NEW ZEALAND’S EMPIRE TRIBUTE.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 3955, 22 January 1900, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND’S EMPIRE TRIBUTE.

A MAGNIFICENT DEMONSTRATION VISITORS FROM ALL PARTS OF THE COLONY. FORTY THOUSAND PEOPLE PRESENT. . Another link in the chain of Imperial unity was forged on Saturday, when New Zealand’s second contingent left those shores for service with Imncrial forces in South Africa. The populace of Wellington and the thousands of visitors who had come into town for the purpose gave them a. sendoff which, for warmth and enthusiasm, was, if anything, superior to that accorded the first contingent on October 21st of last year. And well they deserved the honour paid them, for they aro physically as fine looking a lot of young men as one could wish to see, and they volunteered for service when the British reverses at Glencoe, Stormberg, Magersfontein and Tugela were still fresh in our memories, and when it was abundantly evident that there would bo hot work in store for whoever joined the Imperial forces at the front. It was on December 19th that the Cabinet decided to offer the British Government a second contingent of 20d mounted rifles and 'thirty men to man the Hotchkiss battery offered by the Armstrong-Elswick Company. Before the nows had been known throughout the colony for many hours large numbers of applications had bean received for diffusion in the force. As time went on the Defence Department was simply besieged with applications, but the work of selection proceeded slowly, the desire of the authorities being nob only that the best men a should be chosen, but that the various districts of the colony should have a chance of being fainy represented in the contingent. On Saturday, December 21th, Cne men picked from Wellington went into camp at Newtown Park, which had been kindly placed at the disposal of Colonel Penton by the civic authorities. The men submitted cheerfully to the fatiguing duties of camp life and its training, realising that only in that way could they be made fit to stand shoulder to shoulder on the field of battle with her Majesty’s Imperial forces. The Waiwera was despatched on Saturday, carrying over 300 horses and 250 men, who looked perfectly lit and willing to “go anywhere and do anything'.'' What wonder, then, that the populace evinced a . degree of enthusiasm which has never been equalled at any time in the history of the colony? The troops well deserved the send-off they received, and, like the men who have gone before them from this colony, they may be relied upon to render such an account of themselves as shall prove to the world that the men of New Zealand are by no moans inferior to their forefathers, who fought so well in .the cause of freedom and in defence of the Empire in every quarter of the ’globe.