MEMORIAL TO BOER WOMEN.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 13299, 7 February 1914, Page 9

MEMORIAL TO BOER WOMEN.

UNVEILED AT BLOEMFONTEIX. LONDON, Dec. 19. Mrs Steyn, wife of ex-President Steyn, performed the ceremony of unveiling near Blocmfonteiu a monument to tho Boer women and children who h perished during the South African war. The monument is an obelisk 97ft high, and with pedestal reaches a height of 115 ft. The ceremony Avas performed -in i the presence of a huge concourse of • people and m brilliant sunshine. Jni- > pressiA'e speeches wero made by ex-Pre-i sident Steyn, General Botha, General ;De ' Wet, and General Delarey. The : proceedings concluded with the Burghers : tiling a saiute and the sounding of "Tho - Last Post." s The ceremony was originally to have . boon performed by Miss Hobhouse, but she had to abandon it owing to the state , of her health. > . A REMINDER. > Ex-President Steyn, m his preliminary ' address, which Avas characterised by re- ' ligious feeling, declare<l that the mem--1 orial had not been erected to cause any- > one pain or to be an eternal reproach, : but out of simple piety and as a reminder to future generations of the > patient suffering, sell-sacrificing patriot- j ism, and trust m God of the Boer '< women. ! i General Botha, who spoke after , the ■ unveiling, Ayas greeted by cheering. He . said that the ceremony took their i thoughts back with love, pride, melancholy, and regret to the darkest period i of their history. ' He kneAV it required i great restraint for many to banish all I feelings of bitterness or hatred. They ; should, however, teach their children i to be worthy of such mothers, thereby i following Mr KrugeT's advice to his . people — viz., examine the past, take / from it all that is beautiful, and on it i create the future. He (General Botha) i did not doubt that m those dark days i South Africa had fotmd its soul, which would save South Africa m days to come. ; OLD CALUMNIES REVIVED. The address which. Miss Hobhouse ' was to have delivered to the gathering ; at Blopmfontein has been circulated to i the press. It dwells on the tragedy of , the concentration camps, and refers to i tho Avealthy financiers who wanted war, - to the incompetent statesmen who were i their tools, to the blundering politicians i of that story, to the miserable authorr ities incapable of dealing . with the teri rib], conditions which they themselves - had brought about, and to the bad , (generalship that Avarred on weaklings ■ and babes. The Cape Argus protests against the , revival by Miss Hobhouse of calumnies ' circulated during the war and against i Miss Hobhouse's reckless and wanton i statements. AH the world, it says, re- - cognises that the mortality m the camps i was due to causes Avhich m the circum- • stances were unaA'oidable.