The Melbourne correspondent of the Times cabled an important and
welcome piece of news on Wednesday. Lord Tennyson, Governor of South Australia, has received a tele- gram from Mr: Chamberlain stating that the War Office offers one hundred and fourteen commissions to Australians in the infantry and Royal Artillery.—The omission of the cavalry is, we trust, a mere oversight. The War Office by this time must have been cured of their disregard for that arm.—Candidates must be between twenty and thirty years of age, and their selection is entrusted to the Governors and Military Commandants. No doubt a similar offer has been or will be made to the other Colonies represented at the front, to New Zealand for example, which is sending a fifth contingent on the 31st, bringing the total number of its men employed in active service in South Africa up to two thousand. The recognition of the services of the Canadian contingent will probably take some special form,— let us hope the repatriation of the 100th "Royal Canadian" Regiment, a step which the Dominion Government, in an Order in Council passed two months ago, strongly urged the War Office to take.
Previous page
