The Transvaal WAR.

Evening Star, Issue 11725, 7 April 1902, Page 6

The Transvaal WAR.

THE FIGHT WITH DE LA HEY.

HBAVT BRITISH CASUALTIES.

Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright.

LONDON, April 5.

General Walter Kitcheners fight took place on the 31ut of March, towards the Hart's River, at Roschbult, a few miles south of where Lord Mcthuen's defeat took place. The casualty lists show that three officers and twenty-four men were killed and sixteen officers and 131 men wounded, including Captain H. E. Hurst, of the Australian Mounted Rifles, attached to the Royal Horse Artillery, severely. The Canadian Rifles' casualties numbered fifty-three.

The Boers, it is reported, admit that they lost 137 in killed and wounded. Lieutenant Bruce Carrot hers, once an Australian officer, commanded tlie Canadians. RETURNING TROOPERS. LONDON, February 6. (Received April 7, at 9.20 a.m!) The transport Custodian has left Natal for Albany, conveying twenty-three officers and 460 men of the Fifth Victorian Mounted''. THE NINTH CONTINGENT. AIBWV. Ann! 7. (Received April 7, at 10.35 a.m.) The. Devon has arrived. THE PREMIER AND THE MAORIS. [SrwJiAL to the Star.]

WELLINGTON, April 7. The. ' New Zealand Time' editorially regrets the Premier's speech to the Maoris at Papawai. It is afraid it will create ;>n impression of a desire on the part of tbc Government to send Maoris to have a run through South Africa, fight in their own way, and spare no foe. Everyone,it says, with any knowledge of the subject will agree that it would be an act of suicidal folly to send Maori soldiers to fight the Boers. There is no serious intention to send them, even if the Imperial Government were to accept their services; but England's Continental enemies will be swift to quote the proceedings at Papawai as evidence that Groat Britain is in extremis, and is preparing to despatch colored troops to engage in semi-barbarous warfare against the Botrs. Even in the interests of future Maori soldiers themselves it, would be mistaken policy to lead them to believe that they arc at present fit to take the field in South Africa.

MORE MURDERS OF NATIVES BY BOERS.

Lord Kitchener has sent from Johannesburg, under date January 10, a despatch giving a further batch of cases showing the ill-treatment, of natives by Boer commanders in the field. The following are examples of the sixty-six cases from eight districts :

J. F. Oberholzer, who served at the siege of Mafekiug as a burgher in the Marico commando, states that in January, 1900, virile on duty at M'MuHin's Farm, he saw two men, S. Drake and T. Judul, riding past his camp driving a Kaffir on foot, whom they had caught trying to leave Jlafeking. They disappeared over a slight rise, and soon after he heard shots. The men returned almost immediately, and as they passed told him they had shot the Kaffir. Next day he rode up and saw the dead body. In January, ISOO, H. J. T. Venter, then on iictive service with the Transvaal forces before Mafeking, while in charge of a patrol between Rooigrond and Maieking, came upon two Kaffirs going in the direction of the town. He took them to the laager at M'Mullin's Farm, and lianded them over to General Snyman in person, who abused him for having brought them in alive. Later on in the day Snyman again sent for Venter and his field-cornet. A. Oberholzer, find again abused them for not carrying out his orders, and soon after the two Kaffirs were taken out of the laager and shot by the general's own son, Jurie Snyman. A month liter Venter was again out on patrol, when thev met two natives in search of food. These two were at once shot on the spot. He states on oath that Oeneral Snyman issued orders that any burgher bringing a native prisoner to the laager would bo. forced to slioot him with bis°own hand before the other burghers. On June 21, 1901, a party of six armed Boers came to Modderkuil, ten miles south of Bosbof, from the direction of Koppiesfontein, and shot down five unarmed natives who were herding sheep, killing four. Towards the end of September, 1901, three small Kaffir children were found by our scouts walking about the veldt near Boshof. They stated that their parents had been in the service of one Jan Buiten<iag, but that their father had been sent away to herd sheep, the mother and children meanwhile trekking about with Buitendag and his wife. Owing to the approach of English troops the party hid in the bush, and on the departure of the patrol started off again. The Kaffir woman said she could go no further, and Buitendag was going to leave her behind when his wife objected, saying that if he did so the woman would tell the English where they were, and therefore, if she would not come, she must be shot. Buitendag then shot the woman where she was sitting and drove off, telling, the children to follow the track of the cart, which, however, they lost during the night On November 19, 1901, three natives employed with the troops near Platrand were "captured by the enemy. The dead bodies were subsequently found. One of the bodies showed that the native had been cruelly tortured and mutilated by fire.

A "COMMERCIAL" WAR

Wo all know (remarks a Home paper, with a touch of sarcasm) about the war being a financiers' war, and the Berlin •Altdeutsche Blatter' lately alluded to the notorious fact that a distinguished Englishman had refused to shake hands with General Baden-Powell, on the ground that he a "thief." having cleared £42,000 out of the siege of Mafeking by the manipulation of private contracts! Now an equally trustworthy authority from Breslau exposes another scandal. General B. (respect for the feelings of Englishmen has doubtless prompted delicacy about disclosing his real name) who was to command the South African Constabulary,, is proved to have been selling dynamite ■to the Boers, and has justly been dismissed the Service! There is an insinuation —made more in sorrow than in anger—that Mr Chamberlain has also been (supplying them with cartridges. Every cartridge manufactured by Kynochs is a cartridge sold to the Boers, in short.

THE ARMY'S RECORD IN NATAL. Mr Evans, the chairman of the Natal Invasion Losses Commission, publishes a statement (says the Durban correspondent cf the 'Standard') to the effect that since December, 1899. the Commission have been continuously taking sworn evidence regarding losses from'claimant* and witnesses of aH classes —Dutch, English, native, and Indian. In order to arrive at a decision it lias been necessary to investigate minubely tlie movements and actions of the claimants emce the ontbreak of the war. The Commissioners have also travelled m the wake of the army by railway and along by-roads in remote districts. During the whole inquiry NOT A BIHOI.R CASK OF PERSONAL vioumtce to a non-oombatant by a man wealing th e British uniform has been brought to the notice of the Commission, by any witnesses, although they ftramnvd

eirlv 9;000, representing all races and claesca. LUNACY AND THE WAR. In the 'Journal of Mental Science * for January, 1902, there is a review of the 43rd annual report of the General Board of Commissioners in Lunacy for Scotland, from which we take the following, apropos of a diminution in the percentage of lunacy for the years 1899 and 1900: "Life is defined an 'the continuous adjustment of internal relations to external relations.' Something in the nature of an alteration of the external relations must have occurred to bring about this modification of the internal relations so noticeable ift the mental life of the nation, and the question if? What ? It must have been something which has affected not one division of the Kingdom alone, but all the three in greater or less degree, for the modification i.» not confined to any one of the three. The past two years have been years of prosperity, and there has been no outstanding domestic-political event. • Since the latter part of 1899 that which has undoubtedly been occupying public though* more almost than anything else has been the war which the Empire has been waging against its common enemies of the Trans•\aal and the Orange liiver Colony. This, and this alone, constitutes the one outstanding feature of the past year, and there can be little doubt that it is this, and this aione, that is responsible for the eiiangc which is so noticeable in these reports of ihe nation's mind. This same influence of war upon the prevalence of insanity was noticed in the American War of 1861, and in France in 1870, but no opportunity for j*s illuatrarion has transpired in Britain until the present occasion. The present outbreak of hostilities is seemingly proving beneficial to the British race, exerting, as it does, a tonic and bracing effect upon the n-cntal constitution, an effect which Rhows itself in the improved returns of lunacy of the country. And, further, it is not only jn this direction that the good effect shows itself. It lias been shown by llurckheim that one of the effects of war is a diminution in the number of suicides, and this is found to be true of England on the present occasion. The outbreak of hostilities occurred on October 11, 1899, and its effect was such as to color the returns for thewhole of that year. The number of suicides was 70 less than that for the preceding year— a reduction of 2.4 per cent The known attempts to commit suicide in December of 1899 show also a falling off of 2.5 per cent, as compared with the same month of 1898. In the same way there is a falling off in the number of all serious offences known to be committed in that same month, amounting to 3.4 per cent, crmpared with the preceding year. In Ireland there was a decrease of 8.5 per cent, rn serious crimes in 1899, and of 7.9 in suicides in 1900; but in Scotland there was iiu increase of crime so great as to make 1899 a record year, though we doubt that this will be found to apply to the last month of the year, ana: here also suicide decreased to the extent of 6.4 per cent. It might also be said that the same effect is noticeable even in such a comparatively Riuall matter as the occurrence of general paralysis of the insane. In England the pircentage proportion to admissions, which for the two quinquenniads ended in 1898 and 1P.99 was respectively 7.9 and 7.6, fell in the year 1899 to 6.4. In Scotland, while the total deaths in establishments increased U> 29 per cent., in ISOO the deaths from general jwra'.ysis decreased to 30 per cent.; ard in Ireland the general paralytics, who constituted Ll9 per cent, of the admissions c r 1898, decreased in the two years 16991900 to 1.10.

"Such, in general terms, have been some of the results of the growth of the spirit ol patriotism and militancy which have been such striking features in the country since war was declared. Whatever interpretation is attached to these facts, it is just as well that they should be noticed, and that it would be a good thing if our ( (mtinental friends were made cognizant of them, s for very garbled statements on #hi-s as on other matters, are not unknown, even in scientific Continental periodicals, one of these in all gravity publishing an extract from a well-known lay journal to the effect tiiat the number of insane people in London Lad increased in 1900 from 16,353 to 21,369, and that Dr Gave Shaw attributed this increase to the influence of the Transvaal War. Whatever the explanation of the improved conditions of affairs, Scotland is to be congratulated no less than the other two divisions of the Kingdom. This effect of the war is unlikely, however, to prove other than temporary, kit if it is productive of even a temporary steadying of the mental an-i moral fibre of the nation, it will not have been in vain."

LKSSOKS OF THE WAR. Speaking on the war at the Royal United Service Institution on January 29, Colonel Sir Howard Vincent said ]A>rd Kitchener's work was greatly increased by the parliamentary and administrative system at Home, and exaggerated statements by public men and in the Press, leading to niutih personal trouble. Of the 65,000 men the Boers had to start with, there were some 10,000 still in the field, under Botha, Be La Rey, and De Wet—all, strange to say, anfci-wa.r and anti-Kniger men. Contrary to general opinion, the Boers and their horsed were in very good condition, and there was no evidence to show they were short of food or ammunition. There were 4,000 blockhouses, requiring an average of ten men eaeh, and 1,000 additional are being constructed. They consist, as a rule, of sheets of curved corrugated iron, supporting 24in of rammed stone ballast, and inside there is •a cistern of water, with reserve rations for a week. Each blockhouse costs from £SO ■up to £2OO if of masonry, the average working out at about £7O. The garrison is supplemented by two dogs, which were not only a useful adjunct to the sentry, but invaluable in many districts in adding, under the direction of native scouts, to the larder. The lecturer said that the -jurisdiction of the forty generals now iu South Africa overlapped, and it was not unusual to hear something like this: " What general are you under, colonel?" "My dear fellow, Ihave not the. slightest idea. When T am still 1 am under General A, when I begin to move I come under General B, and 1 march into the domain of General C, while General I) comes to inspect me, and, while reducing my convoy, swells the bagsage5 age column with waggons galore for a few ays, so 1 suppose he has something to do with me. But 1 have kept straight with all the seventeen generals the column has come under in two months by making re ports in triplicate and sending one to each, besides which I am sometimes stimulated by a cipher message from Pretoria to the effect: ' Chief wants to know what you iire doing, and what captures. Has not heard for last few days. Requires greatest energy and activity.' So, you see, 1 am thoroughly well looked after." Speaking of the war correspondents, Sir Howard said the Army had no complaint against them, but there were journalist* who sat at home, and, for the sake of a telling headline or passing sensation, stabbed their countrymen who were fighting for the Envpirg. "The gentlemen of England who live at home at ease " complained as they gathered round a well-laden table that the war would never be over until our men went out simply in what they stood in or could carry on their horses. But it was iorgottten that the country was barren. Of the incident of " the piano or harmonium " a great deal too much had becen made. It was merely a chance capture from a deserted house, put upon an empty buck-waggon going back for supplies, as a present to a Dutch church, but imprudently played one evening in the hearing of a general. Constant supervision over the growth of baggage was certainly necessary, but the inspecting officers sometimes forgot that example is worth more than precept. No one had "stuck it out," to use the South African expression, like Lord Methuen, who tramped along on foot at the head of his column, practising what he preached.

A Wellington telegram says:—A Board consisting of Miss M'Lean (principal of Wellington Girls' High School) and Messrs Hogoen, Kirk, and Pope has been set up to examine those applicants for teachershipa in the Boer concentration camps who are considered*most qualified for the positions. The Board began their sittings at Wellington on Saturday morning. The final selection of the twenty teachers required will be made this week.