The Otago Witness, WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22. 1900.) THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2399, 22 February 1900, Page 37

The Otago Witness, WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22. 1900.) THE WEEK.

" SuDqnam aliud Datura, niiuu sapientU dl.\it." — juthsii..

During the past few days the aspect of affairs in South Africa has The Tido completely changed. The Turns. restless energy of Lord Roberts and also, it maybe presumed, the faculty for organisation of Lord Kitchener have made themselves felt in the Orange Free Stat© A series of ablyplanned blows, delivered with masterly precision and with disconcerting- swiftness, has at once released Lord Methuen's forces at 'the Modder River ■fr'oni their state of compulsory inactivity, ' and ' has relieved the .-'garrison -at Kiniberley. One hitch alone . prevented the movement from being even more completely successful than it was. - Had it not been for a transport delay, the Boers at Magersfontein would have been suirounded. As it was, General Cronje, who confesses , that - the suddenness of the British advance confounded and surprised him, was enabled to evacuate his position and effect a retreat. His plan must now be to join his forces with those of General Joubert, to oppose a united resistance to the advance upon Pretoria. For the Boers in Natal will have to raise the siege of Ladysmith. • To persevere in the attempt to reduce the garrison there would expose them to the risk of having their communications cut and being deprived of the means of obtaining their supplies. Already there are signs of their withdrawing into their own country, where they will all be needed before long, for while some of the British forces will almost certainly be despatched to the relief of Mafeking, a large proportion of them will be concentrated for the advance upon the Transvaal. With this the tide of the war has altogether changed. The task of the Imperial army will, however, still be arduous and difficult ; but with Lord Roberts at its head, difficulties will exist only to be overcome. The name of Lord Roberts is, as The Times recently remarked, to the troops a sure omen of victory. He is their favourite chief, and under his command they will redouble their efforts. Most gallantly have they fought already, the colonial forces among the others! It is our proiid privilege (his week to publish the generous testimony of Lord Roberts Lo the value of the services performed by our first contingent with the army. They have " done" splendid work,*' we are gratified to bo told by him. and we have his assurance also that he could not wish for better poiditrp. Worthy sons of the Empire they hove proved ! By thoir gallant work they have shown that in the youth of this colony we have material equal to that which fought

with Wellington at Waterloo. All that was wanted to demonstrate that was the oppor- | tunity that has been offered to them in South Africa. With the knowledge of the praise that Lord R-obsrts has, bestowed upon the members of the first contingent — who, we hope, were with General French at the relief of Kimberley — we need have no diffidence in sending our further contingents, and no apprehension as to the serviceableness of their members as fighting units in the Imperial army. ] i The Fourth Contingent Committee is con- | fronted with an embarras ' Means reran & dcs richesses in its task of organising the fourth con- ■ Merit. tingent. So many eligible young men have applied for enrolment that it would appear that, if > the means at the disposal of the committee admitted of it, there would be as little difficulty in raising 500 men from Otago and Southland as there will be in raising 150. There would, indeed, be less difficulty ; because, as things stand, a large amount of weeding-out will bo necessary before the .number is reduced to that which the Go- j ver'nment has agreed to accept. If every j man now in camp was in every respect efli- j cient — physically fit, a capable shot, and a good horseman — one in tour woula save to be rejected in order to bring the contingent down to the required test. Some will have to be rejected because of inability to fulfil all the tests, and when these have been thrown out, there will in nil probability be a good few efficient men left in excess of the number that is required, and there will, consequently, have to bo a iurther prccess of reduction gone through. The ultimate test upon which the selection of the contingent will be based will be that of efficiency. That is undoubtedly as it should be. It would be mischievous if the idea should go abroad that an efficient candidate stood any chance of being rejected in favour of an inefficient one who added to the offer of his services that of his equipment. Efficiency plus equipment will be preferred to efficiency alone ; but the mere fact that a man presents himself with his horse and his equipment does not, even when he has gone into camp, ensure that he will be selected. There is no absolute passport bur that of merit to a place in the contingent. If there are men of a useful type who have refrained from applying for enrolment because they imagined that unless they could offer a horse or equipment, or both, they would be rejected, that is unfortunate ; but we should imagine that there are few men of a sensible stamp Avhose district or trade or friends would not, if thej r could not do so themselves, that they were so furnished that they would be enabled to come under the second, if not under the first, grade of applicants. But as for the suggestion that because a man can offer a full equipment any influence is"~to o"e exerted in favour of his selection , that is ridiculous. The tests that are imposed are the regulation tests, and if the applicant cannot pass them, he must make way for some one else. If he comes from a district which has subscribed the funds for his equipment, the committee will do its best to give that district a further nomination ; but it is only a nomination : the selection rests with the military authorities. The plan adopted by the committee has two inestimable advantages : it gives every corner of Otago and Southland a chance of being represented in the contingent, and it secures in the most effective way possible the prompt subscription of funds for the accomplishment of the object which every loyal citizen in the provincial district has now at heart. The War department has propounded a military scheme which is The Defence admittedly only of a tentaof the tive nature. The criticism Emphe. that has been directed against the proposals indicate the existence of a deep feeling in the nation, that whatever steps are taken for the re-organisation of the army they shall be of such a character as will have the element of permanence, and as will enable the authorities at short notice to lay their hands on hundreds of thousands of British soldiers, well-trained and well-equipped, for foreign service. And reorganisation is necessary. That is one of the lessons that the Boer war has taught us. What is the present position? Let us state it, as it is stated by Mr Sidney Low in the January number of the Nineteenth Century : " Before the war in one corner of our dominions, against a population of a few hundred thousand yeomen, has lasted for months, we sliall have been leduced to employing upon it the whole regular army, except that portion which cannot be moved from India and the naval stations — absolutely the whole to the last battalion of immature lads that can be moved from the depot, and the last regiment of cavalry that can mount half its troopers. We have to garrison the Mediterranaan pores with militia, to take as many men as the colonies Avill give us, and to induce thousands of volunteers to offer for foreign service ; and even then, perhaps, we may not have enough troops to supply the waste of war without going with open purse into the labour market, and enlisting a crowd of undrilled civilians. One way and the other, we shall succeed in providing our generals in South Africa with the numbers they will ask for their fighting lines, for their reserves, for keeping watch on the rebel districts, and for guarding the communications. But at what cost and at what risk will this feat have been accomplished ! " If this statement were only half true it would argue the necessity for dealing comprehensively and firmly, not tentatively, with the question of Imperial defence. The War Office proposes a comparatively insignificant increase of the regulars, and "hopes," by offering' various means of encouragement, to " induce " the auxiliaries to attain to the full establishment, and this without having recourse to a modified form of consciiption or to the revival of the militia ballot. The most noticeable feature of this programme is its timidity. It may prove effectual at the -present juncture, for the time of national trial has brought with it valuable compensation in the readiness of all ranke and classes of the people to shoulder Iheir share of tlic national burden, but will it prove lastuidy effectual '(

The experience of the past unfortunately negatives any aich supposition. And conscription will not do. No Government m Great Britain would survive the proposal of the adoption of conscription. There is, then, available the militia, ballot. The power to apply it is already vested in the Crown, the necessary machinery exists and has recently been overhauled. Industrially it is urged, the country would suffer nothing by the operation of the ballot ; physically our manhood would gain. Apparently the Imperial Government had some thought of reviving this system, but the Prime Minister's influence decided the Cabinet against it. The Swiss system has also fbeen recommended, which might be utilised either in substitution for or as a complement to the militia ballot. It is at once a thoroughly workmanlike and economical plan. And the Imperial authorities will sooner or later— -most probably sooner — be compelled to consider how best and most cheaply to multiply the present aimy.

It is "time that the Department of Agriculture, and the Minister The Rnltbit at the head of it. conQnestion. sidered afresh the attitude of officialdom towards the rabbit question. The apparently settled conviction of the department that poisoning is the one method by which the rabbits throughout the country are to be effectively kept under is by no means borne out iby experience in those districts in which trapping is most largely resorted to. The fact is that the area upon which the trappers carry on their operations is annually becoming more restricted. The rabbits are being gradually driven farther and farther back from the settled parts of the country. The rabbiter's trap has, indeed, proved a serviceable weapon in the battle against bunny. If it accomplish the object of not merely keeping the pest in subjection, but of forcing it back into the high country, just as successfully as the use of poison does, then the fact that trapping has led ■(o the establishment of a profitable industry should certainly induce the department to regard it with a more favourable., eye than at present. An export industry wiiich is worth £150 "3 to the colony is' deserving of some isideration. Such an industry is the obit industry. Its development has bf marvellous. In the course of a sing 1 -year it has made enormous strides, x.. 1897- the' value of the frozen rabbits that were exported was £46,598. Next year it had actually doubled, the amount at which it is officially returned being £93,836. In addition to this the value of the rabbi tskins exported last year was £51,607, which is an increase of a few thousand pounds over that for 1897. The mischievous rabbit has consequently become an important article of export, such as it could not be if the laying of poison were made general. As a practical solution of the unemployed problem, the rabbit industry has, moreover, been of undeniable benefit. The popular thing to say is that the land settlement policy of the Government has attracted the unemployed from the street corners on to the land. A few who have been engaged on co-operative works may have taken up sections in the neighbourhood of the spot at which they were employed, but it is absolutely irrefutable that the profitable employment which trapping oilers has been a more potent instrument in the solution of the surplus labour question in Otago and Southland than^the settlement of the land has been. It is surprising under all the circumstances that the department does not look more indulgently upon the rabbit export industry and the trapping system which feeds it. No opportunity, however, is missed of indicating the official disapproval of trapping. The prosecutions which took place last week in Lawrence and Balclutha under the. Rabbit Act constituted one of the department's playful methods of expressing its mind on the subject. The fact that these prosecutions were delayed until the very eve of the opening of the trapping season has its own significance. They will be justified- by the department on the ground that rabbit-farming has been practised in view of the export trade, but it must be evident that if this were at all generally the case the rabbits would by this time have been over-running the whole country side.

A falsa alarm of firo in South Dunedin on Tuesday evening which led to the fire bells in that suburb being rung caused intense excitement for some time. • In the camp at Forbury ' ' it was t'akeh as a signal that Ladysmith or Mafeking had been relieved, and the telephone was hastily requisitioned. The news spread rapidly to the city, and our telephone was kept going continuously for an hour by anxious inquirers who heard the story. Unfortunately our war cables, though they tell of some successes, chronicle a sad disaster which has befallen the mounted force of N a sister colony. A detachment of Victorians — the number is not given, but it is feared from the message that it wm large, — with some of the Inniskilling Dragoons were surrounded by an overwhelming force of the enemy. The Dragoons charged, and cut their way through 500 Boers, but the gallant Victorians, with magnificent devotion, fought to the last, and it is stated that there is not a man left to tell the tale. This latter statement, however, is not confirmed. That the Victorians sold their live 3 dearly is shown by the fact that their fixed bayonets were stained by the blood of the enomy. They died like soldiers, fighting to the last, and their deeds -will bo chronicled with pride so long as the British Empire lasts.

It is understood that the decision of Mr Stratford, S.M., instructing the returning officer for Brurc lo recount the votes given in the recent local option poll will be appealed against. CoiiFtable Joseph Keaney, of Mataura. presented Trooper Claude Macgreaor, the local representative in Ihc, fourth contingent, with n novel and interesting souvenir on the eve of his departure for hoadquarler«. It was in ihe lorm of a gold" anchor, about S^in m length, on which was inscribed;— " Nelson's Victory,

1793." [I was struck at thai time, so we understand, in commemoration of Admiral Nelson defeating the French fleet ai the battle of the Nik, Ist Augn=t, 17S8, and therefore would be over 102 years old. No doubt Trooper l\T;ic§regor will highly pKze the little trophy. — Wyndham Farmer.