THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 1902.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11877, 31 January 1902, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 1902.

The transport ; Surrey, conveying the North Island Battalion of the Eighth Contingent, reaches Auckland to-night, leaving again to-mor-row afternoon. The men : will;,; receive here a hearty greeting: and the heartiest of farewells. ;i For when the Premier stated at Wellington on Wednesday that not only* was a Ninth Contingent vbeing: enrolled, but that a Tenth would follow if it were wanted, he gave voice to the united determination of the people of the colony. As we have repeatedly stated, as we cannot too often repeat, it is the pride and glory of New Zealand that in this testing; of: our loyalty to the Empire v there? is neither class nor party, neither sec- \ tional jealousy nor political' differ-' ence. The newest of the British j lands, the furthest of theV British j peoples, it will be the boast of our children, and our children's children that they inherit from ; us a tradition; of unfaltering readiness to hesitate at no sacrifice for the upholding of the imperial flag. The dragging- 5 out of the war, the unjustified prolongation of the guerilla struggle i upon which the Boer leaders relied to tire down the British -race, has had the opposite effect upon our unbroken unity of, purpose. There, is to-day but one feeling in New Zealand, now that the service which colonial irregulars can give to the Empire is made plain to us. It is a feeling which recalls the stubborn determination of the days when Buller hammered at the Tugela ■ and Methuen faced dark Cronje at the Modeler. Then we were ready to pour our contingents to help the Imperial armies to victory; ; ; again we , are ready to pour our contingents ; to ! help make that victory sure v and | good. To-morrow; we send our i Eighth later, the mustering Ninth ; after that, if need be, the Tenth :or the Twentieth. This is possible to us because our loyalty has triumphed ! from the first call t to; arms over all ! unworthier feelings, because every j province and every party united against the Boer invasion and is I still as unitedly determined to fight the war to an unmistakable finish. It is not the desire of New Zealanders to make any comparison between . the help ■'. being rendered to the Empire by ourselves and by other British colonies. All are helping loyally and if our • contingents outnumber every other in; proportion to our population we have our ! full reward in the consciousness that it proves to; all world our island-claim to being the Britain of the South. We are prepared, regardless of others, to do our utmost in a war which to '. us is righteous and of which the inevitable end will be to further the peace of the world and to redound to the happiness of human kind, We are stirred at the present' time to do our • • utmost promptly because the Anglophobia suddenly manifested on the Continent has warned us that we cannot too speedily terminate the guerilla struggle which prevents ; the pacification of South Africa. The Boers ought to surrender, of course;; but if they will not surrender voluntarily then it is the business of the Empire to make them, and our duty to*help as best we can. . We have no sympathy : whatever with the attitude of those' who would yield a single inch to the stubbornness of an enemy who abandons his families to our care, and then brutally attempts to make of our humanity a weapon against us. Nor have we any sympathy with those who first attempted to destroy the Empire within which we find an unprecedented freedom and; now ignoiantly resist the annexation of their barbarous States whose independence is most justly forfeited. In these matters of such momentous importance we are unanimously in ; accord with the policy of Mr. Chamberlain, and we repel as indignantly the baseless and libellous attacks made upon that great statesman as we do ■ the equally baseless and equally infamous attacks made upon our. volunteer-soldiery. f Why domestic differences should lead to division in mattei*s of national concern we cannot understand. From the first alarm of war j until to-day we have been of one mind in New Zea- ■ land, the j dissentients being too exceptional and too insignificant to be I

perceptible. It is this unanimity, of I loyalty which swells our contingents ..i f and gives weight to the war-voioe of, '' :: l the Premier. We are all with Mr. - ''•} Seddon in this: that if Eight and " < Nine Contingents are not enough .. ■ there shall be Ten. II European complications threw upon the ; colo- ':'. ?' nies the duty of ..holding South Af- : rica by their own hand,' there would be Twenty. As instancing the unanimity 0 our people on this Imperial war ws ; , see the son of the Premier again: volunteering for the front and th© son of his political rival. Capraia Russell, lying in a herds' grave on'' I the African veldt. From the Go-,' ■ 1 vernment benches, Mr. Jackson Palmer, M.H.R.. for Ohihemuri, . Auckland, and from the Opposition "' ! benches, Mr. B. H. Rhodes, M.H.R, ' for Ellesmere, Canterbury, both cap- i tains of volunteers, go to South Af- ": rica in the new contingents to fight : ; - j for that Empire which is greater V than party and wider than province. £RvAnd if the Pro-Boers of Britain and f\ Europe would only incline their fears ' ' to hear, would only open their eyss *' ? : i to see and their minds to under. ;-' stand, what a touching lesson they'•'; ''-'i would find in the plea of the Maori that he too may be allowed to fight' ' for the Empire of Britain ! Know-* V* ing now that England is bound in • I honour to use no % troops of colour '*; l> in South Africa, they waive their de-;'&'* mand to be given place in the marranks of New Zealand and only ask to be used in garrison wherever' British troops are wanted in tie. J field. Thus justly has the Empire ■ dealt with Pakeha and Maori, thus - freely and thus securely have we dwelt within it, that in its need one \ ! spirit only animates us—to scatter"-. its enemies and confound their poli- ' tics. In this spirit the Eighth Contingent goes to South Africa, as its' . ■'• predecessors have gone. We trusted, v the first, all untried, to uphold the : ' honour of New Zealand. and gloriously was our confidence justified.. >'/V. We trust the Eighth to maintain a!, reputation: which towers pre-eminent; i-}\ above German slander and to re- ( - f member that it is not merely' a na- I ' i tional duty to fight .'well for King: }' ] and Country, but a Christian duty.i ty\ to redeem South Africa swiftly from' , ' ! the horrors of guerilla war. -' . _-___ " : ' ; * ' W