THE TRANSVAAL WAR.

Evening Star, Issue 11512, 1 April 1901, Page 3

THE TRANSVAAL WAR.

MORE V.C. HEROES.

The latest 'London Gazette' announced that the King had conferred the Victoria Cross upon Lieutenant W. H. S. Nickerson, Royal Army Medical Corps, attached to the Mounted Infantry; Corporal H. Beet, Ist Derbyshire Regiment Mounted infantry; and Captains C. H. Mullins and R. Johnstone, Imperial Light Horse, for conspicuous gallantry in South Africa. At Wakkerstroom on the evening of April 20 Lieutenant Nickersoa went, in the most, gallant manner, under heavy rifle and shell fire, to attend a wounded man, dressed his-wounds and remained with him till he had him conveyed to a place of safety. At Wakkerstroom on April 27, during a retirement. Corporal Beet remained 1 behind with a mounded Imperial Yeoman, and placed him under cover, bound up' his wounds, and by firing prevented the I3oers from coming down till dark, when Dr Wilson, Imperial Yeomanry, came to the wounded man's assistance. Corporal Beet was exposed to fire during the whok afternoon. On October 21, 1899, at Elandslaagte, at a most critical moment, the advance being momentarily checked by a very severe fire at point-blank range, Captains Mullins and Johnstone very, gallantly rushed forward under this heavy fire and rallied the men, thus enabling the flanking to be carried out which decided the day. ' BROTHER MEETS BROTHER. Two officers, new arrivals from different parts up-country, rather lonely and bored, were (says Mr Beimet Bnrleigh) loungingly awaiting luncheon at Cape Town. " Let's sit together," said the elder to the younger. "Thank you; oh, I shall be glad," replied the junior. When they had taken off the keen edge of their veldt appetites and become Solemnly chatty,, after our English military manner, said the senior, in a burst of confidence, over his inspiring whisky-and-soda: "Do you know, I rather like you, and there's something about you seems familiar, as if we had met before. I'm Major S——, of the Blanks." " Hullo, are you? I thought so; and I'm Lieutenant S- ,of 's staff, just joined—your j'oungest brother." There was an unrehearsed scene as the two khaki-clad warriors sprang to their feet .and pounded each other's backs, shook hands, and—figuratively, or as far as our race can—fell upon each other's neck and wept tears of joy. They had not met for years, and tho baby brother had meantime sprouted into a tall youth with an incipient moustache. In a lesser degree, something of the same kind happened to myself not so long ago at Middelburg, when in a young, khaki-clad scout I discovered, one fine morning, my eldest son. GALLANT WESTRALIANS. A smart engagement took place on February 6 between a force of West Australians, Dragoon Guards, and Cape Police and Rruitzinger's commando. The men entrained at Willowmore early in the morning, having previously come "from Graaff Reinet. On reaching the neighborhood of Fcatherstonehaugh's farm, fifteen miles from Klipplaat, and about eight from Ballaspit, they detrained. The force numbered only twentyseven men all told, consisting of twelve Dragoons, twelve Australians, and three Cape Police, under the command of Captain Oliver. They were carrying despatches from Colonel Haig to Colonel Lowe, at Spreeuwfontein. On drawing close to the farm they sighted a small body of Boers. The recognition was mutual, and both forces cast about for the best position for defence. To the rear of the Boers was a fairly high kopje, and on this they fell back, while the British seized two smaller and more exposed kopjes north of the farm. While executing this movement tney were fired into, but no damage was done. It was now close on eleven o'clock. The enemy were soon strongly reinforced, and some hot firing ensued which lasted till sundown. Although the Boers held a superior position overlooking the two smaller kopjes, they could not make any headway, and tried to execute a flanking movement. This manoeuvre was frustrated by the bravery of four Australians who were despatched to prevent it. Finding that, the movement was not likely to succeed, the Boers withdrew from this direction, and began a wide detour, •by which they succeeded in completely surrounding tho gallant little band and gradmlly closing upon them. Hitherto only one man (Trooper Campbell) had been wounded. The fight ra,ged fiercely, and tho rattle of small arms was terrible, but the Boers were afraid to close up, and the excitement therefore lasted the whole afternoon. The amount of ammunition expended was very large. Jnst before sunset a, body of Boers, estimated at 300, opened a terrible fire upon the two kopjes held by the British. It was soon apparent that this outburst was intended to cover a. cavalry movement, for about. 200 men were seen to be. charging the British positions. Owing to the fire to which thev were exposed the gallant little band conld not move to help themselves until the enemy's horsemen were close upon them. But not one thought of surrendering was entertained. Three Dragoons were killed outright, and eventually the men were all overpowered and captured. The Boers, who complimented the men on the stand they had made, repeatedly asked why thev had not surrendered when they found"themselves surrounded, as others had'done. They were told that the men were not of the surrendering order. The Boers admitted five killed, one of whom was shot by Captain Oliver at five yards' distance. The -prisoners, as usual, were stripped of their arms and the little ammunition they had. The Boers retained the latest and most serviceable rifles, and broke, their own, which were inferior. Most of the men. however, had drawn the bolts and thrown them away." After the Boers had marched their prisoners three, miles under escort, Kruitzinger personally ordered their release, telling them to go back to their wounded and not be caught again. The men got away as quickfy as possible. On reaching the farm thev found that Mr Featherstonehaugh had tended the wounded with the greatest care, and taken them indoors. The released men spent tho night on the farm, and in the morning went in bullock waggons to Homewood Siding, whence they entrained for Klipplaat. They took their dead with them, and left the wounded on the farm. The dead were buried at Klipplaat.

THE COLONIAL "HANDY MAN." Colonel Templeton, of Melbourne, has received the following letter from Colonel Kelly, of Abe Victorian Bushmen, dated from Kimberley on January 23:—"Once again my letter must, tell the' name tale—we have been fighting and trekking, and trekking and fighting,, and our record is still unblemished—-some killed, many wounded, but not one man yet taken prisoner; and if in future the Boers do succeed in breaking that record, and taking one of the A.LR. as prisoner, give them every credit, for, from what I know of tie feeling of the officers and men, they Trill deserve it.. You, I have no doubt, read occasioirallv of the capture of British by the Boers under many circumstaaices, and the taking from the prisoners of their horses, arms, and ammunition. I -will tell you a story from another point of view. At 4 p.m. we got orders to saddle up again, after a hard day's work (having started at 2 a.m. that morningl, and moved out at a gallop at half-past 4 p.m. to try and cut off some Boers that we heard were six milts off. After we had gone about four miles a trooper named Searle came up, and reported his horse dead lame, and he was left behind. We chased those Boers" for over twenty miles, and heard nothing of Searle for two days, when he came in. He had handed over'his lame horse to a farmer and had taken a receipt, nod Started off t» work his way through the Boer lines at rrigfttt, carrying Sis saddle and bridle, also his rifle and bandolier, and succeeded. He come in after two days with has equipment complete, and had commandeered two of the Boer ponies in addition. You cannot wonder at the general savins that that is the sort of man he wants to fight in South Africa."

MR KRUGER'S DISAPPOINTMENT. • The ' Pall Mall Magazine' for March contains an interview with Mr Kruger at The Hague. In it Mr Kruger says :—" Will no one arbitrate? Will no one give us the chance of defending ourselves? We may J~~«.Aft«w> wronjjlyj we have our faults, our

weaknesses; we declared war, but our hands were forced. We can prove it! Let someone judge between, this England and ourselves. But the Lord will help us ;in the end we shall win. Be sure of it; we shall win. Ido not know how or when, but it is a certainty wo shall wEV England wanted to monopolise everything, and they have got all our monopolies, but they cannot havo a monopoly of freedom.". As regards his reception in Europe, Mr Kruger confesses.himself as bitterly disappointed. "I care nothing for flowers, nothing! nothing! The people who send them mean well, and I am grateful, but I care nothing for them. What I want is a fair hearing—if they will only give us a fair hearing.. Will no one take up our cause ; will no one help us? Justice! I ask for justice. Wc are a little folk, but we have made great steps—wc have given much." Asked why he came to Europe, Mr Kniger replied:—" I conld not go with the commandoes as can President Steyn, because lam too oW. I may be of some use here." With regard to Mrs'KrUgfer, he said:—"l am sorry for her, too ; I h*vc deep sorrow for her, but I have far more sorrow for. ' die Land.' My wife has her children—six are still with her; thev have left her in her own home. Two of my sons are dead ; they died on the battlefield; two are prisoners. >one in Ceylon. I believe that two more are dead also, for I have not heard from them for nearly two months, and I know they are in the thick of the fight. But thirty-one sons and grandsons are on the field yet."

VIEWS OF BOER WOMEN. A despatch from Taungs states that Lord Methuen's column has been scouring the country in all directions between Kurumau and the Transvaal border. Stock has been captured, and -farms have been cleared on several occasions. Our men came in touoh with the enemy, and an engagement took place it Uitvals Kop. The Boers held a good position controlling the water, but the Bushmen, after shelling them, rushed the position -with great dash, losing one killed and five wounded, and killing six Boers. Tho remainder of the enemy escaped, leaving their women and children and twenty-five waggons in our hands. On another occasion the Boers sent off their waggons in charge of women and girls, while the men went in amrther direction. The women proved to be expert drivers, and refused to stop when ordered, and our men had some difficulty in bringing the convoy to a standstill. Fifty women, a hundred children, and a few men have been taken from farms and sent to Vryburg, where houses have been commandeered for them, and they are comfortably situated. Some of th'e womeu express their views -on the war with great freedom. They state that the Boers are bound to win, and absolutely refuse to believe that the British have taken Pretoria, though they have been officialry informed of that event by the Boers. In nearly every the people objected to being removed, and made S great outcry. They refused to give any information, and professed to be starving. At one house, where the family professed to be hi the last extremity of want, fifteen bags of newly-ground meal were discovered. In another "house six bags of corn were found. Most of the fighting in Lord Methuen's column has fallen on the Bushmen, who have won golden opinions.

GENERAL BULLER ON THE ARMY. General Sir Redvers Buller, in a memorandum published at Aldershot, says: "Speaking generally, oar army lacks initiative and independence of action on ILe part of subordinate commanders, and independent and intelligent aetion on the part of the rank and file. Drfll is the means of an end; it is intended to teach men the principles on which they should move, and to inculcate the habits which must govern those movements. In field practice drill ceases, and commanding officers most accustom themselves to allow more independence of action to those under their command, and educate all ranks to act more on their own initiative." Speaking of the British artillery, Sir Redvers states that the men show perfect steadiness under fire, but that too much- of the drill js brought into the field, and instances occurred in South Africa in which the a,ction of batteries was paralysed by waiting for orders from their brigade division commander. Important' targets were so often presented for so short, a . time that unless, commanders of single guns were encouraged to a«t on their own initiative very favorable opportunities to act. would often be missed. The main lesson learned from infantry in South Africa appears to be that they could successfully attack almost any position, provided the attention of its defenders was diverted by fire from another point. Sir Redvers also alludes to the importance of independent initiative of staff officers.

The cruelties practised by the Boers during their oceupa.tion at Oafviiiia will, it is hilieved, have a good effect on the Dutch population of the Colony, who have thus mado practical acquaintance with Boer Government. Besides Esau, the black who was flogged and murdered, twenty other "boys" were flogged. They had taken part in a procession in honor of the relief of Mafeking. —Reuter.

Major-general Sir liindon Blood, K.C.8.. has, with Major-general Elliott, received orders to proceed from India to South Africa for service. Sir Bindon Blood is one of the most, experienced officers of the Indian Army. He served in the Afghan War of 1879-80, in Egypt (where he distinguished himself at Tcl-01-Kebir), and on the northwest frontier of India. He is best known, however, for his services in the frontier campaign of 1897-98, when he commanded the Malakand field force against the Afridis. General Edward I'Hliott entered the Royal Artillery in 1857, and became major-general in April, 1895.