REMOUNTS FOR SOUTH AFRICA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXII, Issue 89, 11 April 1900, Page 2

REMOUNTS FOR SOUTH AFRICA.

Ciinisrcuuitcn, April 10, At a meeting held to-day by the Canterbury War Fund Committee it was decided to purchase 150 horses, to I e sent to f-buth Africa as romounts. They are to bo placed at the absolute disposal of the Imperial authorities. The New Zealand Government has agreed to make the selection and purchase on behalf of the fund, and also to provide the cost of transport from New Zealand to South Africa. Wellington, April 10. Th l ? Govornmeut have received an offer from the ChrUtchurch War Committee of 150 remounts, «md the offer

has been accepted with thanks. The Agricultural Department is now pW cbaring horses on behalf of the Committee. I NO NEED FOB INTERVENTION A number of representative Englishmen replied to the futile inquiries of a New York paper (we are disposed to hazard the guess that it wai the World) that sought to gain notoriety by urging thac a petition should be presented to President McKinley seeking interna* tion by the United States on behalf of the Boers. These are some of the replies:— The Duke of Newcastle is sufficiently emphatic, » England," he writes, "must pursue this war to the end, and cannot relax her efforts until the Union Jack floats over Pretoria and Bloemfontein." Sir Francis Jeune regrets that the petition has been prepared, and trusts that, even now, it may not be presented. 1 It is, he remarks, in the first place, perfectly useless. The Government cannot accept any terms from the Boers except unconditional surrender, and it is not, I presume, purposed that the i President of the United States should [ ask that course from them. But, ua- . fortunately, it is more than useless. Not intentionally, no doubt, but in fact, it is offensive. This country ought to regard it much as the Northern • States would have regarded a petition to the Queen to mediate between the States of the north and those of the south. Sir Francis' notion of hit country's duty jumps with our own. , Mr. George Bernard Shaw's reply is characteristic of him:— u Dear sir,— | Thank you for the copy of ' America's , great appeal for peace and humanity.' Rather cool, isn't it, after the Spanish r War?"

Sir Arthur Arnold is straightforward enough:—"l wauld rather lota my hand and my head," he writes, " tban sign your petition. As a constant friend of international arbitration I am not bo foolish as to suggest that the | Peace Congress touched the relations of Great Britain with vassal States. We who were friends to the United States in 1862, and who are now combatting invasion and rebellion in our colony, ought not to be subject to such irraionsl importunity." Mr. Herbert Spenoer, of course, is a member of the South African Gondii* ation Committee. His is an attitude >f sublime aloofness: " I do not think one present is a fit time for doing aovohing." ' Here are the views of the Little Englanders:

Mr. Paaamore Edwards: •« I regard the present war on the part of Great Britain as essentially infamous." Sir W. Wedderburn, MP. for Banffshire, said that the petition bad his moat hearty sympathy. He gratefully recognises in the object sought "• orotherly desire to further the true interests of this country." Mr. Selous, the famous South African traveller, was "only sorry that the petition proved to be of no practical value." The Rev. Silas Hocking, the novelist, wrote: "Something could be done even tt the eleventh hour to stay the hand jf war. But the nation, in spite of TG outward reserve, is in a panio. And he cLurcb has gone after the world in its demand to «Slay! sky! slay V " Mr. Justin McCarthy, the historian, considers that the paper which invitedJ if.ho symposium "deservw the thanks >f all who love psaeo and justioe, for its uoble effort to secure for the dispute between England and the two South African Republics the mediation of s> State whose history proves her to be the friend of civilisation and the advocate of brotherhood among men." AN OFFIOHt'S HBROIBM. | A colonial correspondent, writing from Ohieveley camp of the fighting ! near Oolenso, says: " When D troop of Thorneycroft s Horse was called upon ! to retire Lieutenant Ponsonby stopped to help a wounded man whose injuries he dressed on the field. He sought to carry the man to safety, Whilst to engaged his helmet was perforated by a bullet, and directly afterwards th» a* jured man whom ha carried nwrni ft wound which caused instantaneous death. Ponsonby pushed on alone, receiving a flesh wound in the left arm, whilst another bullet perforated his coat. A Boer rushed forward to finish him at close quarters, but Ponsenby, drawing his revolver, shot him dead. He was received with a great ovation when he reached the camp."

" LOOK AT MY POOR MBN." A letter, dated from General Oatacre's camp, has been received from Bandsman A. Smith, 2nd Northumberland Furileers (son of a resident of Dover), in which, describing the battle of Stormberg, he says:-"It was another Majuba. The Boers mowed us down like grass, and when we tried to climb the hills our men continually fell. Nearly all our band git shot, except seven of us. We bad not time to get our wounded away. We had ti tight our way back again, and we were weak and faint after marching and fighting for thirty hours. I had some narrow oscapes. Ono ballet struck me on the foot, but did no harm. We had to run for our lives to get to cover, as the Boers wore storming us with bullets all tho way down the hill. The general cried fiku a child, and said : ' My God 1 look at my poor men.' "