THE SEDDON-TAYLOR SLANDER CASE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 8145, 17 December 1904, Page 3

THE SEDDON-TAYLOR SLANDER CASE.

FOURTH DAY/. [PRXBB ASSOCIATION.] J CHRISTCHURCH, De*. 16. Richard John Spotawood Seddon, the r plaintiff, next went* into the box. ; He i Haid he had had a good deal of military i experience before going to South Africa. He wai appointed to a captaincy in the , Seventh Contingent, and had seen- a good ! deal of active service in South Africa, and had been mentioned in despatches by Lord Roberts, and was recommended for the D.S.O. by the officer commanding the ' company in August, 1901. On the day » preceding the Blessbok affair he was 1 engaged with the Boers, and Colonel : White complimented him on the day* 1 work. He was consequently sent' out next > day. Witness was told to go out with 1 a party to support the scouts, and was ' placed in charge of the whole. He was not* ordered to reconnoitre a certain posii tion. He was not engaged in searching i for the enemy, and was not sent out M> I fight. He gave Dillon no orders whatever • at that tune, and had no reason to con- . dude that Dillon had advanced to search . for the enemy. Witness detailed the movements leading up to the time when 1 he received a message from Dillon saying the latter was in a tight place with the i enemy. He ordered Dillon to retire, as j he( witness) was then too far out. He j then proceeded a mile forward to get in , touch with Dillon, and at that point | came in view of the scouts. He was ' then two miles further than his instructions warranted. There was no force of the enemy between his party and the , scouts, and there was nothing to prevent } the latter from retiring. He received another message, stating that Dillon was surrounded, and asking him to come to his support. He held a conference with , his officers (Drury, Cameron, and Saxby), and they decided that the main body was . too far out, and it was not advisable Ito go further.. There was no dissent I among his officers that the scouts should ! retire, and Dillon was ordered to retire. Witness detailed the measures taken to protect the scouts in their retirement. More than half the whole number of men were left to fight the rearguard action. The retirement took place at the rate of a very slow walk. Before starting with the main body, witness, saw that the scouts had got. into touch with their supports. Dillon later reported to him that the scouts had all got back safely. Witness asked Dillon to go back and give assistance to. Saxby, and Dillon made no demur of any kind. The movements of the main body were very slow, with occasional halts, and it kepi in touch with the rearguard. Witness received no request from the rearguard for further support. Nearing the spruit about 60 Boers appeared, anqf witness sent out a company to protect his right flank. The tmain body took up a position across the apruit, and the postion was held for half an hour, when all the men had crossed the drift. As far as witness knew, after retiring from the drift, the engagement was practically terminated. Dillon was not obeying witness' orders when he advanced beyond the farmhouse. In witness* judgment there was no position from which Dillon could not have withdrawn his scouts. Most of the men had not* been under fire before. In his opinion he did" the right thing in retiring and not assisting the scouts. If he had advanced towards the scouts the enemy could have occupied the vacated positions and cut them off from the main column. No court* martial had ever been held on witness, and no enquiry was ever held in which he was accused of irregularity on that day. He had never been asked to give any evidence, and had never heard of any charge of cowardice until he heard Taylor's speech in the House. Under cross-examination by Mr Taylor, witness said he thought Mr Taylor referred to him in his speech because everyone looked at him (witness). He received verbal orders from Captain White on the day of the Blessbok affair. Dillon was acting under wilness during the day. In witness' opinion it was not the duty of an officer sent out to support another body to keep in touch with that body. He retired his men because he could see the scouts, and Captain Saxby could have protected the scouts as well as witness could. In his retirement he kept the supports of Saxby and Drury in sight. Several men, who were the last to cross the spruit, told witness they were the only ones left to cross. He mustered his men beyond the spruit, and thought there were four missing. When in camp afterwards he found that three men were killed and one officer mortally wounded, and eight captured during the retreat. Dillon rode alongside witness for some time, and appeared satisfied with the day's work. Continuing, witness said that, as senior officer in charge of the force that day, he would hot have thought it strange if an enquiry on oath among the men under his charge had been hela without acquainting him with the fact. Colonel Gray had asked for an explanation of the events of the day, and had appeared satisfied wth the explanation. Witness had an additional officer to ride with him after the spruit affair. The remainder of the cross-examination was devoted to an unimportant enquiry aa to the steps taken by witness to get up his case, which was ultimately ruled by the Judge to be irrelevant. After occupying the witness for five hours, Mr Taylor resumed his seat. Colonel Bauchop, who was conversant with the ground, deposed that he was satisfied from the evidence tbat Captain Seddon had handled hs men in the best possible manuer, and had occupied the best possible positon. He saw Dillon — who was a persona} friend of his — several times in the hospital, and he made no complaint of anyone, although witness was second in the command of Colonel Porter. He knew nothing of any enquiry. The Court then adjourned.