Mr Murray in Reply.

Gisborne Times, Volume V, Issue 44, 21 February 1901, Page 1

Mr Murray in Reply.

(To the Editor of the Times.)

Sib, —Give me liberty of trespassing upon the columns of your paper to reply to “ Humanitarian.” It will not require so much space as his, but more definite. He states that Mr Chamberlain had been bullying the Boer authorities in a shameful manner, and so many demands were made in the Transvaal as to far exceed anything that dared be asked of one of our colonies.

I will ask him would he like Our colo - nies to produce a Kruger, whom even the Portuguese were glad to get rid of, and does he forget that Kruger feathered his nest by taking the funds of the public (tantamount to theft) when he should have remained and assisted his fellow-creatures. I am sure a Salisbury or a Chamberlain would not be guilty of this. Perhaps Mr Kruger’s proclivities are the same as

“Humanitarian”? If lie will find an article in the Edinburgh Review, which I-leave at your office for his perusal, giving a survey of the life of Sir Bartle Frere by “ Martineau,” he will find that the Boers were under a Bri-

tish protectorate, and were saved by it from annihilation by the Kaffirs. I must refer him even to the Press Association news contained in your issue of the 18th. He has not the courage to subscribe his name to the correspondence that has appeared in reference to the subject, which there is no necessity to hide if he is genuine.

It is my intention of troubling a few loyal subjects to collect the amount for a flag for our Public School, to be lectured upon, describing the combination it represents, also what has been done under it in respect of education.

“ Humanitarian ” should locate himself in other countries, such as Russia and Turkey, where he will find.misery, cruelty, oppression, and starvation to an extent almost unknown under our “ Jack. Let him consider the conduct of the Russians in their treatment of the Chinese, and the Armenian atrocities. When “ Humanitarian ’’ next describes British and Boer, it is to be hoped that he will be more conversant with their historic manners and customs. —I am, etc., D. Murray.