THE BOER WAR.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVI, Issue 12551, 12 July 1901, Page 4

THE BOER WAR.

' Although interest in the Boer war is chiefly centred in re tunning contingents just now, the position in South Africa is serious enough to warrant close attention from all parts of the Empire. We may he sure that the New Zealanders still at the front are having their full share of fighting. During the past few days we have had news of engagements, more or less serious, in Cape Colony, near Kro-on-stad and Reddersburg. in the Orang® River Colony, along the banks of the Orange River, and' in various parts of the Eastern Transvaal. Every we*k adds to the tale of Boers killed, wounded, captured and surrendered. In the. .last week in June, | for instance, the forces of the enemy were reduced by nearly four hundred men, < and the losses last week were' nearly three 'hundred in number. The climatic conditions, too, are fighting for us at this season of the year, for fodder must be difficult to. obtain in the out districts, and the convoys and supplies of the Bosrs are being steadily reduced. Mr Bennet Burleigh even declares that the Eastern Transvaal is so bare- that the enemy must either surrender or move to some other district. But the fact remains that some five or six thousand Boers, under leaders like Botha, De Wet and' Da la Rey, have announced their determination of fighting to th« bitter end, and this irreconcilable as Lord Kitchener calls it, will keep the- huge British Army employed.for many.months to come. We are maintaining a quarter of a million men in South Africa, at the cost of seven millions sterling a month, and) a great many lives. T'ha casualty list has baen heavy enough,/ in all conscience, and the actual reduction of the British forces, not including wounded and siok who may recover, amounts to nearly twenty thousand men. Of.these 16,717 have died of disease or have been killed. The obstinacy of tha Boers in prolonging tie war is estranging the sympathy of their most ardent admirers. The "Daily News," Mr H. W. Massingham's .paper, is at last compelled to condemnr the attitude of Mr Kruger and his fellow intriguers, on the Continent, "out of reach of the guns." It is now recognised' that Lord Kitchener committed a blunder in allowing Botha to communicate with the ex-President, for the Boers in arms have again been- encouraged to resist by empty promises of foreign intervention. If Mrs Botha .was Unable to prevail upon Mr 'Kruger to accept the terms offered, the representations of her husband were not likely to'be more effective. We shall hear no more of ncgo- | tiations from the British' side for many days. Lord Kitchen*er has no course open but to prosecute the war with the utmost vigour during th& remaining months of winter, and we hope i liat, in the interests of peace and humanity, the pro-Boers tof the Mother Country will cease their vexa. tious and ill-timed cavillings until the Boers have returned to their senses and a settlement has been effected. The reconciliation cf the Liberals seems to imply that further discussion of the issues will be suspended until the war is really concluded, for Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman has declared that the final triumph of the British arms is essential to the well-be-ing of the Empire, and all patriotic colonials will fervently hope that the Boer champions have really, com© to a more reasonable frame of mind.