STEAM V. OXEN.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 64, 16 March 1900, Page 2

STEAM V. OXEN.

A TEIAL AT THE TUGELA. Most of us would, if we could, forget that there was even- such an occurrence as the first crossing1 of the ; Tugela by Buller's force, but the cor- j respondents bilked in the efforts to ; cable full and true accounts of the i happenings at the front are taking j .their revenge on the censor by mail, [ and this week the papers are full of Tugela talk. Mr Bennett Burleigh siipplies a very interesting narrative of the passage of the river, a portion < toi which I propose to quote, as it shows that the much maligned steam j transports—the quid nuncs said they j would be left on tlhe veldt as rusty j iron monuments of English _ folly— j are on occasions more effective and j trustworthy than many spans of "salted" oxen. Describing" the block j at the ditJts, Mr Burleigh says:—"lt, was a prolonged and desperate j scramble to get the men and about '400 waggons and nondescript vehicles down the steep, slippery bank through the waist-deep stream and up the sticky opposite slopes. Three ox waggons were run down into the river and. converted into bridge piers, planks being laid whereon part iof the infantry were able to pass over dryshod, but the planks" and footing were insecure in places, and it came to be like walking the greasy pole at Earnsgate aquatic sports, for numbers of Tommies went hurriedly into the Water in the most diverse and eccentric manner to the surprise of lots of people. The mueh-laug-hed-afe score of Aldershob traction engines did not stick or flounder in the mud, Tynt lumibered about doing duty with comparative ease and considerable j regularity. Their flanged grips upon the wheels gave them a sure bite of the ground, which in one or two places they churned up rather deeply. A by no means overladen waggon stuck in the middle of Blanwkran's Drift, close to Frere station. Eighty oxen were tried, and were unable to tnove the waggon an inch. It seemed tts if the whole column must wait until the vehicle was carted^ off. A ftra-ction emg-ine walra trequisitiotaisecl to try its powers, the enormous span" of cattle were taken away, ant! a steel hawser was passed from the engine and marie fast. Then steam was turned on. and with snort and whirr jts« Sijt^afSP sway, -with, tie

waggon, conveying it some distance to a high and dry part of the roadway."