WHERE ARE THE BIG GUNS?

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 180, 31 July 1900, Page 5

WHERE ARE THE BIG GUNS?

It has always struck me as being rather more than peculiar that, save on one or two occasions, the British Army has never been able to get hold of the big guns' used by the Boers. Even when Cronje was captured the haul of big weapons was inconsiderable, and since then, though whole commandoes have been captured or have surrendered,.we have never been able to lay hands on any of the, bjg calibre cannonwhich the enemy seem to have possessed in abundance. Posi: tions have been stormed or turned, but the guns which a.few hours before were belching death from them have always disappeared. In some cases it has seemed incredible that the Boers should have been able to take them away. . , .

A correspondent in South Africa, in discussing the disappearance of these big weapons, tells me that there is not. the slightest doubt that in many cases the Boers have buried the guns, and have thrown dust in the eyes of those searching for them by placing dead bodies over them, being well aware of English people's disinclination to meddle with the dead. The Boers themselves have, he , sayg, no such scruples, and he thinks that the generals in command should at the earliest opportunity institute searches for these buried weapons, as they may become sources of danger in the-fu-ture.