A SEVENTH CONTINGENT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CV, Issue 12422, 11 February 1901, Page 4

A SEVENTH CONTINGENT.

Although no official statement has yet 'been made reg-ardeng the proposal! to Een& a Seventh Contingent vo Sou'ch Africa, there are indication** that the colony will not ignore what our Wellington correspondent calls "'Mr Chamberlain's gende hint." Should the Government decide that this 'further contribution is inecessai>y, ithere is no doubt that the public will enter heartily into the movement, and -thalb a thousand mien will be available at short notice. Wo do Bidb suggest 'thatianother thousand of our young men should 'ba sent out of the colony, and we strongly disappirove of 'the spirit of the idea ttihat "New Zeafcrod' Should endeavour to "gio one better'" than the eister colonies in the numerical strength of her conitri'bu-

tion to the Empire's .forces. It should bo miade perfectly clear that ilf we send another body of men it wilTjtie because itheir services are required in' the* field. Before the Government makes any/further move it should obtain a definite understanding with the Imperial authorities ;as to the position. "\v e .canniot deplete the colony of young men and burden ourselves with a heavy military*

tax merely on the strength of a "gentile hint." The Sixth Contingent was despatched chiefly to fill vacancies in the previous Contingents, and we are under a m/oiial: obligation toi maintain a certain number of men at the frpnt. If the Imperial Government requires more men from New Zealand \ it can surely say so, and in that case we should' give the anovemenib every encourageiment and assistance in our power. But it is a duty that our own iGoverwment. owes- to the public to ascertain the true position befoie it sanctions the raising of a Seventh Confoinjgent, It is, as we said, desirable to fill the places of the troops who are returning invalided, and, moreover, a-considerable number of men who have completed a year of service will be anxious for relief; but it Should be understood ihat the colony is notanxious to get rid of its young men in this wholesale fashion, and that in sending them, to South Africa we are animated by a real desire to serve the Empire, and not by any jingoistic greed of military glory.