THE DUTCH IN SOUTH AFRICA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12001, 25 June 1902, Page 7

THE DUTCH IN SOUTH AFRICA.

THE BELLS OF ST. MATTHEW'S. TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —If your correspondent " Good for a Sub." -will kindly forward his name and address to the churchwardens of St. Matthew's they will be glad to collect his " sub." for the bell fund. _ In due time* an appeal will be made to citizens to supply a peal of eight bells "to ring out the glad tidings of any great or stirring event." 'But at the Coronation service on Thursday morning thev offertory will be given to the poor of the parish, and will augment the generous gift of the City Council. Your correspondent's suggestion that bells might be a fitting commemoration of the Coronation of Edward VII. is a good one._ We should be very thankful if some patriotic citizen would promise now to donate the " big" bell in commemoration of the event. We could have the bell cast (with a suitable inscription placed upon it) in time for it to be rung at the opening of the new church.—l am, etc., W. E. Gillam. St. Matthew's, June 24, 1902.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —In your issue of Juno 5 in both your articles on South Africa you raise the old cry of a Boer conspiracy against Britain. What evidence is there of this conspiracy , having existed? Many leading Englishmen, including such authorities on South Africa as Mr. James Bryce and Dr. Theale, deny its existence. Mr. Bryce, in his "Impressions of South Africa," says "no evidence whatever has •been produced that there was any such conspiracy;", and Dr. Theale, in an interview with a representative of the Manchester ; Guardian on March 5, 1900, said:—" I have known the thoughts and aims of the Dutch through a long period. I say to you on my word of honour that I am as sure as I am sitting here that the design to oust the English from South Africa and set up a great Dutch Republic no' more entered the minds of men like Kruger, Steyn, Reitz, Joubert and Esselen than it has occurred to Premier Laurier to oust the United States,.from the American continent and make of all North America a. great Canadian Dominion." You say that Bannerman and Morley " apparently ; could not see" this conspiracy. Is it surprising that they could not if a man in Dr. Theale's position failed to see it ? ' The only possible conclusion, after a statement like the above, from such an authority as Dr. Theale, is that this conspiracy existed only in the imagination of the' Brit- 1 ish war party.— am, etc., Chas Bell. „ Oparau, June 19, 1902.