The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, NOVEMBER 18, 1901.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 265, 18 November 1901, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, NOVEMBER 18, 1901.

CAVALRY WANTED. The Times cablegrams to-day indieato that there is a dearth of good mounted men in South Africa. Sir Rupert Clarke has cabled to the Government of Victoria, asking if a large body of mounted men can be sent, and the Imperial Government’s terms are stated. Notwithstanding all the protestations to the contrary, it is evident that more mounted men are required. «In the light of a iconic ” j s the heading given to .an article by a Capetown correspondent, Tho war in Cape Colony is going on in a most leisurely manner. We hear of a capture now and again, ]}ke that of Commandant Lotter or VanderlT e r\ve, but these are extremely rare occurrences, They serve to revive for a day or two the drooping spirits of loyal colonists, next day affairs work along the same ”hl groove. To read tho telegrams wu'°k military permit to be published'in Capetown, one might almost suppose tiCt the Boors were tlying about tho CololTW dodging in the mountain passes, and jumping rivers with British columns in fun cry at their heels. They do nothing oi the sort. There is no “fly” in the matter at all. Tho presont stage of the campaign in tho nape Colony is, the writer states, a very matter-of-fact affair. A Government official who was arrested a month or two ago by Commandant Scheepers has related his experiences of the progress of affairs during the seventeen days that he was kept a prisoner by that commandant. This official declares that the Boers rogard the campaign mucli in tho fight of a picnic. Commandant Scheepers, for a certainty, does not travel more than from three to four hours por day. During the time that tho official was with the commando he was compelled to walk as a prisoner, and ho never fonnd the slightest difficulty in keeping up with tlie mounted men. The Boers walk about the country gathering food and recruits as they proceed, but as for anything in the shape of “ pursuit,” as the ordinary person understands the term, why there is nono. Colonels Scobeil and Crabbe certainly did good work in capturing their- commandos, but what of all the other colonels who are wandering about tho country ? Tho proposal is being again made that the imperial milfitary authorities should return to the Colonial Government the Cape Mounted Rifles, the Cape Mounted Police, and other colonial forces serving in various parts of South Africa, and leave the settlement of the trouble in the Colony to the Colonial Government. Competent authorities declare that, given 5000 mounted men under colonial command, the clearing of the Colony need not take long or involve much trouble. Of course the colonials have a big conceit of themselves, but the past experience shows that the Boers are not to be caught by slow-going infantry, and tho appeal from Sir Rupert Clarke is an evidence that tho truth is forcing itself upon the war authorities.