Southern Rhodesian government referendum, 1922
4358702
134533376
2007-05-30T10:33:29Z
Lapsus Linguae
522179
Correct link and add another.
The '''Southern Rhodesia government referendum''' of [[October 27]], [[1922]] saw the voters of the colony of [[Southern Rhodesia]] by a comfortable majority reject the chance to join the [[Union of South Africa]] in favour of establishing a responsible government within the colony. It prefaced the official granting of responsible government on [[October 1]], [[1923]].
==Background==
The referendum arose after the [[Southern Rhodesia Legislative Council election, 1920|Legislative Council election of 1920]] resulted in a majority which favoured immediate moves towards establishing "[[Responsible government|Responsible Government]]" within the colony. Immediately after the election the Legislative Council passed a resolution requesting the [[United Kingdom]] government to inaugurate responsible government, and the United Kingdom's response was establishing a Commission under [[Sydney Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton|Earl Buxton]], a former [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] minister.
The Commission reported in 1921 that the Colony was ready for responsible government and that a referendum should be held to confirm it. A delegation was sent from the Legislative Council to negotiate with the Colonial Office on the form of the constitution. The delegation comprised Sir [[Charles Patrick John Coghlan|Charles Coghlan]], W. M. Leggate, J. McChlery, R. A. Fletcher, and Sir Francis Newton. At the 1920 election there had been three schools of opinion in Southern Rhodesia, one favouring responsible government inside Southern Rhodesia, one favouring a continuation of rule through the [[British South Africa Company]], and the third believing that the best solution would be to seek membership of the [[Union of South Africa]]. The British South Africa Company option dropped out of consideration, but the Buxton Commission had said that its recommendations should not preclude consideration of joining South Africa if this was favoured by voters.
The Southern Rhodesians did petition the Colonial Office to inquiry what circumstances the Union of South Africa would admit them, as this option had received some support (especially in [[Matabeleland]]) at the election. Representatives of the Southern Rhodesian administration visited [[Cape Town]] to confer with [[Jan Smuts]] who after some delay was willing to offer terms he considered reasonable and which were also acceptable to the United Kingdom government. In accordance with the wishes of [[Winston Churchill]] (the [[Secretary of State for the Colonies]] in London), the Southern Rhodesians decided to invite the electorate to make the decision. Although they did not try to interfere in the referendum, opinion among the United Kingdom government, the South African government and the British South Africa Company favoured the union option.
==Arrangements==
The election used the existing Legislative Council electoral roll and votes were counted in the electoral districts used for the Legislative Council elections. However, there was one minor change, with voters entitled to cast their votes in whichever district they wanted, regardless of where they were registered.
==Results==
With an electorate of 18,810, the total number of votes cast was 14,763, a turnout of 78.5%. All but one of the electoral districts supported Responsible government and rejected Union with South Africa.
{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse border-color: #444444"
|- bgcolor="CCCCCC"
!Electoral district
!Responsible government
!%
!Union with South Africa
!%
|-
|align=left|Bulawayo District
|align=right|551
|align=left|65.0
|align=right|297
|align=left|35.0
|-
|align=left|Bulawayo North
|align=right|826
|align=left|67.9
|align=right|390
|align=left|32.1
|-
|align=left|Bulawayo South
|align=right|955
|align=left|64.0
|align=right|538
|align=left|36.0
|-
|align=left|Eastern
|align=right|711
|align=left|57.5
|align=right|526
|align=left|42.5
|-
|align=left|Gwelo
|align=right|582
|align=left|57.3
|align=right|433
|align=left|42.7
|-
|align=left|Hartley
|align=right|449
|align=left|66.5
|align=right|226
|align=left|33.5
|-
|align=left|Marandellas
|align=right|433
|align=left|49.4
|align=right|443
|align=left|50.6
|-
|align=left|Midlands
|align=right|550
|align=left|51.9
|align=right|509
|align=left|48.1
|-
|align=left|Northern
|align=right|741
|align=left|60.3
|align=right|487
|align=left|39.7
|-
|align=left|Salisbury District
|align=right|845
|align=left|57.3
|align=right|629
|align=left|42.7
|-
|align=left|Salisbury Town
|align=right|894
|align=left|63.8
|align=right|507
|align=left|36.2
|-
|align=left|Victoria
|align=right|626
|align=left|51.7
|align=right|585
|align=left|48.3
|-
|align=left|Western
|align=right|611
|align=left|59.3
|align=right|419
|align=left|40.7
|-
|align=left|Total
|align=right|8,774
|align=left|59.4
|align=right|5,989
|align=left|40.6
|-
|}
{{Zimbabwe elections}}
[[Category:1922 elections]]
[[Category:Southern Rhodesian elections]]