Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 1901. THE BOER WAR.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 15 August 1901, Page 2

Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 1901. THE BOER WAR.

The war is over; the period of guerilla warfare even ended; and the period of “ recognised pillage and plunder ” drawing to a close. The 13th of September is fixed for the date of recognised hostilities. After that the remaining irregular Boers and Foreigners in the field will be deemed outlaws, and liable to bo treated as such. The proclamation has been received with “shrieks of horror” by the pro-Boer organs of France and Germany, and by a few' disloyal papers in Britain, who vapour about the downfall of British generalship in South Africa and such like rhodomontade. Calm and dispassionate minds, however, readily admit that the determination arrived at is not only wise but a humane and merciful one. It is the best means that can possibly be adopted to shorten the cruel, hopeless and utterly purposeless brigandage and anarchy in South Africa. The few detached banditti that here and there pounce upon unprotected places, quite irrespective of whether it is British or Boer property, cannot by any stretch of the imagination be considered belligerents. They respect

neither international law nor private property of either friend or foe. They are, to all intents and purposes, mere armed robbers, and as such, must be dealt with. These Boers, as Lord Kitchener puts it, are responsible for the expenditure of about a million and a quarter sterling per week of the British taxpayers’ money. They are aim.essly prolonging bloodshed on both aides. They are keeping 85,000 of their fellow-countrymen in the discomfort of military imprisonment. They are impoverishing and prolonging the anxieties of those of the peacefully disposed inhabitants who, now that the campaign has passed the last stage of hopelessness, desire to be restored to the quietness of home life and to resume their ordinary avocations. Because Britain endeavours to put an end to such a state of affairs, by adopting a course she should have taken months ago, and which any other power would have put in force at the time Lord Roberts left Africa, “ cries of dismay ” are raised, because, forsooth these critics foresee that such course of action means the speedy conclusion of the struggle, the re-establishment of peace and order in South Africa the freeing of Britain’s hands, and staying of vast expenditure of British blood and treasure. Lord Kitchener’s proclamation has met with general approval at Home and in the colonies. He has intimated to the few responsible leaders that unless they surrender before September 15th, they will be banished for life from South Africa. He has also intimated that the British will not continue after that date to support the families of those burghers who remain out fighting against them, but will recoup themselves from the property of the fighters. With the

Press, we see nothing savouring of excessive harshness in these terms. They are far within the limits allowed by the recognised usages of war. Our only doubt is as to whether they are sufficiently severe to achieve their object. Otherwise it is quite possib e that true humanity would have been better served by making them still more stern and drastic.