IN EAST AFRICA.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume IV, Issue 964, 14 March 1917, Page 7

IN EAST AFRICA.

CAMPAIGN NEARLY ENDED. GREAT WORK OF NATIVE TROOPS. Renter's Telegrams. LONDON, March 13. General J. C. Smuts, who has arrived to represent the Union of South Africa at the Imperial Conference, in the course of an interview, said that the only thing delaying the absolute end of the German East African campaign is the prevalence of the rainy season till May, when the Germans will be compelled to surrender or enter Portuguese territory, where the Portuguese are quite prepared to handle them. The enemy now only consisted of the remnant of their army. Practically all the South African white troops have departed, only the native battalions, who were raised owing to the unfavourable climate, remaining. General Smuts spoke in high terms of the natives' magnificent infantry work, and said that they would shortly be available for service elsewhere. Nothing had given him greater pleasure than the statement of the Colonial Secretary, Mr Walter Long, that no German colony would ever be allowed to return to Germany. The mere suggestion of anything else was preposterous. He shuddered to think what would happen, to the natives if any part of German East Africa was returned. The natives had supported us magnificently, and our prestige in the East would suffer.