The Waikato Argus [PUBLISHED DAILY.] TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1901.

Waikato Argus, Volume XI, Issue 1126, 17 December 1901, Page 2

The Waikato Argus [PUBLISHED DAILY.] TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1901.

Although the people of New Zealand recognise that they have done more than their proportionate share towards bringing the Boer war to a conclusion, we feel confident that they will endorse the action of the Premier in offering another contingent, and we are equally confident that the required number of men of the right stamp will bo forthcoming. We shall send this Eighth Contingent for very much the same reason that we sent the first, not because for one moment we thought that Great Britain without the aid of her colonies was not able to cope with the situation, but because we realised that being part of the Empire it was our duty to send manhood to maintain its integrity and uphold its honour. Those who looked beyond the present and immediate future also felt that the time was opportune to give an object lesson to the world—to confute the statement which the enemies of Britain so constantly put forward, that the allegiance of the colonics to the Empire would only last so long as fine weather prevailed, and that the moment a war storm arose they would cast off their allegiance and start on their own accounts. The spontaneous manner in which the colonies tendered materialassistanceconfutecl the prognostication, and the fact stood boldly forth that to attack any portion of the British Empire meant inviting combat with a united, determined and warlike people. Foreign writers, inspired by those who know or should know better, have taunted the Empire that the colonies were tired of the war and would render no further assistance. Public opinion in the colonies has never wavered since the first shot was fired. They then recognised that there could only be one ending to the war—the absolute subjugation of the two Uepublics, as stopping short of this was to run the risk of another war within a very few years. And the colonies are fully prepared to contribute their full quota to bringing this end about as speedily as possible. It has been hinted by the British Government that more men from the colonies are desirable, if not absolutely necessary, and it goes without saying that the colonies will send them, ill as they can afford such a large draft on their manhood. To show preparedness for war is the most reliable guarantee of peace. Preparedness to start, however, must be combined with the determination to fight to the bitter end. This the colonies are now called upon to evidence.