COLONIALS AT WAR.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 6627, 20 February 1900, Page 4

COLONIALS AT WAR.

% WHAT THEY SAY AT HOME. y'■'. A London correspondent writes :— ' Of course, the Sunnyside and Coles - berg successes have been the more gratifying to all Anglo-colonials, and be it frankly said to all Englishmen as well, from the prominent part played in the fighting by colonials from all parts of j the Empire. The contingents are to be congratulated on getting their first taste ' of active service under such competent businesslike, and therefore thoroughly! .^yribngenial commanders, and the latter j ypaio.doubt thoroughly appreciate the ex-1 V c6llehce of the material with whioh they ! have to work. Each little lot has come . np smiling, and received its^baptism of fire with sang froid and coolness. First we hear of the New Zealanders being congratulated for their steadiness under fire; then at Sunnyside comes the turn of the Queenslanders, who, we are told, ' " behaved splendidly, laughing and chatting under'fire." Buller gives up , his horse to wounded .Lieutenant Adie, and Rose returns to render assistance under a heavy fusillade. "At last!" is i the cry of the Canadians as they double ' into action. Despite the soreness of thair feet after days of weary marching, they give up their places in the waggons j on the retirement to tbe women, and ! themselves carry the babies, singing as ' they tramp along. A little bit of " fat" \ J^ follows for the New South "Wales Lian- | cers, who, despatched under Lee to pre- ' vent the looting of the wrecked train at Colesberg, are to heavy musketry and shell fire, and, taking the best shelter they can. hold their position for five hours. A Boev trap gives the Naw Zealanders another chance, and Major Robin and a picket cover a mile under heavy fire and resctf? "".Canty-five fellow countrymen unscathed from a hail of bullets. Combined with this display of valor is the proof of soldierly and intelligent methods and discipline, which is even more gratifying. All the colonials, we are told, take advantage of every bit of cover, and the Queenslanders " shoot only when they see the enemy." This common sense proceeding strikes "' Reuters agent so forcibly that he make 3 special mention of the fact. Contrast to the profuse but futile expenditure of rifle ammunition at the Modder. The procession last Jubilee Day was but a tableau vivant of the forces of the Empire; but in Africa the first act of the real drama of Imperialism is being played, and the first scene closes—as it should in a patriotic play—with the hoisting of the Union Jack in a British village in the midst of the African veldt by British volunteers from Australia and Canada. It is not an exaggeration to say tbat the scene has thrilled the Empire's heart. Stalls, pit, and gallery - alide applaud, and even the critics of Fleet street enthuss oyer the stirring scene. I cannot do better than quote the St. James's Gazette, which strikes the right note in its comment on the true significance of the Sunnyside fight:—" There may come-a time, indeed, when this skirmish, utterly insignificant as it will appear in the annals of war, will appear of greater moment in history than many a battlefield, where thousands have been slain and military reputations have been made or marred. For the Suonyside fight is the first occasion on which soldiers from the two greatest of England's colonies have come together from different hemispheres and tought shoulder to shoulder for a cause in which they have no selfish concern, but in which they have been moved by a common instinct of Imperial patriotism. Men from Australia, about to be formed into a great confederation of AngloSaxon States, and from Canada, which years ago, in tho face of great difficulties, set the fine example of unity, met on the common ground of the African veldt to fight with the troops of the Old Country in defence of the Empire and the free government which they in the opposite corners of the earth have learnt to value and love. Tiiat they fought wifh coolness, bravery, and judgment goes without saying; and, it may be added, that fram their methods the regular soldiers from H'-me may learn a useful lesson. It is, however, for other than military reasons that Sunnyside will not be forgotten.''