THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, JANUARY 2, 1902.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11852, 2 January 1902, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, JANUARY 2, 1902.

The dawn of the New Year was marked in Auckland by an 'event none the less momentous because unattended with, any public excitement. As the sun rose the camp in ■the Domain was broken up. While our holiday-keeping city still lingered round the breakfast-table the strongest body of men whom the Province has yet sent to war started on its long journey to the South African veldt. Thus prompt has been the response to the unspoken call of the Imperial authorities for more horsemen. Thus swiftly have preparations been made. Thus quietly have two hundred more of the picked men of our peaceful province mustered into the ranks of military service and departed to play an active part in the difficult pacification of the new colonies. Only a few days elapsed between the. call to arms and this New Year marching-out, and the whole circumstances show that had there been need our Province could as quickly have raised a thousand men for active service as two hundred, could have formed the Eighth Contingent alone. The whole mustering reflects credit upon the volunteers who rivalled' each other for place in the section, upon the officials who got the men selected and enrolled with so little friction and upon the public spirit of the community which, without ostentation, accepted the movement as necessary and desirable and gave it that unanimous countenance without which ib must have failed. The remarkable absence of all boisterous enthusiasm is the most telling feature of this New Year event, Auckland has settled down, as New Zealand has settled down, as the Empire has settled down, to outstay the stubborn Boer, to oppose to Do Wet a determination as grim as his own and resources practically ; inexhaustible. The Old Country is appreciating keenly the sympathy and loyalty which the steady and continued support of the most distant of her children proves. . The cordial Reeling fostered by mutual sacrifice ■ for a common purpose is welding into a solid whole the scattered regions of the Empire, But it is pardonable to call attention to that phase of our military assistance which naturally escapes the notice of kinsmen at Home, since it arises from conditions ; generally unthoughtV of by them. We have no swarming population. We have no surplus labour. We have no restless thousands for whom the Motherland is growing too narrow and who daily and even hourly take flight to regions over sea.; We want -more population. Our idle lands cry put for labourers. >■; We ;; can : give : limitless scope to industrious immigrants of our; own race as ■ well as to every capable and energetic son of the soil. Our development, our progress,; our place in 'the; world, ■ depend upon suitable increase in po-

pulation with all that such increase implies, so that when we send our picked men to battle for the Empire we open our colonial veins and give freely of our very life-blood. If we are reluctant to allow Imperial recruiters* to take full advantage of the loyalty and ardour and inherited love of adventure of our colonial youth ; if we are steadfastly determined to bring our troopers back to their own homes in spite of the fascination which South African adventure may temporarily have for many..;;'-; if we do not send five thousand instead 3 of one and if we uhitedb- T hope tfotut-. Ave may not > feel impt>ii«iii to rvand more; it is only because the. men who so promptly over-volunteer for..every contingent have a value to us which our overcrowded v Motherland can hardly realise. v The sendee .'•- we render would be tenfolded were it not for our urgent population necessities.: Eve-;:.' c:f matters stand with us it ; "'£. s*.:.; ];:} tenfolded ; to-day did Imperb't necessity exist. ? If Germany interfered, if Russia and France combined to take advantage;of this occasion, if during the year Europe united to crush and-' destroy the liberties of England as it did a century ago, the colonies alone . would hold South Africa ■ for the Empire and set the Homeland free to meet other and neaaer foes, The men who,: left Auckland this New. Year Day are', not the ..■■.-measure. of '■•' our loyalty in hour of need. They goto help the strong Imperial Army and to show what we think of ProBoer agitators and German critics and the Imperial policy of "never again." ;

The New Year's Day which saw the Auckland section of the, Eighth Contingent depart is the third which has dawned upon our Imperial war. The first day saw .Toubert held at bay by beleaguered Ladysmith and himself holding at: bay the relief movements of idler; .it saw black Cronje gripping at Kimberley and; foiling Methuen on the Modeler: it saw Colonel Plumer vainly endeavouring to break through the lines drawn round distant / Mafeking ; it saw French and the colonials stemming desperately the Capeward; movement of De Wet, even then the most resourceful of Boer leaders. Shall ■'• we ever forget the suspense of that New Year of 1900, when the Government of Pretoria was annexing British territory to east and west and south of the republics, and we; waited breathlessly to know if the troops whose transports churned every ocean would arrive in time to bear back the Boer sieges and overthrow the ambitious Afrikanders who had thrown aside the mask "V. The second day saw the Boer republics shattered and their territories in turn annexed; the regular military movements of civilised warfare had already degenerated into a guerilla struggle inspired by a desperate hope that Pro-Boerism might triumph in Britain and another Majuba Treaty give; to Afrikanderism another opportunity. Most certainly we did not think that after the lapse of another year the strongest of : all our Contingents would be mustering at Wellington to take part in the final act of the long-drawn drama. We had almost held a Peace Day celebration. We had looked , upon the war as over and were only beginning -'to understand that the work of pacification was still before us. v This third New Year has seen our lads once more hastening to the veldt, but it is in no presumptuous mood that we can now speak of the final act. The brilliant leadership of De Wet, the stubborn ignorance of the mobile commandos, the fatuous perverseness of the politicians who led the Free State yoked with the Transvaal to ruin, may continue the struggle for a few weeks or a few months, or even longer. But ProBoerism dug its own grave when it sought to dig a pit for the discomfiture of the Empire and is now terly discredited. While such lamentable affairs as that of Tweefontein cannot hide the tremendous difference between the strength of the Boer guerillas at New Yeai-; 1901, and their weakness at New Year, 1902.