MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

Evening Post, Volume LX, Issue 74, 25 September 1900, Page 5

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

COLONIAL DOCTORS ON HOSPITAL ARRANGEMENTS. LONDON, 24th September. Sir Thomas FitzGerald, of Melbourne, who accompanied some of the Australian troops as consulting surgeon, haa furnished his" testimony to the Hospital Commission. He declares that the Natal hospitals were splendidly managed. Dr. Hogan, a missionary medical man, fomneriy qi Melbourne, testified 1 that tho hospital arrangements on the troopship Sumatra were comforLless, but on the Spartan and Nubia they were practically perfect. (Received September 25, 9 a.m.) MELBOURNE, This Day. w ith reference to the testimony ot Sir Thomas Fitzgerald before the Hospital Commission, the doctor has, through the Government, sent to the Imperial Government a reporb on the Natal field hospitals. THE PATRIOTIC FUNDS. TIMARU, 24th September. At a meeting of the Patriotic Fund Committee to-day it was reported that £1659 had been received. Of this £150was sent to the Lord Mayor's Fund, £47 to the Daily Mail, -£737 to the More Men Fund, and £10 -for nurses. The committee decided to place £650 of the balance on fixed deposit for twelve months. LORD ROBERTS AND BOER OATHBREAKERS. In tho middle of August Lord Roberta issued at Pretoria a new proclamation aa to the treatment of oath-breaking Boers, as follows: — Whereas many burghers have broken the oath of neutrality, and aided and abetted tho enemy in the Transvaal, the Government considers that the oath has been immorally used. The proclamation warning the burghers not to subscribe to the oath unless they were sincere, and the leniency extended to the burghers, were unappreciated and used aa a cloak to continue resistance, and as there are no means of distinguishing combatants and non-combatants, the lormer proclamation is revoked. All persons who have taken the oath and broken it aro liable to punishment bj r death, imprisonmont, or fine. All the burghers in districts occupied by British forces, oxcopt those who have taken the oath, will be regarded as prisoners of war and will be transported. All buildings, structures, and farms whero the enemy's scouts aro harboured aro liable to be razed to the ground. All fines inflicted under the previous proclamation will bo rigorously exacted. Persons are warned to acquaint the forces of the presence of the enemy on farms, otherwise they would be regarded aa aiding and abetting tlie enemy. THE FIELD-MARSHAL'S HEALTH. Sinister reports were current in England a few weeks ago as to the health of Lord Roberts. It was stated that the Field-Marshal had been confined to hia bed for ten days, incapacitated, owing to the effects of an operation, rendered necessary by his taking long rides. All this (says Reuters correspondent at Pretoria) is absolutely unfounded. Lord Roberts lias not been confined to his bed one wholo day since hi« arrival in South Africa ; ho has never undergone an operation in his life, and is in perfect health and' vigour. vol. hard at work, he is da\ly seen in the saddle. Cape papers just to i hand contain Lord Roberts's despatch to the High Commissioner with reference to the engagement at Buffelshook, in the Ottoshoop district, east of Mafeking, on loth August, in which Caplain Harvey and Trooper to'Dougall, both of the Fifth New Zealand Contingent, met lUolr death. The Fiold-Mp.rshal states tUat th« enemy were driven from a stiong position, and that the New Zealanders particularly distinguished themselves.