MIGHT HAVE BEEN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11692, 29 June 1901, Page 3

MIGHT HAVE BEEN.

V. TO * THB'SDITOn. Sir,— observed. fci : the' papers that both Australia and Is ew ■ Zealand ■ refused to ro- ' - 1 ! *1 ceivo Boer prisoners. I know • notVahg more and possibly the' authorities of those colonics ■■ liad good reason for refusal. .• But,-; as an. \ outsider, I fancy, there may have been great i possibilities—in • fact, millionsin it.w r Jx." It is not apparent to roe why,, having' > oll t itg troops to fight, wo'should have refused the; ijvS: not less useful office of, taking care of a fow - J ' thousand' Boers. It would: have. - been, en- - *u ; 1 lightenment for the Boots. - But th& request having been made,, a smart business man might have seen a■; grand opportunity, V-'W-i We have lands we could sell •to the British > Government, and the Boers are of tho finest-' 1 ;;-j strain in tlio world—Dutch-cum-French-Hu- ' guenot. • One thing Britain would probably like to do, not send a Boer baok to South Africa. But in honour she is bound' to make . : : provision for them. •. And what would liavo been better than presenting them with aSO : ; V or 100-acre farm in Australia or New Zea- ~ land, with sufficient stock to , start with? • - They would be hardy colonists, and a few . years would absorb them into tho greatly preponderating colonial population. ;. : - - Britain, of course, would bear tho cost at . ' first, making it a charge against tho Trans-vaal-Orange territory, to which she would. ship emigrants from England. Do wo not tear of a decreasing birthrate and a scarcity of boys and girls? The Boers would have, replenished our popula- ; tion, and they have not yet become civilised enough to diminish tho birth-rato. \V-> should also havo'had by this means enough money to construct tho North Island rail- b way—at any rate, enough to carry on publio : i works construction for a year or two.—l am,' / : etc., Wir. S. Aioki.y