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Evening Post, Volume LX, Issue 104, 30 October 1900, Page 5

LETTER FROM SERGEANT BEZAR.

Sergeant F. W. Bezar, of. the Fifth Contingent', writing from Ottoshoop, between, the. 4th. and 17th September, says — Still here-, as you see. Matters do. not J vary much. There is generally some, event j going on- of a» little interest. Just now, j part of our convoy is bailed up about j seven miles off on the Mafeking-road, and : a pretty brisk fire is going on, but as the | pom-poms are speaking out, it cannot last j long. . . Been out to a' kopje this morning and routed 1 about 150 Boers. They killed one of our men, also Wo horses and six mules. Lots of farm houses being destroyed to punish the owners for their treachery. What do you tnink of the great land grant scheme — 3000 acres in Rhodesia at j a yearly rent of 10s for th'o blocks. Looks j tempting, eh? At the end of five years j the holder can buy. at 9d per acre, or he can keep on renting at £5 per annum. The British South Africa' Company a.cree to stock it with 50 head of. cattle, etc., and at any time the holder can give it up on handing over 50 cattle. Each holder will also receive J325 a year-;, for this they are liable to be called out, and when so. called' to>receive 5s a,, day. This offer, I may, say, is not eagerly, jumped at, for I believe 99 out of every' 100 are only too anxious to geti back "to.- dear Ne,w Zealand. Gob a new pair of bootei tor day, and as they must/ remain on, myunderstanders feel* them much. The • tornado we had recently was. a thoroughgenuine thing: They say there w-as: a. fairly good one in 1870, but not to be' compared -with the "khaki-" article. Some of our men, who we- thought had been sent home; turned up to-day from Mafe Iking, having .walked 1 in. Four- Boers bailed' up the transport to-day, but 1 as' a few of our men were looming in sight they decamped. Just heard that Kntger has taken a single ticket, for -Europe — that would j make it appear that he is not going to hurry back; also that Generals Buller and Clements had been doing some good j work. Eleven of our men fell the other day. I was talking to one of them' just I now. A Mauser hit him just behind the ear, and passed out at 1 the back of his head. He was taken to hospital on Sunday, put on biscuit and bully beef on Monday. One who can do th&t is not going to pass out easily. Had a good da- yesterday. No shots ; but we got eight prisoners, and 1 drove a- Boer convoy slap-bang into Methuen's arms, and,' he gripped them tightly, too, you bet; I got a nasty spill— my horse dropped dead j after a four miles gallon. We expect to ; leave, here on Wednesday, with. Lord.! Methuen, towards iieerust, and. may" go oiitp Joh'annestfurg, I jam in hopefthat tins nfcxt 'move will', be. oourx r final, one. from, here. Eater.— nQbt* back' here again , at' mid? ! night. Was* 21 hours in the r saddle, with only/ two, fjvfc biscuits, for, packing- gur-, poses, but on, return conamanjoleered '. &-J go.od , glatej of pprridge,, whioh tightened my belt comfortably. Last night was thefirst time,; It ha.d lain down minus, hoots for somejtime,. and: my feet. were, so cold tb,at-.li had.} to- put them on, again-rr-uso, yqu' see* MetKuen'si lyddite, shells-, are giving, the*. enemy fits. this* morning*— been, booming, away since, daylight/ We sfcajl hear, resujt in evendn-gj- We are* to -move in. very* light, oides-in-the morning. What an enormous quantity of- grain and- hay* is coming in-r-iniles* and miles of- ox< waggons loa.ded pourings in- day and night. There is no fuel here, only dry manure' j to boil the pots. Here we- are again, as the clown says, i Had" a go-in yesterday. Seventy-five shells i from each gun, and a good few qf' the | enemy here accounted for. We were, at it from 12 to 6 p.m. There were several casualties. Poor Captain Hubbe fell shot through the heart. As he v was struck he put his- hanfl to 'his breast and said "I've got it," then fell from his -horse. We were all very sorry, for he was a splendid fellow, so chatty — he commanded our escort. Very hot now, and even writing is hard WOl'ii. Later, 7 p.m. — Had a lie down, and woke up vomiting— bully beef, I think. Orders to • saddle up at 3.30 a.m. A swarm of locusts passed along to-day, and totally shut out the sun. ' The,re, ig ( a, rumour that we go back to Rhodesia, but it is not wise to pay much heed to, rumours, nor to heljeve more than about half of what you, see. x am SQrry to s.ay. that rheumatism is getting rather too plentiful, through this constantly lying out ; then for long spells one cannot even air a blanket. Mosquitos are, not sdarce, nor are the odours 'from dead animals, There are now about six, dozen dead, ones within a, quarter of a, mile, and t on, the, weather quarter, too!, ' i That a few real whopping lies will find their . way into New Zealand papers is only natural where, there are so-many looking for a Y.O. One man has stated that had we known what Wsa£ before, us there would have been no. Fifth Contingent, Now, any, one knows thatfs a, big one, because, the very novelty of- the I thing would have arawn well. We have, of course, nearly got our fill of it, and are eager to return, when, we are, no longer required, but % will not admit that there is among the whole force half a dozen who are really sorry they came. A DISTRESSING/ INCIDENT. In a, letter to the. Rochdale Observer, Trooper Harvey Rige, «, member- of the Duke of Lancaster's Own. Yeomanry, thus describes an incident which occurred- during the advance of Sir Charles Warren's column through Griqualand, West;— A Dutch girl, about 20 years old, was leaving her house a short distance from where a picquet was posted. In the pitch dark night,, amid the raia and thunder and lightning, the, sentry could just discern some human form. Imme r diately he challenged, "Halt! who goes there?" But the girl was scared and ran away. Twice after this in quick succession came the challenges, but the girl ran on. The only result that could follow was for the sentry to level his rifle, and fire. 'He did so, and most unfortunately brougiht down his victim. The poor girl fell to his bullet, being shot through the abdomen. Of course the darkness of the night and the awful Aveather contributed largely to the accident!, because if the sentry could have seen that ib was a woman I don't think he would have fired. This happened on Saturday, the night we arrived, and on Monday afternoon Sir Charles Warren ordered all troops to attend the funeral. It was a most impressive sight to see hundreds of soldiers with- heads bent and arms reversed showing their sorrow for the victim of this most unfortunate accident. Sir Charles Warren, who was accompanied by the whole of his stuff, expressed his sorrow to the bereaved parents at the graveside (the grave was dug in the grounds attached to the farmhouse), hardly a man in the whole assembly but what was touched to the quick.