SPEECH BY LORD MILNER.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 11689, 24 February 1902, Page 3

SPEECH BY LORD MILNER.

Lord Milner was entertained at Johannesburg on January Bth, at a banquet given by tne Town Council, the Chamber of Mines and tne Chamber of Commerce. About 200 persons were present, the gathering being one which was representative of all interests. In replying to- the toast of his health, Lord Milner (who, on rising to reply, was greeted with frantic cheers) after a touching reference to those who had fallen in the war, proceeded as follows :—" If, in spite of all this, there is a spirit of hopefulness abroad, if men are bracing themselves tto face the problems before them with a confident belief in their capacity to solve them, what is the cause? It is not merely, I believe, that external conditions are steadily, . ifslowly, improving, that communications are free, that more stamps are being dropped, that more people are returning. There is a. deepsr-lying reason than that. It is the feeling that the storm-cloud which so long hung over South Africa has burst. The storm, indeed, is not completely over, but it has cleared the -stif-'l Men breathe more freely than they did in the thunderladen atmosphere of the past. The great cataclysm is behind, not before, us. It would a!' almost inconceivable degree of fol'y and mismanagement ever to lead South Africa to such another disaster. I do not deny that there are counsellors who, if only they were listened to, might achieve even that remarkable -feat. The post-Majuba policy still has, and will have, its admirers. It is true even that they hope to revive it in all its beauty. They reluctantly admit that we have got to' have one flag, but they are full of ingenious suggestions ■ as to how that symbol of unity may be made to mean as little as possible, and the old political' dualism be preserved in substance, if not in form. Fortunately, the British nation will have none of this, and is not going over to the pro-Boers. These worthy people lave made a great noise. They have encowa£eij^hg_gneiaXi.

lurnny directed- against us in foreign, countries. and at home they darken counsel, and to some extent even weaken our policy; but they make no durable or effective impression on British public feeling, which is as sound as ever about South Africa-, hating war, regretting but recognising its necessity, and determined not to be cheated out of its results.