Sacrifices not yet Ended.

Manawatu Herald, 8 March 1902, Page 3

Sacrifices not yet Ended.

Sir Howard Vincent, M.P., who recently returned from a visit to South Africa, where, in his own words, “ I saw all there was to see,” gave his impressions of the position of affairs there at a gathering of Quean’s Westministers recently. We are informed that Sir Howard made a speech that contained a number of striking passages. He said we musn’t imagine that the war was over. A great deal has yet to be done before we completed our task. Men who were going out 'must be prepared for hard work. The nation’s sacrifices were not at an end ; many millions more would have to be expended. For some time after actual fighting had ceased we should have to keep a hundred thousand men in the country to deal with any possible disaffection that might arise with the return ot the prisoners of war. That a complete understanding would ultimately be arrived at between Briton and Boer he did not doubt, but work of pacification would naturally be gradual. In' the meantime we must not withdraw any troops. Ther*e were none too many at present. Although there were 300,000 men in the country the number available for fighting did not greatly exceed 100,000. Fifty thousand or so were required to hold the block-hauses, and sickness and other things accounted for another 30,000 or more. Ho spoke in.eulogistic terms of the esprit de corps of the troops, and emphasised the necessity for retaining Lord Kitchener, who had the work at his fingers’ end, in his present position to the close of the. war. Sir Howard estimated the number of Boers still in the field at 10,000. He gave it as his opinion that once peace was restored there would be a great boom in South Africa. The two new colonies, he said, offered immense agricultural possibilities.