THE BUSHMEN'S CONTINGENT.

Evening Post, Volume LIX, Issue 11, 13 January 1900, Page 2

THE BUSHMEN'S CONTINGENT.

From the moment the project of sending to South Africa a force of bushmen — good riders and crack shots — was mooted in tho New South Wales Parliament, it baa. received steadily-increasing favour not only in that colony, but all over Australia. The course of the war has proved the marked advantage possossed by the Boera through their superior mobility, and it is generally felt throughout Australasia that Australian Tbushmen are eminently qualified to meet the Boers with their own weapons and beat them on their own ground. Early in the movement which is now meeting with such well-deserved success, the Sydney Morning Herald strongly advocated the bushman' s claims to represent his country on the Imperial battlefields of South Africa. "There is a hardiness about the type of Australian bushman, a contempt for the ordinary comforts of life and luxuries of civilisation, a self-reliance and sturdy dependence on self, all of which mark him out as singularly well qualified to meet tho Boei soldier on bis own conditions and >on hi* own ground. The Australian bushmar live^f in the saddle, and may be said to be part of the animal on which- he rides. By the very nature of his life he is trained to such habits of observation as would prove "invaluable in a scout or a campaigner in rough country. With an astonishingly slender stock of absolute necessaries he can support life and keep up a capacity for sustained exertion which would break down the most willing regular troops in the world. Fortified by the feeling that he is. fighting shoulder to shoulder with the regular forces of the Empire, and that his own work is special of its kind 1 ; he might be relied upon to achieve all that is expected of him." Australians in London took up the idea with enthusiasm, even before it became general in Australia itself. The Agent-Ueneral of New South Wales was in communication upon the subject with the Premier of New South Wales, the Imperial authorities supported the proposals, and in tbe result the Contingent is now rapidly assuming shape, while the funds to pay its expenses are being subscribed readily. The volunteers who have come forward are said to be men of good stamp, such as station overseers, drovers, BtocKmen, and other trained bushmen, while' all of them can handle either the Winchester repeater or some sporting rifle. A general committee was formed in Sydney at the beginning of tne year, and great enthusiasm was exhibited at its first meeting on the 4th inst. The chair was taken by Mr. J. R. Carey, of Milson's Point, and among those present were such representative men as Mr. E. Barton, Q.C., M.L.A., the Jion. Di. M.L.C., the Hon. H. E. Kater, M.L.C., Hon. E. Vickery, M.L.C., Messrs. F. B. Suttor, M.L.A., J. N. Brunker, M.L.A., T. T. Ewing, M.L.A., Geoffrey E. Fairfax, and Colonel Qoodlet.

s The Chairman explained the origin and [j growth of the movement, and read a list I of donations, among which figured such c handsome gifts as A Eivorina fsquatler, - £5000 ; A well-known (Sydney Merchant, i ,£3000; Walter It. Hall, Potts Point, I £5000 (more if required) ; .Edward Kater (iU-umblebone) , one horse and man, jand , £100; Miss Edith Walker, Uralla, b £1000 ; John Fairfax and Sons, , Sydney - Morning Herald, £1000; Daily Tclcf graph, £250 ; P. /H./ H. Osborne, Curranv doolcy, £1000. Besides these were many s subscriptions of £50 and less. Mr. F. B. Suttor, M.L.A., in moving - the first resolution — "It is desirable 3 that a mounted contingent of Australian > bushmen— good riders and good shots — ii should Jt>e sent to South Africa to assist I tho British forces in duties for which b thd Australian bushman is peculiarly , adapted " — said there were, he was - assured, plenty of splendid young fel- . lows in the bush willing to volunteer - for this object, and therefore ifc was well b that the financial encouragements to be b extended to them should be seen to, so £ as to induce them to come forward to - *hare in the dangers of their counfcryr men. In many districts of this colony > there were found country and climate I practically identical with the conditions b met with in South Africa, and consei quently there were a great many men ■ living here who were capable of dodng • eminently good service on the other side i of the water if they were given an opi porfcunity of going there. Unfortunate- • ly, one of the difficulties experienced in ' South Africa was with regard to tho • commissariat transport. Ono thing the i proposed contingent would prove was > that they could fight on similar terms • to the Boers, and also carry their own > commissariat equipment for as much as > a week at a stretch, and they would not complain that they did not receive such i luxuries as butter and milk. Anyone who > had watched the history of the war • could not help seeing that the work, that » was most required to be done by Brit- > ish troops in South Africa at the pre- ; sent time was exactly of the character i that this proposed contingent- was capable of doing. Other speakers followed I in a similar strain, and Mr. Barton, who < characteristically struck in his opening L sentences a Federal note, 'proceeded to • say that Major-General French a forti night ago had reported that the conditions of warfare in South Africa were > suoh that only by extreme mobility he > had been able to meet the i'oeis with » tactics similar to their own, and that • was certainly a quality' which tne pro- - posed contingent would possess eminently. As things jstood now in South Africa, Kimbeiiey had yet to be reliev- > ed, and it was also to be seen that the i British forces at Kimberley were fighting I just as well as they were at Mafeking ; • and while Colonel Baden-Powell and his • troops were entitled to a large measure of praise, so also was Colonel Kekewich and the officers and men with him at Kimberley. Such a contingent as that , proposed .added to Lord Methuen's force would, he believed, prove invaluable, for, taking with them a week's supplies, he believed they could march westward and pour down upon the enemy in a manner as unexpected as it would be effective, and they were just the boys to da it, <and in so doing seek an honour- , able death ,or a glorious victory. The movement has spread into Victoria and Queensland, and there is every prospect of a considerable force of these valuable "irregulars" being raised to fight against the Boer "irregulars."