Mr. Reitz, the ex-Secretary of State to the Transvaal Government,
has been interviewed in Paris by representatives of a New York journal and of the Temps. To the former he an- nounced his intention of proceeding to the States in September on a lecturing tour, adding that he would never take the oath of allegiance or return to South Africa unless it were with his rifle in his hand. In the Temps interview he is reported to have said that there had not been a more barbarous conflict since the Thirty Years' War. He ridiculed the grant of 23,000,000 promised by the Vereeniging Treaty as a mere mockery, since England had no intention of distributing the sum among the owners of the houses destroyed. Incidentally Mr. Reitz furnished a most convincing defence of the con- centration camp system by asserting that arms had to be laid down, not on account of the women in the camps, but of those who " remained in the devastated country and were literally dying of hunger." It is probable, as Reuter's Brussels corre- spondent points out, that Mr. Reitz will take the place, vacated by the retirement of Dr. Leyds, as the recognised head of the Boer irreconcilables. He has plainly admitted his disagree- ment with the conciliatory tactics of the Bcer generals, and is going to America, on his own showing, entirely on his own responsibility.
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