Wanganui Chronicle AND PATEA-RANGITIKEI ADVERTISER. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26,1881.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXIII, Issue 9346, 26 February 1881, Page 2

Wanganui Chronicle AND PATEA-RANGITIKEI ADVERTISER. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26,1881.

It was stated a few days since that it was proposed to raise a corps of two hundred and fifty men in New Zealand for service in South. Africa ; also that nearly one hundred of the Wellington Naval Brigade had volunteered for the same destination ; and yet again, that fifty picked men from the Thames Naval Brigade were prepared to go. Whether these statements are true to their full extent we are not in a position to say, but we have learned from trustworthy sources that at all events a good many of the two Naval Brigades mentioned above have signified their wish to join in the movement. It is in the highest degree improbable that these proposals will lead to any practical results. There are numerous signs that the Transvaal war will come to a speedy termination. The Boers are numerically very weak, and, notwithstanding the considerable success which has here and there attended their efforts, the losses they have suffered are great, and they have no adequate source from which to draw fresh levies to fill up the gaps in their ranks. The native population of the Transvaal have no liking- for the Boers, for they have proved themselves terribly hard taskmasters. The British colonists, on the other hand, although worsted in the early .stages of the conflict, are infinitely stronger than their opponents, and, without the recent reinforcements of Imperial troops, would eventually have remained masters. But these reinforcements have been numerous, and much larger numbers ary still under orders for the Cape, so that the issue can neither be doubtful nor long- delay ed. And then there is the fact that .tho British Government have expressed a willingness to treat Avith the Boers on very favourable tfMyyj r Pha jmamosGd-lxTiaa, £>L«»---known, but, judging from the cablegrams, it would almost appear that Mr Gladstone's Ministry are prepared to concede a great part of what the Boers demanded — short, we presume, of entire independence. It should also be remembered that there is a great deal to be said in favour of the action taken by the Boers. They have never acknowledged themselves British subjects, and .the Transvaal was occupied by them when they migrated to avoid living under British rule. They, in fact, founded a new State altogether beyond territory claimed by England, and have never acquiesced in the annexation. It is needless to enter on a discussion with regard to the events which subsequently led to British interference, but the quarrel is one which may well be left to be fought out by the parties principally concerned. It is of no special interest to British colonists in other parts of the world, there has been no appeal to them for assistance, and their interference would be officious and uncalled for. If it had been a case like that of the Indian Mutiny, which strongly stirred the sjTnpathies of all civilized nations in behalf of the handful of British who were struggling with whole armies of their own rebellious troops, we could have understood the wish on the part of New Zealand colonists to bring assistance, however small, to the mother country in her hour of nedd. But here there is nothing of the kind. The Boers are said to have conformed to the usages of modern warfare, and to have committed no outrages, and iv the opinion of many the right is on their side. It seems strange, therefore, that a considerable body of citizen soldiers in a free colony, separated by thousands of miles from tiio scene of operations, should have gone out of their AVf y to endeavour to take part in the unfortunate struggle. As to the proposed corps of two hundred and fifty men Avhich we first mentioned, we may sivppose that a few ■ restlf-ss spirits have thought it possible that that number iui.'l-ht be drawn from the ranks of tli;.-" unemployed, and that they would ijo bettor ong-aged_ in fighting- the i 23oers tlum In standing- at tlie street co rner s . But tho unemployed clement in New Zealand is fortunately getting line by degrees and beautifully less, and we doubt whether the recruiting sergeant would meet with much success even for service a great deal nearer home. But Avhen we hear of a large proportion of the' Naval Brigades of Wellington and. the Thames coolly talking of taking ship and going to fight the Boers, we scarcely know which to admire most — their folly or their impudence. Almost all these are young men in regular employment, earning fair wages, and with the certainty of doing well in New Zealand if they continue sober and industrious. They have family and social ties, wJiich might naturally be expected to bind them to residence, in this part of the worltt, and yet we find them anxious to be oif to a country where the climate is execrable, where the open-

I ings for peaceful industry are not nearly so wide at the best of times as they are here, and where even the pleasurable excitement of " potting " Boers cannot at the utmost be expected to last more than a few weeks. One newspaper says that the Government can surely not object to the exodus, as the men have provided their own uniforms and the capitation allowance has been stopped. The Minister of Defence will certainly not iuive a voice in the matter provided the men return their ac- < outrements into store, send in their resignations as Now Zealand "Volunteers, and pay their own passages to the seat of war. But from what we can learn nothing is further from the intention of these people than taking leave of the colony in such prosaic fashion as that. Their idea is that they shall go as a military contingent, properly armed and officered, and in full war paint, and that the Grovernruent shall charter a ship for their conveyance. We had no idea there were so many bloodthirsty idiots amongst the white population of New Zealand. We doubt it even now. These apparently redhot soldiers must surely have been "poking fun" at the newspaper men, and the latter, have either not seen through the joke, or have easily yielded to the temptation of writing a few sounding paragraphs. To those misguided individuals" who really tifink that* their destiny leads them to the Transvaal, and are seriously thinking of packing their kits for the voyage, we would tender the suggestion that the occasion is one on which they should resist their destiny as strenuously as it is to be hoped they would the archenemy. They have no business in the Transvaal. Shooting people is not their legitimate calling, and the training they have received in New Zealand was not given in order that they might be fitted to roam the world as knights-errant. Far better stoj) at home and look after the shop or the cows, and grow wealthy and fat and wise, and leave the Boers and the British Government to fight it out between them.