THE NEW ZEALANDERS AT BOTHASBERG. A LETTER FROM ONE OF THE SEVENTH.

Evening Post, Volume LXIII, Issue 86, 11 April 1902, Page 6

THE NEW ZEALANDERS AT BOTHASBERG. A LETTER FROM ONE OF THE SEVENTH.

Sergl. Charles Minitie, of Temuka, concludes an account of the Bothasberg engagement as follows: — "In the morning 1 found that out of tho nincty-tAvo men of the left tvjng of the Seventh, on Avhom the attack fell, only tAvonty-four Avero not hit ; tAventythreo Avere killed, and forty-five Avounded. I Aras told by those Avho saAv tho sceuo of the light in the morning that it Avas a fearful sight. Dead New Zeulandcrs, Boers, and horses lay all over the place, and empty cartridge cases Avcre there in hundreds. Wo shot seventy of their horses. Fifteen dead Boers and six wounded lay on the ground and thirty-u'vo more dead Boers were found in a stone kraal near by. "The enemy's casualties Av^re sixty killed and ninety Abounded ; and several Avagons and carls, 12,000 cat lie, and hundreds of horses Aveve captured next day. You Avill be as pleased as myself to hear that I have been recommended for tho Distinguished Service Medal for the part I took in tho affair. "Colonels Garratl White and Porter wero greatly cut up over our los«en. When they ueared the scene of tho light in the morning Colonel White exclaimed "By God, they are all men !" When Colonel Porter returned to camp he lay on his bed and Avept. Colonel Garratt and Colonol White are erecting monuments at their own expense o\cr ihe graves of the fallen. Lord Kitchener' called a special parade of tho Seventh and spoke about ILo gallant stand they made, and among other things said they were a credit^ to tho British, and he. was glad in a way that lhe Boer attack had fallen on them. We shall be out of Africa before the 10th of May."