WAR NOTES FROM LONDON.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CV, Issue 12533, 21 June 1901, Page 2

WAR NOTES FROM LONDON.

| COLONIALS IN SOUTH AFRICA. | THE HEADLONG CHARGE NEAR HAARTEBEESTEFONTEIN. [FItOM OITII GoiIKKSrONUKNT.'J LONDON; May 10. Further particulars of the dashing chargeof the Bushmen-' and New Zealanda-s nar Haarlebeestefonteiu aro given by the "Standard's " special correspondent at Pretoria, who says that ths capture* of ilio Boer giina were initially due to. a. quarrel as to General Babington's intentions. A noted Boer scout had got into the British 'camp and ascertained from ths talk going on, that the column was to move next ■morning a,t ■half-past 'three. Returning to the Bear laager near Leeuwfontein, he gave it as his opinion that the British meant to come no further. Smuts and 1 Ktinp adopted this view, but De Larey thought ouierwisje; they 'quarrelled; and De Larey, who had only seventy men of his own with him—- ! the: guns belonging mostly to Smuts—withI draw in a rage. Dehtrey's knowledge # of j the-game proved to be correct. .-. . . On | came the 1600 Boers, their guns and trans- [ pari} covering the road for some distance. 400 Boers were sent round' -a ridge well outside the flack, to corns in on Babington's convoy, in rear of the British column. By this time the column, instead of moving away, was coming towards them. Colonel Shekleton, with his Mounted Infantry, was holding the flanks; the Imperial Light Horse- were acting as rear-guard; while Colonel Grey, with ths Bushmen and l New Zealanders, were 'ahead. Just as the 400 Boers had got -round and had fallen on to the convoy, the Colonials issued through a nek, and beheld the whole Boer forco-, as it appeared coming towards them The- opportunity of tha campaign had arrived, for the Bushmen and Now- Zealanders, riding with'loose rein, and firing off the back 3 of their hones, went headlong at the.enemy, turning tho'waggons nearest them and making prisoners of the Boers in charge. The others ahead saw what was going on, and abandoning their charges, they scattered and made off into the veldt: The fighting .men, imbued with 'the one desire to get away, made little or no attempt, to return the Colonials' fire, and many were shot down or surrendered. 'l'he veldt was covered with fleeing Boers. Here a-gun was stopped in its career by -a, single Bushman, who, yelling to the drivers to pull up; would with a brace, of flying shots tumble a couple of artillerymen' off the limbers before* he got his prize. There ai pursuing j New Zcalander, wild with the '>exMaration of victory, charged a whole clump of Boers, and goo home, too, without a scratch. The immunity of the colonials, indeed, «was one of th. 3 most remarkable features of that half-maid but wholly purposeful charge. Out-numbered as tlieywere by the Boers, who, if they had not been panic-stricken, might have prevented soma of, the guns from being cap Lured, they '.took the affair so masterfully into their hands that the enemy never had a moment to think. It was cue yelling, relentless rush, with the Beers never drawing rein,. but engrossed with the idea of getting away from thcS3 avenging -horsemen. So on the Boers galloped, abandoning 'their waggons and guns and ammunition, and never crew rein until they reached tiha shelter of a strong ridge six miles away. By that time the horses were exhausted and the pursuit ceased. The spoil of the charge included two 15-pounders (one of ours captured at Oolenso and the other at Storniberg), one pom-pom, six Maxims, 15,000 rounds of | small arms ammuniton, 160 rifles, 52 waggons, 24 carts, and 140 prisoners, and over b 0 Boers killed- and ■ wounded. The losses of the Bushmen and New Zealanders were absolutely nil, only one man being hit in the hand. There could be .no better proof of the- demoralisation- and utter rout of the enemy." Nor could there be a better proof that a charge by Mounted Infantry of the right sort can be quite as effective as. a charge. of rigid' cavalry with sword or lance. As a matter of fact, I can recall no charge of the regular cavalry in South Africa, a 'country testified by Genera! Hutton to\ be especially well suited for cavalry, that met with anything like the same success. MR BENNET BURLEIGH'S TESTI- ■ •-MONY. Mr Bonnet Burleigh has looked upon the Sixth Contingent, five hundred .and eighty strong, as they passed through Brandfort to Pretoria, and haa seen that they are good. " Than these ; Aotipcd'eans, be says, no finer troops have enrolled under the banner of the British Empire, regulars or auxiliaries, home-born or colonial. Like the "Scots Greys," they stand second to none. Youthful, stalwart, active, keen-eyed, aglow with imilitary ardour, no better men have ever taken the field. Their commanding officer, Colonel Banks, had reason to be proud of the splendid fellows composing his Kegiment. There was sound of battle in the air, for " the drive" of the. scattered remnants of Christian do Wet's and the other com-' mandos, which had been driven back from the invasion of Cape Colony, were being herded north up the Thabanchu lines. At Bloemfontein, learning what was afoot, the eager New Zealand bloods would have liked to detrain there and then, and gallop away to join in the task. But the New Zealanders, instead even of detraining at Ivroonstad, were hurried through to Pretoria. Then, under Colonel Babington, witli some of the Australians, known as Bushmen, they marched westward, by the' Valley of Pretoria, of which the MagaLiesberg chain forms the northern 'boundary. And, as I anticipated when I saw the men, the moment they got their chance and set eyes upon the enemy they went for him with, irresistible dash. Covering a wide front with either wing, respectively Bush- | men and New Zealancier?, thrown far forward, the colonials were in quest of the Boers. De la Rey was making a customary trek, but he had' not gauged the quality of the daring and dashing spirits that were seeking his acquaintance, Once* well round upon the enemy's flanks, Bushmen and New Zealanders rode in furiously upon the Boers. They would take) no denial, and pell-mell they crowded the scared Boers upon their own convoy and main body. Shaking the reins tfree and spurring their steeds, onward swept the colonials, shooting and riding down all opposition. Waggons were captured, cannon were taken, and prisoners secured, and in mad flight De la Rey'g commando spread and fled for-safety in all directions. The victory was complete; its fruits were only limited by the inability of the colonial horses to go farther, for the animals were ridden to a standstill." FARM-BURNING IN SOUTH AFRICA. The authentic facts regarding what is popularly termed " farm-burning" in South Africa are now available, for a Parliamentary return has been issued this week, giving the figures, not oniy of farm buildings destroyed, but of mills, cottages, villas, and even "hovels." The whole number of such, edifices destroyed in the course of the operations betwee/i June and January is sis hundred 'and ithirtv-io-ur. The total, though at- is among the deplore able necessities of war that it should have to be recorded at all, does not seem to warrant the charges of' wholesale destruction so frfely urged by friend's of the Boers. That soma six hundred houses and "hovels" should have be'en razed or fired, over a territory a 3 large as Germany, in the course of edght months, would "have excited- no remark in tho campaigns of the past. But we have grown more scrupulous in these matters, and there is a praiseworthy desire abroad among us that the bitter blast of war should be tempered to the utmost for our enemies. The return is, perhaps, not so eatisfacbory as it might bs to the tender-hearted among us, but it sn'ows that the accusations of ruthless and wanton destruction of property on a wholesale scale in the two States nave no substantial foundation. In tha„ca&es. tabu- , lated, TWifch a few '' tx(itsi<^io®:pQ®sow

for tho destruction are given., and as a rule they are such as would justify, and indeed require-, a signal example on the part of the military authorities. Such entries as "With a white flag flying, two of our men had been shot from this house," recur constantly. , " Snipers harboured here," or " Troops' fired at' from . this place," are also very common. Many of ths condemned farms had harboured patrols or fighting parties of the c-hemy; others had been used as storehouses for ammunition or supplies. Thesa cases require no vindication, but we are on very different ground when we find that some buildings were burnt, not 'because of any specific offence on the part of the inhabitants, 'but in pursuance of. the policy of laying waste country used as a base by the. enemy. The hamlet ol Bothaville was apparently "wiped out" in this way in November, 1900, some . fifty house's, and stores being razed to the ground. This system of devastating districts never met with approval at Home, and we are very iglad to hear that the Generals had abandoned- it. Their reason was that it could not be carried out on a scale .which would render it- effectual. Had itbeen possible to have closed the campaign summarily by such methods we might have swallowed our scruples, but strategically the system proved a dire failure, and that fact gives food for. inflection and regrc-t Perhaps the part of the return which will ■prove least satisfactory" to. Englishmen is that which concerns houses occupied bj women, which wore demolished simply because the husbands were on commando. There was a conspicuous instance of the kind at Ventersburg last January, when a whole Ibatdb of urban dwellings were destroyed because the owners were away fighting against us. This is a proceeding which is "condemned by most writers on Interna•tional Law, and is repugnant to us as Britons. War is a rough and "hasty business, and a wide margin for accident and error must be allowed 1 . On the whole, however, the general charge of cruelty in connection with this house-burning cannot be sustained, for in the great majority of cases- it is clear that when private dwellings were destroyed it was the residents or their friends who 'brought tlie' calamity upon themselves; AKMY MR BALFOUR'S DISCOVERY. There were not many revelations in Mi Brodrick's speech in. the Army debate last His main point was that his scheme proposes to organise the masses of troops we already 'have and to decentralise, eo as to delegate a large amount, of authority from the War Office to the Commanders of Army Corps. The Army Corps is not to be a cast-iron organisation, but a Skeleton to be clothed with, flesh and blood. Mr Brodrick is singularly optimistic as to ■his ability to get recruits at the terms he offers. This question, however, is believed by military men to be the of his whole scheme. Mr Brodriok still puts his money on the Imperial to whom he said: " We propose to attach, I hope at no distant date, similar forces to those colonial forces who served in South Africa." The sword has to be laid aside and the rifle to become the}, main arm of the Yeomanry. Referring to*'Lord Roberts's visit to Essex with a large number, of officers on Wednesday, (Mr Brodrick said: "They decided, I believe, without a single dissentient voice, that tnere was nob.a part of the twentyseven miles over which they travelled in which cavalry, as cavalry, could possibly act, whereas mounted troops, armed and drilled as is proposed to drill and arm the new Yeomanry, would be invaluable." It was Mr Balfour, who, in answering the Imperialists that wanted to run the Empire on the cheap, let a black cat out of the bag. Referring to the defeat -of the Liberal Government in 1895 because' they only had ninety-two million rounds of small arms ammunition, when they ought to have had 146 millions, Mr Balfour, said, although the present Government increased the amount in store to 170 at one moment in the critical and anxious days at the end of 1899 and beginning of 1900 "we found ourselves with a bare 3300 rounds of small amis ammunition in this country. The Government and all private factories were working .twenty-four hours in the day' and seven days in the week. I went .through that period 1 , and. I shall not easily forget it." "We found ourselves" reminds one of the tone* of innocent and pained surprise with which Mr Balfour announced the discovery that the Boers had horses. A great many objections have been urged to Mr Brodrick's scheme, but have as yet scarcely been threshed: out thoroughly, The principal are thus summarised by the "St James's. Gazette ": (1) The estimate ( of required strength does not appear to be based on any reasoned date as to the needa of the. Empire, 'and, in particular, the place of the -Navy in the scheme of Imperial defence has not been fully considered. (2) It makes no serious attempt to place the time-expired soldier on, an equal footing with the civilian in .regard to his life's pros' pects, (3) It main tarns the chaos of different services and times of "service, and sets one branch bidding against fbe other for recruits. (4) It does nob provide are Army for home defence which can be relied 'upon- unless stiffened by Regular troops, and thus does not set free the whole of our exiguous professional Army for service in whatever part of the world it may be required. To these- it seems not unfair to add that it is not really attempted to make the .army a profession for young men of ability without private, incomes. The Army might well be leavened with those young colonials who have proved their e'kilf as leaders in the war, 'bub how many of them, keen as mustard to enter-the regular army, can avail .themselves of the commissions offered them?