THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER. TUESDAY, MAY 29, 1900.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume II, Issue 155, 29 May 1900, Page 2

THE WAI MATE ADVERTISER. TUESDAY, MAY 29, 1900.

A-i a result of overtimes ma.de by the Waikakahi Settlers Association to the Minister of Railways, that gentleman has invited a deputation from the Association to meet him ai Timaru to-day. Waikakahi settlers will now have an opportunity of ventilating any grievances they may have, with a chance of getting thBm remedied. A' short time back we called attention, in a leading article, to the shortage of trucks at Morven during the grain reason, and received a letter from Major Steward, M.H.R., saying that he had brought the article under the notice of the Hon. -J. G. Ward, Minister of Railways. Since then the Settlers Association has approached the Minister, and as a result the necessary trucks were forthcoming. This shows conclusively that if the settlers, as a body, will exert themselves to get what is really wanted they will be successful. At the interview to-day, the Association (who will probably be represented by the chairman, Mr Eeere) will bring before Mr Ward's notice the necess ty for a station-master and the stopping of the express trains at Mo»ven. This place has become, since the cuttiug up of Waikakahi, the centre and outlet for a large number of the settlers' and it is time such inconveniences were removed. We hope that the Settlers Association will go on with the good work it has started, and take up any reform it deems necessary for the welfare of tteh c community.

Now that Lord Roberts has crossed the Vaal River, and crossod it unopposed, the end of the war is in sight. No one doubts no-v that Britain will prove victorious, and that the British flag will wave over the whole of South * Africa. When Lord Wolseley, so«2ie time ago, prophesied that the end of May would see \lso the end of the war, he was laughed at by many who considered that his desire to see Britain at peace had prompted the utterance. Events 'now prove that the words were uttered

in no idle rnoruent, nor without thought, but that they were the outcome of careful thinking by a k clever tactician. The Boers vowed that at Kroonstad, Winburg and lastly at the Vaal River, they would make such a stand as would stagger humanity, but in each case, when the critical moment arrived they decided to make the stand elsewhere, somewhere out of Lord Roberts' way. There will be no more serious engagements, and Lord Roberts will march unhampered to Johannesburg and then to Pretoria. After that, when peace is proclaimed, our New Zealand contingents will return and will, of course, get a great welcome, even exceeding, in patriotic enthusiasm, the send-offs to the various contingents. It haa been proposed by a contemporary that South Canterbury, which has given more men to the ,ser vice of the Empire ' than,, any other province, should" organise a welcome of its own, and we take the liberty to propose that Waimate, which, according to its population, sent more men than any other New Zealand |own, should arrange a welcome on a grand suale to our own boys. This may seem a little premature? but things in Waimate move slowly, and now the suggestion is made people have time to think it over.