GERMANS IN SOUTH-WEST AFRICA.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 262, 9 November 1906, Page 3

GERMANS IN SOUTH-WEST AFRICA.

THE HOTTENTOT REBELLION. A DIFFICULT TASK. (Frotr. Our Own Correspondent.) JOHANNESB-rRCx. Sept. 17. The Hottentot rebellion iii German South-West Africa i- gradually fizzling out, but our Teutonic neighbours have had a very difficult contract to carry out. The area is so vast, and the mil tary (icrmans so little used to spread themselves quickly over a large stretch of country that it is no wot.der that the Hottentot tribes have been able to elude them from time to time, and then to get to their rear and cut off their communications. The natives have had an advantage in the fact of the Quantity of gtui~ and ammunition which has been smuggled acrns. either from Walfiseh Bay or over tin- Orange River. Probably the German seaport has fteen responsible nl«o for some of tho supplies, but of that there is not any clear knowledge. That guns and ammunition have been tnken o\.r the Orange River there seem, little doubt, and the llotteti tots have, for a very considerable time, been used to firearms for shooting game. Were colonial force- employed, men wh have knowledge of the country li'..r those who have done the fighting in CapColony and Natal, the rebellion woui-" probably have been *übduecl long a_-

but our neighbours were handicappe by their military system and orguni-a tion.

Probably your readers may have insti tuted comparisons in their own mir between the quick, decisive action of th colonial forces in Zululand and Nat. and the slow, tedious accomplishmentof tho Germans in Nam.qualand, bin ;

cases are not similar. Wo had fight i in Zululand a number of men who know their work, and were not tied down by military systems. It is quit, iikelv that any military forcw-that is, speaking of military m the sense of the r.~.-._r I soldier—woyId have found great °d'i".culty in getting through Nkandhla forest near Cetewayo's grave. Siginaada believed it to be impregnab'o. and it was deemed such not only by Cetewayo himself, but also by the' British forces unoer Lord Chelmsford. Genera! Stephen-, son. the .Imperial military officer who had a watching commission from the War Office, said the bush could not be ent. red and cleared with less than fifteen thousand men. and that to attempt it with less would be fatal. The colonial fortes operating in Natal made short work of it. and probably it was this more than anything else convinced the Zulus of the futility of men who would stick at nothing.

Tne Germans are not yet educated into the best methods of dealing with what is realiy guerilla fighting with half-savage eribes. Had the Uotcntots stayed at any particular place they would have been exterminated, but i. was their extreme mobility, a tendency to melt into nothingness when they were hard pressed, that has made their reconqtiest so difficult. They are gradually being worn out. and "in the end must get crushed.

On looking at the map of German South-west Africa you will see a vast expanse of country with a little red spot on the coast about, the centre, which is the only British settlement, Walfisch Bay. So far as area is concerned, the Germans have plenty of territory, but it is not of much use to them, and the cost of crushing the Hotentot rebellion would amount to more than they could sell the whole area for several times over. It is purely a pastoral country, badly watered, and very sterile in many places. The rou"hT domestic animals will do very well there, especially donkeys and goats. Cattle thrive in favourable localities, but there is always danger in a vast expanse of country like that of the diseas. spreading. Their herds were decimated by the rinderpest some years ago, and now they have got the coast tick disease, which will probably account for a very large proportion of their stock.

j The country possesses some minerals. ; copper especial}", and they believe they will yet tind gold and diamonds. It may i produce a second Rand or a second Kirn] berley, but there is nothing found yet j to furnish much food for hope. Several ! Rand speculators are interested in j mineral propositions there, but they have not made many shekels out of them. Failing any mineral discoveries i of importance, the country will cos. ! the German Government far more to j keep up than they are ever likely to see ; out of it, and as for forming a colony. | iii our sense of the term, for the surI plus population of the Fatherland, such an idea is entirely out of the question. It would be an ideal spot for a number of the old Boers, who like to get back and can enjoy an ideal life that knows no law except the Bible and the rifle,

where a man does not have to go to officials every time he wants to redress a grievance. They would have done very well there, and. in fact, a number of them are scattered about the country but they will gradually come into conflict with German officialdom, and then there trill be trouble, as there is already between those who have trekked further north into Augolaland with the Portuguese Government. It is satisfactory to us to know that the Germans are getting some of the turbulent tribes in order, because it will help to still the unresr amongst the natives in our own territory, but there is every probability that Namaqualand will for many years be a kind of Alsatia.