RETURNED FROM JOHANNESBURG.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXI, Issue 5060, 10 March 1900, Page 3

RETURNED FROM JOHANNESBURG.

An Interesting Interview.

Mr H. H. Stephens, a gentleman well known in Ashburcon, arrived back here by the late train on Friday evening. Mr Stephens sold his business in Aahburbon some five years ago to Messrs Shearman Bros., and after residing in Ghriatchnroh for a while, went) to Johannesburg, where he built up a business that was flourishing nicely until the war came along and pub a atop to everything. Shortly after his arrival on Friday night, he kindly granted an interriew to a representative of this paper. Mr Stephens evidently keeps his eyes wide open to what is going on about him, and talks most intelligently of affair* ia South Africa. He was well acquainted with some of the prominent Transvaal officials, and they promised that he should receive a permit to remain. Adoordingly he laid in a considerable quantity of stores, &c, to last him till the war was over, bat he found he was depending on rotten sticks, as in less than a fortnight after war was declared, he was put into a coal truck along with scores of others, and sent out over the border, leaving his stores, business and everything behind him. Fortunately he bad Bent his wife and family back to New Zealand twelve montns before this, so they escaped the fearful hardships to which so many women and children were subjected. The rush of refugees from Johannesburg was tremendous The women were, if possible, put into cattle trucks because these trucks were covered, but the men had to travel in open coai wsggons, and more often than not the women travelled in these too. Families were thus divided. The Boers were afc the sama time sending every available fighting man to the front, and they srzsd ftß many trucks ac suited them. Should the refugee trains prove too heavy, the Boer officials had not the slightest hesitation in shunting a portion of it into the first convenient siding on the veldt, and leaving the unfortunate passengers broiling there under the semi-tropical sun. Food and waster were practically unobtainable, and for days the refugees suffered agony. Several of the children died. Wives and children were left on the veldt, while the hoid of th.9 family was oarried on to the sea coast, and vice versa, and days passed before they ascertained each others whereabouts. He knew men who had stood for three days endeavouring to get a ticket at the window, which was guarded by the Transvaal soldiers, who kept the Outlandera back while their burghers got fco the front. Women were subjected to the same treatment-. Fully twenty per cent of the refugees lost their luggage, the Boer officials showing no hesitation whatever in pitching it out at any side station, or even on the open veldt. Mr Stephens, received in Johannesburg, the last letters from his wife ia Ashburton ia September last, although she had been wrting to him by every mail. As soon as war was declared, however, all correspondence with the Transvaal was stopped. He went down to East Lncdon, which, like every other South Africun port wag a scene of enormous activity owing to the immense quantity of stores of every description pouring in for the use of the army. He very quickly got employment as a clerk, receiving and checking stores, and has in his possession an interesting souvenir of the war, in the shape of a letter from Lieutenant Armstrong, of the Commissariat Department", to the commander at the Cape, stating he had found Mr Stephens capable and accurate. Mr Stephens spent about two monthß at this employment, and then wont to Capetown, as he was moet anxiouß fco receive news of hia wife and family. No letters were at the Cape, having been stopped at Durban, and he decided to leave for this colony. The congestion of population and the traffic (shipping and otherwise) was beyond description. While at the Cape he mpfc a gentleman with whom he was well acquainted in Johannesburg. He was employed on the staff of the Rand Post, and was to remain, but writing to his wife outside his letters, were opened by the Boers, and he too was put over the border, early in January. This gentleman aaid very few Britishers were then left in Johannesburg, and nearly all of them were doing police duty at night. A good many of the Bhops had been looted especially the clothing one?. Speaking of the war itself, the general opinion all over the Cape, even amongst the Dutch, was that England waß going to see the war through to the end. The enormous force England was passing through the country had greatly impressed the Dutch residents, who were realising the hopeless of their oause. Personally, Mr Stephens thinks fcha worst of the war is now over. He knows the country thoroughly, aud Bays emphatic ally the positions the Boers took up at the Modder and Tugela rivers the very strongest available. If they could not hold them they have very little chance of making a strong stand except at Pretoria itself. Compared with the Boer positions around the Modder, the oountry over the Free State ia practically rolling downs. He doea not think much fighting will be done around Lying's Nek or Majuba Hill owing to the insufficiency of water, a» the dry season is now commeßcing. Pretoria he describes as an exceptionally strong position. He is ab a loss to conjecture how the British will operate against it. It is a naturally very strong fortress, and has been additionally fortified at an enormous cost. Every hill around Pretoria is orownad with huge guns that command the country for milea. There is only one entrance to the capital and that, as may be imagined, has been made practically impregnab'e and is said to be mined. Starving the garrison out will Foarcely answer, as too many of our men are there as prisoner*. The Free Staters have had enough of the oonfliofc. So long as the war was carried on in British territory they did not object so much, but now it is taken into their own country and their homesteads and families are threatened, they are getting alarmed, and are deserting to their farms in considerable numbers. On his way down the coast from East London to the (Jape, Mr Stephens had as fellow passengers, quite a j large number of our soldiers, wounded at Modder River and the Tugela, including men from the Highland Brigade, the Inniskillings, and some of ColoDal Long's men. These men were being invalided home to Englaud, He had conversations with nearly all of them, and their one disappointment wim having to leave the scene of fighting Many intended, if possible, to get ashore at the Cape and when well, get back to the front. Their wounds appeared to be about the last thing that troubled them. A peculiarity of the wounding was, that nearly eveiy man had been hit about the feet or legs. Some had been struck several times. One officer with whom he conversed, assured him that the percentage of wounds above the waist was very smalt indeed, and exceptionally few men were hit on the head. He attributed this peculiarity to the fact that the Boers were firing down on the men, and bo the shots oarried low. Most of the wounded declared that, unless hit in a very sensitive place, they scarcely felt the effeot of the Mauser bullet. Plenty of them went on fighting, and it was only when the fight was over, and they began to get chilled, that the swelling or numbness of the limb notified them they had b?en struck. One man had been shot through the hip, and had *everal wounds in the legs, but was confident he would be all right again in a short time. Mr Stephens has a very poor opinion of the Boers. They are deceitful and suspicious to a degree, and judge all others by their own standard. A Boer official smiles and says yah, yah, to everything one says, but he does not for a moment believe you. There are two c!ai«ei of Boer over the whole county, the Jfeltodn Cos high olmi Poor),

and the Dopper (or low Dutch.) Their language varies greatly, so much so indeed, that the Dopper will scarcely understand the educated Hollander, Long nee, however, enables them to convene fairly well. \ The statement that the English language is « almost universally epoken in tho Tranevaal ' and Free State, is the purest fiction. The Boers hate the British, and everything connected with them, and their language is detested. All the railway receipts, and offioial documents of every description, are in Dutch. Fnglieh is nob allowed to be spoken in the Courts, except through an j interpreter. So keen is the dislike, that a judge who spoke English perfectly, anxious to shorten a long and tedious'oase, ueed English on the Bench, and was very severely reprimanded by the authorities for doing co, At the same time, all the principal telegraph 'ffioiala are English, the Boers, so far, not displaying the same Etnartneßs and capacity for this work as Bri'dßhers. The post rffioe officials are almost exclusively Dutch, likewise the police, The Boers were determined on war, whatever the English might have done, Johannesburg is evidently nob a paradise to live in at any time, Outride of the principal business streets there ia no channelling to the footpaths and stagnant water and slope gather and fester under the African sun; The sanitary arrangements of the town are most defective. Thero is little or no drainage. As a consequence of this no clothes are allowed to be washed within the town, »s there is no provision for getting rid of the dirty water. The clothes have therefore to be sent to big washing establishments outside of the town, where they are washed by Kaffirs. Clean water may be thrown oub on to the streets, but this must only be done ah night. As a consequence of this state of things, typhoid and other fevers are always more or less rampant. Smallpox too is a great scourge, and an annual smallpox tax of l(h per head i 3 levied. The employer is held responsible for this tax for every prison in his servicp. A poll tax of 18s 6d per head per annum is also lev ed on Ouiianders. The climate of Johannesburg is much like that of New Zsalaod bub less changeable. The rainy season extends from about October to March and tho rest of the year ia generally fine. Very few fogs occur. August! and September are generally made unpleasant by dust storms. Lower down, in the vicinity of the Tugela and Modeler rivers, the ciimatic conditions are entirely changed. The heat is much greater with cold nights. Fogs are prevalent and fever and ague abound The railway fares from the Capo to Johannesburg are, first; class fl2 15s ; second class £8 19j ; third class £4 12 . Even the third class carriages are far before the New Z3aland second class and are lighted by electricity. Nobody bub Kaffirs and natives, however, think of riding inthem Mr Stephens thinka the Netherland railways are far ahead of ours in the comforts provided for the piss^ngers. Mr Stephens ia uncertain aa to his movements in the immediate future, and in the meantime, will renew his acquaintance wah old Ashburton friends.