THE NINTH CONTINGENT.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 156, 23 January 1902, Page 2

THE NINTH CONTINGENT.

Following closely on the heels of •he Eighth Contingent, in fact before it hag been, decided when this shall sail, comas word that 'no doubt acting on the Imperial* isi'c sentiments'expressed by our •Premier) the Homo Government have cabled their willingness to accept a second contingent of 1000 men, raised on the same terms as the last- B'.iaf enquiry by the Premier showed that the country was willing to agree to this course ami a reply was at once sent offering another —a ninth contingent. That this will be forthcoming there is little reason to doubt, for 3000 applications are at present in the hands of the Defence Department, but it was a wise move to allot a larger number to the couotry districts, which ate more likely to produce the stamp of men required than the towns are.

The question that imy be raised is, Are we justified in sending' more men ? Certainly we are, for th 9 Imperial Government would not ask for the troops were thoy not needed, and as part of the Empire we are entitled to assist in protecting it, while there is always the compensating thought that in the time to coma, when war must inevitably reach New Zealand, we will have some thousands of men whose experience in the grim game wi|l be ample recompanss for the present sacrifices. Doubtless the present political situation of Europe has inspired Britain with a desire to get the war off her hands in case of fresh complications and this, with the sneers of the Continental Press, has also put the colonies on their mettle. The war is going to be finished if every eligible man in the colony who volunteers has to be sent, and the knowledge of this, though long in being credited by the Boer leaders aud sym„ pathisers, will certainly tend to hasten the close of the waarisome

struggle.