NEWS BY MAIL.

Evening Post, Volume LIX, Issue 10, 12 January 1900, Page 5

NEWS BY MAIL.

RECONNAISSANCE WORK BY THli NEW ZEALANDERS. [PBBSS ASSOCIATION.] (Received January 12, 9.45 a.m.) •SYDNEY, This Day. The special correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald, writing from Naauwpoort on 13th December, describes some scouting near Arundel, \n which the New Zealanders took part. He say* the New Zealanders' pushed across the plain and pulled up under a big hill, a body of Carabineers ilauking them on om side and mounted infantry on the other, They advanced up the hill, and in a few minutes a roar was heard fpm a big hil! about a mile and a- half off. A shell fell between tho New Zealanders and the mounted infantry. A searcl with the glasses showed that many oi the enemy were visible on the big hill. We climbed the nearest kopje-, and found it alive with New Zealand, men. They crouched among the stones, their kharkec uniform blending perfectly with theii cover. The position was held for a considerable time, though within range of the Boer guns. Only an occasional shell was pent towards us, by accident Even these did little harm, failing to explode. 'The Boers had a splendid position, commanding all the lower kopjes. The affair ended without getting" to close quarters. -The British made no advance, and the Boers (appeared content to stay where they were. In conjunction with the New Soutilj Wales Lancers the New Zealanderß were subsequently told off to capture a farmhouse. When they reached tho scene of action they found that*' the • Boers, with a big gun, occupied it in force. The enemy opened fire on them, wounding Captain Cox's horse on the shoulder, anc shooting one of the New Zealand horses through the leg. The force wa • then or dered to draw off, and observe the move ments of the enemy. Meanwhile a bod) of Carabineers, which was next to the farm-house, drew the fire of the Boers ; which killed a sergeant and wounded £ private. S*CARE ON A MAIL STEAMER. AN EXCITING TIME. Captain Durell, of the Norfolk Regi ment, who went to the Cape in the mvi steamer Roslin Castle, in October, wrot< to his father in England as follows :- "We have been having quite a littlt excitement. Before leaving port (Las Palmas) tho Captain of the Niobe (t first-class cruiser in the harbour)' tolc our skipper that there was a Braziliai cruiser there not commissioned by th( Brazilian Government, but on her waj out from the builders, which was sup posed to have been bought by Kiugei or his pals in Europe, and there wen various other mysteries connected witl her, so we were ordered to go out 0;

our course and sail without lights. Cot sequently, after starting in the usu; comse and having dinner as u&ual, a 8.30 every light went out, including sid< lights and masthead light, and we tun eel off at right angles to the origin; course for half an hour and then moi or less back iv the old direction, wil > the result that yesterday we were 10 miles out of the ordinary track. It wu • really very exciting, as nothing definit ' was known, and it was thought quit t possible that cruisers might have bee bought to blow up the transports, a there would have been no question c capture if we had been caught by one as it couldn't have taken us anywhere Kruger's seaports being somewhat limit cd. Of course the Mobe would hay watched the cruiser there if she was th only one, but she might not be, and cci tainly all the ship's officers were ver, anxious about their old tub, and ex pected to see a searchlight playing roun any time. We weren't even supposed t smoke, but that was altered afterward • and we were allowed to smoke on deck 1 but not to strike matches, it was a mos ; difficult proceeding to find one's wa; I about down below, as there was n' I light alloAved anywhere except in th 1 engine-room.. Last night it was worse as it was dark at 6 o'clock ; for dinne ; at 6.30 we were allowed one candle oi 1, each table, all of which were put out be E fore 7.30, and then the rest ot the even [ ing had to be passed as best it couh . be in the dark, sq that nothing but talk r ing and smoking were possible. The cap j tain evidenty thought we might be tor [ pedoed at any moment as all the boat 'i were got ready, for lowering. Both night r they had 150 men under arms, with4ooi rounds of ammunition, sleeping on th . upper deck, They say that we shal ; get no light until we are south of Cap r Verde, which will, I suppose, be anothe [ two night's. There was to have been : > conceit of sorts last night, but it had t< j be put off on account of the light. Sun > day, 29th Oct.— The scare has quite diei away now, as "we are presumably out 0 [ the range of any boats operating fror the Canaries or Cape Verde islands, ani • we are no longer being pursued by th Swiss navy. It was- a great nuisanc , while it lasted, but it certainly added ; l little excitement to the voyage." I «■—_■___» THE BOERS AND THE WHITE j FLAG. Mr. Frederic Mackarness writes to Th t Times as follows : — I feej sure your read ' erg will be interested in the following ex . tract from a Capetown letter just re ceived by' me on a subject which ha natucally caustid deep feeling here— namely, the alleged treacherous use 0 \ the white flag by the Boers : — "A niece of mine, Miss Van der Byl is engaged to be married to Mr. Pai miter in the 'Liverpools,' now shut up ii Ladysmith. She has up to this wee] had letters regularly, and at first he^dii tell her they often used the white fla; as a dodge, etc., etc., 'that it made ther very wild,' and in his last letter, datei 129 th,1 29th, just before the first Ladysmit] ' battle, he tells her he must retract a] ■ he nad said about tho Boers, as he foum ■ what he had referred to had been don 1 by 'the riff-raff of the Boer camp,' am without knowledge of those in command • and he said, 'General Joubert has treat i ed us in the most courteous manner; private letters are constantly cominj from prisoners, some who have been re j leased, an,d one and all say they hay 5 met with nothing but the greatest kind j ness from the Boers." A GUNNER'S ESCAPE FROM NICHOLSON'S NEK. A remarkable disaster to No. 10 Moun tain Battery, whiah with men of th Royal Irish Fusiliers and Gloucester > shire Reg : ment Avas captured by th . Boers at Mcholson's Nek, is told i a letter from Gunner Bigmore to hi [ parents at Newport (Mon.). He state l that the force was led into an ambush and panic followed the charge pf a thou t sand Boer horsemen. Bigmore lay in P sensible till morning, when he was cap tured by Irishmen fighting for the Boer He clubbed one man with his rifle am escaped. He hid all day, crawled throug] \ the Boer lines by night, and eventuall; ' reached the British outposts, runnin by the stirrups of a fugitive Hussar 1 He was without food or water for 3 [ hours. IN A BOMBARDED TOWN. A correspondent at Ladysmith, dc ) scribing the bombardment, says: — Nois of the ' shelling is in itself disconcerting People in town hear the angry grow from a hilltop five miles off when th gun is fired ; $hen comes the whistlin through the air, the loud report as th j shell bursts or the overwhelming eras with which the unburst shells reach th ground. When the place is simultaneous ly shelled frqm different directions, i is almost impossible to obtain protectio — that is, to get into some corner whic. will be sajie from bullet shell. Man; of tho residents adopted precaution ■ against disaster. One gentleman, whos { house is ou th,e Berea, and very exposed 1 strengthened part of the stone wallrouni s his garden by raising and thickening th 5 walls. Into a large packing case, se on end, sat his wife, with, children o' • each side of her. The stone wall offer • ed protection so long as the shells cam ' from one direction, from behind the wall ' but when they began to drop in fron the right side and from the left, the lit ■ tie fort had to be evacuated. On th 1 north side of tho town there is a dee] f excavation, almost cave, the result 0 embryo mining operations, and this wa I taken advantage of by many as a plac ' of refuge. On. the Berea, behind ani ' near our batteries, are several substan tial stone walls, the dividing lines be tween different properties. Whilst th " cannonading has been in progress, thes 5 fences have been generally fringed wit] 1 excited spectators, who spend the da] J bobbing up and down behind the fence J When "Long Tom" fires, these specta • tors cower behind the fence until th' ' shell strikes somewhere near with ter rific force, sending fragments of shel J and pieces of stone hundreds of yards dis 5 tant, and whizzing overhead with a lou< angry, but not unmusical oote. Thi 1 over, there is time to "survey tho land 5 scape o'er" for a brief space until an " other bomb crashes in tueir direction • It is interesting' to observe the instinc ' tjye efforts afc protection a man make 5 when he hears a shell screeching over j heady By the time the noise is heard ' the danger is generally past, but whei 5 tho ominous sound breaks on the ears " men will be seen flattening themselve ' against walls, pushing their heads agains r the sides -,pf a tent, and, most commoi 5 sight of all, holding an ann aloft as i > to protect their foreheads. Few 0 1 the Boer shells burst, and the forco wit! which the whole shells strike and ©nte the ground is appalling. Hard road ways are burst asunder and great ca vities dug in them, and rocky ground i torn up*and" broken. It is no exaggcra tion to say that many of the Ladysmit j people were intensely alarmed, as we! a they might be. When a piece of she! "_ tore a lady's skirt, as it neared th j ground, and whole shells were screamip, around, there was little reason why sh t should not almost despair of escapin, 1 unhurt. Most of the coolie servants j tho moment the shelling began in th 3 morning, disappeared mysteriously to re f turn in> the evening when the guns wer quiet. Some people believed that in l- sido their own houses they would b 3 safe j others held to the opinion tha 1 the open street, or, better still, the hill f top, was preferable.