DEPUTATION TO THE PREMIER. OTAGO AND SOUTHLAND SCOUTS ACCEPTED.

Otago Witness, Issue 2397, 8 February 1900, Page 27

DEPUTATION TO THE PREMIER. OTAGO AND SOUTHLAND SCOUTS ACCEPTED.

REMOUNTS ACCEPTED AS CONTRIBUTION TO THIRD CONTINGENT. Shortly after his arrival from the south on Friday evening a deputation from the Patriotic Fund Committee waited upon the Premier at the Grand hotel with reference to sending men and horses to the Transvaal from Otago. The deputation, who were introduced by Mr J. A. Millar, M.H.R., consisted of the following gentlemen:— Messrs T. W. Kempthorne, J. F. M. Fra,ser, W. A.- Shields, J. A. Park, and James Hazlett. Mr Fraser said in consequence of the advice given to the deputation by the Premier on his late visit to Dunedin the committee had decided to recast their plan, and to furnish 100 fighting men. and 150 horses, which would include remounts for the contingent. These would be landed fully equipped on board the transport ship free of all cost to the Government, provided that the Ministry brought pressure to bear upon the Imperial authorities to send a troop bhip for them. The Premier, in reply, said : Gentlemen, as I understand, the position here is that the furnishing of remounts will be proceeded with, and from information to hand, and our knowledge of the emergencies that have arisen, you have come to the conclusion that Otago should, and will, furnish 100 fighting men fully equipped ; and you say that you will maintain them, and have them ready to be put on board a transport, the understanding being that the Government should communicate with the Imperial authorities and obtain^ a troop ship, or that at the cost of the Imperial authorities* or of the Government a transport for men and horses should be provided— you doing your part, and the Imperial authorities theirs. I may Fay that we had a Cabinet meeting down in Invercargill, and that the whole matter has been under our consideration. We have come to the following conclusions : The offer made to the Imperial authorities %vas that a Rough Riders' Contingent of from 200 to 250 men and horses would be found, fullyequipped, and handed over to the Imperial authorities at the Cape free of cost to the Imperial authorities. The Imperial authorities accepted that in one of the warmest and, I think, most appreciative cables that has been received on the subject, in which New Zealand was thanked for its generosity in this matter. Since that an alteration has taken place in. respect to the Australian contingent. The steamer that was to take their contingent bioke down, and they then asked the Imperial authorities to seiid a troop ship. The Imperial authorities have done so, and having done this for Australia they very generously communicated with iis and offered to defray the cost of the transport of our Rough Riders. We considered the matter, and came to the conclusion that as we had offered them, and had received credit for giving them, free of cost to the Imperial authorities, landed at the Cape, ix, was our duty to carry out the offer we had made, and for which so much gratitude had been expressed. There, of courso,that matter ends. We shall send by the Knight Templar 250 men and 250 horses. Now, knowing- and appreciating the spirit in which this ma ter of supplying remounto hps been inaugurated, and recognising that it is your desire to meet what you believe to be a pressing necessity. I still say that our vp\, H from Major Robin was thai he had 30 -horses*, and there would be other horse^ going. In the meantime, as theie is room f». 50 more horses in the Knight Temp Hr. if you Mill furnish that number by the 17th wo w ; ll send youi 1 horses by the first boat— that is, by the 17lh of this month, — so that Olago will ha\ c its contribution to the third contingent in the shape of 50 remounts. Then we will It ye that and come to the next question, the offer you have made in respect to Otago and Southland Sport*. You guarantee 100 men and hoj&es on the conditions that you mention^

Well, it is my duty, as head of the Government, to accept and to thank you for the offer. The next question is as to transport from here to South Africa. You will have done your part in supplying the horses. Your offer is accepted for the men and horres delivered on board ship, and after that your responsibility ceases. — (Hear, hear.) The question of transport will be a matter as between the Government and the Imperial authorities. Mr Kempthorne: Thank you, very much. The Hon. the Premier : lam satisfied that as far as the Imperial authorities are concerned, with respect to any of our offers, had ■we asked for transports they would have been 'provided. In fact, it being moiv they want, and the class of men that we have here being what they are in need of, as we are able and willine to furnish them, I feel satisfied that all the expenses in connection with ' that •would be defrayed by the Imperial authorities if we asked for it. However, there is no necessity for us to recede from tha position ■we have taken up, and the fact of our finding the horses and men and the equipment is further proof, if proof were necessary, of the loyalty and patriotism, and of the earnest desire you have here to assist in the emergency that has arisen. I felt sure myself that when explanations were given, as all parties had the one object in view, that object being the maintenance of our flag and of our Constitution, that no small matters of detail ■would disturb the harmony. — (Hear, hear.) That being so, I may say now it is quite evident other parts of New Zealand will take up the same position as you are taking. It is impossible for us to send by the Knight Templar all the men who are offering. It is possible that a few more can go by the Undaunted, and as many will be sent as the accommodation of that boat will permit. But she cannot take the number that are offering and are available. Under all the circum- I stances, I can only say that the Government ] are very pleased and very proud »t your doing what you have done. In the present emergency I am sure our kindred at Home ■will also appreciate your action and will never forget that in their hour of trial their kindred in this colony are prepared to sacrifice their sons; and to provide the means to assist in maintaining justice and freedom to their kindred elsewhere. It will not be out of place at this juncture to say — as something has been said respecting it already — thai in all these cases the Government, is paying to , the men the difference between Imperial pay and colonial pay, and, taking a thousand , men, this will probably amount to two hun- I dred pounds a day. So you see the tax- ! ■Bayers, through the general revenue, are con- , fcributing all the time, and very liberally, too. J I feel quite satisfied they will pay cheerfully, j fcut it should be borne in mind that, so far ' as the colony is concerned, we have not . finished contributing, and from the outlook at present it does not look as if we shall for a •long time yet. This money, of course, will 3be forthcoming; the Government are taking the responsibility of committing the colony | to this large expenditure, and although it has j aot been directly expressed through Parliament, I feel sure that this is the will of the .people, and that nothing adverse will be said against the Government for doing what wo ihave decided to do. Indeed, I will go further and say what I conceive to be the will and mind of the people. We cannot ignore the fact that we have a number of young men liere, many of them trained, and a number of them good riders and fairly accurate shots, .who are suitable for the work, and desirous of going to it. I believe myself that if the ; Imperial Government were told that there /was a large body of trained men here — for up '• to the present time our volunteer infantry : (has not been touched at all — desirous of going 1 ,*'o the Transvaal and taking part in the war, at would bo the duty of the Imperial authorities to send for them and give them the opiportunity of doing so. There is tlm feeling , abroad, and I am sure you are acting in ac- \ cordance with tho wishes of the people of j your district. I think I can say, without in ; <any way depreciating what the other colonies J •ihave done, that New Zealand has, in accord- ; ance with her means, demonstrated to our ', "kindred at Home and to the world that she . 3ias taken, and will take, her part in main- ■ •taining the Empire, and that in fightinc? in ! the Transvaal we are simply securing New ( Zealand itself. — (Applause.) "Mr Haziett : You mentioned about the remounts going by the 17th. Of course the committee here wish to get as good a class j of horses as possible, and we might iDerhao's 1 not be prepared with 50 remounts by that ; lime. Supposing we are not, will you send them when we get them? j The Premier : We will send whatever num- [ ber you have. I want to meet you as far as \ possible. If you have only 20 or 30 ready j for the 17th, we will, take them. Air Fraser: We will endeavour to send 50 horses. Tn reply to Mr Shields, the Premier said . bo far as he was able to arrange it the men ' would be shipped from the South Island. ' "Vfr Kpmpthorne having thanked the Pre- f mier for meeting the deputation as he had • done, the deputation withdrew.