ARCHBISHOP HURLEY of Durban in an appeal in the Johannesburg "Sunday Times" has called on the leaders of the Protestant, Jewish and Moslem communities to join with him in a Council geared to an all-out drive on racism.
The Archbishop recently played a leading role in the first move towards an all-South African National Convention, when he addressed 600 delegates last month at a meeting known as the Natal Convention. This was convened by Dr. Edgar Brookes, head of the Department of History and Political Science at Natal University.
Archbishop Hurley's report to the delegates demanded a reversal of the Government's racial policy. Here are some of the principal points in the report : 1. Race separation is a policy to be replaced by a policy of true national unity.
2. The right to vote must he granted on an equal basis with regard to race.
3. Racial integration in education is the ideal.
The most important principle emerging from the Convention, said the Archbishop's report, was that it was in favour of a nonracial franchise on a common voting roll; the convention unanimously called for an extension of the vote to non-whites on all levels, parliamentary, provincial and municipal.
There were differences of opinion as to whether the reform should be immediate and total, or gradual. Finally, the report condemned the Group Areas Act which provides for segregated residential areas and the laws barring freedom of movement and fostering discrimination in employment; and it demanded the protection of family life by the raising of all wages, the promotion of home ownership and the drastic revision of the present migratory labour system.
PAPAL AWARDS
Pope John XXIII has conferred a Knighthood of the Order of St. Gregory the Great on Mr, Albert Vitoria -Mayor of Wood Green on three occasions, and a County Councillor and Justice of the Peace-and the cross Pro Ecciesia et Pot:Mice on Miss Mary Devitt, for many years Chairman of Our Lady's Catechists. Rene Merenli medals have been awarded to Mr. Joseph Francis McGlennon and his wife Mrs. Marjorie Florence McGlennon, for outstanding services in the Parish of St Luke's, Pinner; Mr. Richard James Flisher, for many years choirmaster in the parish of St. Mary's. Fulham Road; Mr. Frederick Kennedy. for services in the sanctuary at St. Mary's, Cadogan Street, Chelsea, for over 50 years.