TROOPS FOR THE COLONY VERSUS "SELF-RELIANCE."
(From the Nelson Colonist, Dec. 18.) Some people, whose enthusiasm we cannot but respect, are prepared to send ■■ every man to the Front," and to " spend the last shilling " we possess iv the stamping out of the Native war. . We make every allowance i for the fervour which produces the expression of such sentiments, which spring from the warm impulses of generous minds. But still, when we find such expressions, not spoken in the presence of an audience, before whom it is not always easy to adopt a quiet deliberate tone — but committed to calculated writing, and then transferred to the still colder printing, we are induced to apply the dissecting knife with less tender hand, and examine as to the real meaning of the words. Of course it is pure hyperbole, because, when ,it comes to that pass, there is the plain -. practical fact, that, if the last man, and the ' last shilling are to be sent and spent, people will see that it is time to reserve a few shillings, in order to transfer themselves to other latitudes ; for it seems to us that those who left the Old Country to better themselves, and to find room nnder stran£e stars for their children, in a clime where they were told taxation was less, and work more plentiful and more remunerative than at home, — such persons will not care to stay in a country where not only the present but future generations will be crushed by a terrible legacy of debt. If people are taken from productive labour to do fighting, while England has tens of thousands of men trained to perform it, far cheaper man for man than the productive settler can be, then there is a gross waste of men and means; of men not only for the present, but for the future, because, in addition to the loss of time and paralysing of business which follows the removal of the citizen from civil work, there is the fact, all too frequently experienced, that «| men, once accustomed to camp life, rarely 1 settle down again to sober employment and ] the monotonous pursuits of peace.'' It is true j that America has shown an example never before witnessed, of a vast army dispersing, and its members going back to the farm, the warehouse, and the shop after fighting one of the grandest and noblest wars that modern times have seen. But there is a great difference between the position of this small colony and that of one of the widest empires in Christendom; and our experience has been that the camp in most cases (there are of course not a few exceptions) unfits its occu- - pant for the steady labour of life. The cost of a colonial soldier is at least four times that of a regular, and experience does not prove that the more costly article is the more serviceable. It may be a very charming thing to con- J template, as the Ministry apparently have J for months been contemplating, the glory 1 they would achieve by doing their own "^ work with their own hands. But week after week saw the vision of glory fade into grievous gloom, and at last conviction has forced it-elf on the minds of the mass of the people of the colony that the men in power aro not the men for the emergency. Province after province has pronounced against them, -% and they still adhere to the policy of refusing to accept aid by means of the Imperial troops. A large amount of patronage ia opened to a Ministry which has a kind of standing army into which it can send a variety of men who may be " somebody's friends," but who belong to that class to which we have before referred as the educated men who do nothing ■■ to make the country yield its product* ; men who have no trade or profession by the hand, who cannot work, who cumber the rails of everyday life, and to whom, in military as in civil departments, a paternal and kindly Government dispenses charitable aid by shunting them off in a siding where they do little good, often do evil, and are maintained at the public cost. This is not tbe case ' ' always, of course, but it is far too common ; and it is a failing of Governments that they hold fast by patronage which gives power • and influence, through both tbe successful and the expectant place-hunter and their respective friends. As for the- Imperial troops, what we mean by having them is tbat when tbey come they 1 shall fight. They are trained, and, under' proper generalship, can be made to assimilate themselves to surrounding necessities ss tha Abyssinian army did in the rocky wilds and fastnesses, of an unknown country. What clogged the action of the troops formerly was the incompetency of the commanders, tba quarrel of Governor and Generals, and tie influence of Exeter HaU, now dethroned by-dd the superior influence of the British stoclr^ holder's pocket • all these impediments must be removed if soldiers should come. It is plain that two Goverbors— -sir George Bowen and -US rd Belmore — -see that troops, to beof any. fuse, 'must take active service; and the offer of troops made by Governor Belmore would be simply a mockery if it meant anything else. ' **• We repeat what we have said long ago, - that we .cannot bear the cost of keeping a l , standing army ; and Ihe answer to the org* _
ment frequently employed of late, that; 'we cannot wait for troops from Australia," 'is to be found in the fact that tbe steamer Alhambra, now 1 lying in our harbor, has on board about a hundred and thirty volunteers raised in Victoria and brought down by Captain Stack! We might have had Governor; Belmore's drilled and accoutred soldiers here now in preference to these ; and soldiers are better than Volunteers, for those are trained, but these are raw levies. Of the volunteers who went a few weeks since from the West, Coast, many of them never handled a rifle, and yet we are informed they were sent at once to the Front ! Is this self-reliance ? We call it sending men to the shambles, at a cost in all, rations, clothing conveyance, and accoutrements, of not less than 10s per diem, while we can get drilled men for the asking at not mare than half-a-crown a-day, the said half-crown being due to the Imperial Government, who, in the circumstances of the colony, would prove a lenient creditor. Self-reliance has been an utter failure, and the continued transmission of entirely untrained men to the Front proves it ; and it proves further, that our Ministers know not what they are doing, and Bre not alive to the necessities of the situation, nor to tbe grave responsibilities they are bringing on themselves and the colony. If they continue much longer to destroy the colony, the next step is, that the Governor should be petitioned to dismiss them, and to send for troops. In truth we think the time for this course has come. Without professing to possess the gift of prophesy, we are strongly disposed to believe that ere many months pass by Dr Featherston will be Premier of New Zealand.
Since the foregoing was written, we learn by a late telegram from Wellington that Mr FitzGerald, a Government officer, has written four columns in one of the newspapers to prove that we should have nothing to do with English troops. Prima facie, we are disposed by that fact to adhere more strongly to our own opinion, for, although Mr FitzGerald is a ready and brilliant writer and a good speaker, he is acknowledgedto be remarkably deficient in logic, and we venture to predict that Mr FitzGerald's letter will prove our assertion.
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Bibliographic details
Star (Christchurch), Issue 194, 26 December 1868, Page 2
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1,310TROOPS FOR THE COLONY VERSUS "SELF-RELIANCE." Star (Christchurch), Issue 194, 26 December 1868, Page 2
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