NEW ZEALAND NURSES.

At) a meeting of the Dunedin Committee which arranged for the despatch of New Zealand nurses to tho front, correspondence was read from Mr. Herbert Pilcher, of Capetown, who reported that the several New Zealand nurses were in tho following districts : —Sister Janet Williamson, in charge of No. 10 general hospital at Bloemf ontein ; Sister Sarah J. lioss, in charge of No. 8 at the same place ; Sister Dora L. Harris, aiso in No. 85 Sister Isabella Campbell, in tho new St. Andrew's College Hospital, Bloemfontein; Sister Dora Peiper, at the same place ; Sister Ellen M. Monson, at No. 1, general hospital, Winburg ; Sister Bessie Hay, at the Wanderers' Cub Hospital, Johannesburg. The letters from the nu.rses emphasised the fact that the expenses entailed upon them in South Africa "were heavy. The committee resolved that Mr. Pilcher bo authorised to pay to tho nurses three months' salary already voted, and that each sister receive an additional bonus of £10 lo coyer cost of refitting, this also to bo paid' by Mr. Pilcher out of money in his hands. Further, it was resolved that a letter be sent to Mr. Pilcher setting out the exact financiau position of the committee, and that each sister be written to giving similar information. A long and interesting letter was received from Nurse Hay, who wrote that she had taken advantage of her hospital at Johannesbwg' not being ready for her to go to Pretoria and visit the hospitals there, with the particular object of looking up all members of the New Zeaiand Contingents, and she had discovered many of them. On her return to Johannesburg Nurse Hay found that her hospital would not be ready for a few days, and, learning that one of the hospitals was without a night nurse, she. volunteered for the service, with tho result that when her own hospital was ready for her' the P.M.O. of the hospital whore she was then in service objected strongiy to her leaving. Ultimately she wa3 allowed to remuin, and her request that the rest of the staff be colonial nursing sisters was granted. The nurses write in the highest terms of the hospitals. Nurse Hay, referring to one at Johannesburg, says that nothing better could be found in London. Several New Zealand invalids are under , treatment, by our niwse,s. The committee's hope that our nurses would be a he*p to our soldiers has thus been realised. • v The committee has written to the nurses to say that whenever they wish to return to New Zealand funds are available for them, but that with the payment of the three months' salary already made the committee's obligation ceases so far as salary is concerned, this being necessitated by the state of the funds. j THE TRAP NEAR VOLKSRUST. Trooper H. Peek, of Christchurch, writing to his father from Volksrust, states that before his squadron reached that place it fell into a trap. It happened on Sunday, 10th June, at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon The squadron wa3 riding across the veldt in extended order, and when it reached a very .small hill the men heard a shot fired, and were sent off to another hill. .When they reached the top of it the Boers opened a very heavy fire. Tho Boers had their position ready made, and had been wailing foi the British. One of the men lying next to Trooper Peek was shot in the mist, and crawled back and liad the wound bandaged, and as ho was going back he was shot again. His brother was wounded in three places in tho same engagement. Tho man on the right of Trooper Peek, Trooper G. Sim, from Dunedin, was shot through the head and killed. There were six killed and seven Mounded out of twenty, and probably none would have escaped had not a body of Hussars come up at a gallop in extended order. They fired two volleys fiom a hill in the back of the New Zealanders, and occupied the enemy's atten-

tion, giving the former an opportunity to make a hasty retreat.