized natives, could not bear- periodic incursions into Syndicalism.
