It is with great satisfaction that we record the deter-
mination of the Colonies to take their share in a war which is in every sense Imperial. They cannot, owing to the dis- tances and to the nature of their local forces, bear any large part of the burden, but that does not matter. The essential point is that they are willing to stand by our side and realise fully that they are parts of the Empire, and not mere de- pendencies ready to drop off when they are ripe. Queens- land has already got a contingent ready to start. New South Wales will send the squadron of her Lancers which has been training here all the summer,—a body of men who have won high praise both at Aldershot and on Salisbury Plain from all who have, seen them. New Zealand is preparing a force, and though the Canadian Government has expressed a doubt whether they could get ready a force which would be in time, the idea of sending troops has proved very popular in the Dothinion. We have dwelt elsewhere upon the strange notion that has found an echo in the Radical Press, that the Colonies are interfering in matters which do not concern them. All that concerns the Empire concerns the Colonies, and South Africa concerns Australia and New Zealand in a very special degree. British South Africa is one of the ' bolts" with which the_ Empire is riveted together.
