NEWS FROM THE CAFE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5398, 6 March 1879, Page 3

NEWS FROM THE CAFE.

From files of South African papers we extract the following : — John Dunn, " the man who practically rules Zululand," is thus described in a letter to the Pall ilfall Gazette, written from Utrecht, Transvaal "Heis of stout build, dark complexion, and about forty-three years of age. He has a pleasant face and a sharp, keen eye. John Uunn was formerly a clerk in a lawyer's office. Preferring the free and easy life of a hunter to the drudgery of the desk, he left the civilised parts of South Africa, and lived in the veld and bush. He gradually adopted Zulu habits and customs, and as gradually separated himself from the outer world. About ten years ago he took an active part in a Zulu civil war between Cetewayo and his brother, and at the sanguinary and decisive battle on the Tugela, was conspicuous for his bravery and utter disregard of danger, which, in the Zulu mind, almost amounted to heroism. Defeated by overwhelming numbers, he fled for his life and swam the broad Tugela, seeking the protection of Natal. When Cetewayo became king he recollected Dunn's valour and bravery, 'and, although he had fought against him, sent for him and made him an induna, or a ruler over a district, and his confidential adviser, which position he has held up to the present time. He has amassed considerable wealth by securing the monopoly of the gun trade m Zululand entirely for himself, and other judicious trading speculations. Although possessed ;of considerable influence among the Zulus, both by marriage and property, he knows well the risk he hourly runs. Thia may possibly account for one of his houses being placed within haU-au-hour's ride of the Natal border. The greater portion of his property is in cattle, which is difficult to were he to attempt it. The eye of suspicion would be at onceonbim, and his life in danger. War with-us will also prove his ruin ; hence his anxiety to induce Cetewayo to accede to our demands." The enforcement of the poll-tax in the Free State is said to be exercising a most pernicious effect upon the native mind. This is the more especially the case amongst the Zulu servants, who ire leaving the State in great numbers, saying they will not stay to earn money for the Government to expend upon ammunition with which they contemplate making war upon the natives. Amongst the \ olunteers who served in the course of the recent war, it is Btated that Vi3Count Maidstone and a brother of Bishop Moran's were engaged on the eastern frontier, and that a son of Dr. Arnold, the lato head-master at Rugby, was killed at the skirmish near Gomaperi. in Grinualand West. The absence of reliable statistics concerning the Free State and the Transvaal is a want long felt, despite Dr. Aylward to the contrary. In the "Cape Directory" for the ensuing year, we find it stated, on the authority of a Free-Stater, that no census of that country has been taken for upwards of twenty years, and the last was taken in a most unsatisfactory manner. The population, according to this authority, basing his estimate on church and other returns, is now reckoned at some 70,000 white and 20,000 coloured inhabitants. According to the " 80-'renvried Almanac," just published at the Express office, the Dutch Reformed Church of the Orange Free Stato claims to have in her communion 43.02S souls and 10,949 members, while no returns have been sent in from two parishes—those of Bultfontein and Hoopstad. It is worth while, as a contemporary observes, to make a note of such statistics when given. Up to the 11th December, last year, 7421b5. 10oz3. of diamonds, nett weight, passed through the Kimberley post-office, valued by the administrator, in his opening speech to the Legislative Council, at £2,041,705. By a proclamation it is announced that the issue of gunpowder and percussion caps, from any bonding store or magazine, within the undermentioned districts, viz :—Namaqualand, Calvania, Fraserburg, Carnarvon, Victoria West, Beaufort West, Hope Town, East London, King William's Town, liomgha, Stutterheim, Queen's Town, Cathcart, Tarka, Wodehouse. Aliwal North, Herschel, Fort Beaufort, Stockenstrom, Victoria East, Peddie, Albany, and Bathurat, shall be subjected to the following conditions: —That the purchaser of the aforesaid gunpowder and percussion caps shall pass a bond for £500 before the resident magistrate of the district within which such bonding store or magazine is situated, stipulating that the gunpowder and percussion caps shall not be at any time disposed of to any Kaffirs, including Betshuanaß, Fingoes, Basutos, Bushmen, Korannas, orGriquas, or to any dealer, wholesale or retail, who shall not have given a bond under the Act, stipulating that the gunpowder and percussion caps shall not be disposed of to any Kaffirs, including Betshuanis, Fingoes, Basutos, Korannaj, or Griquas. The Natal Colonist gives currency to a rumour that a movement is on foot to establish in Durban a society of ladies, who, as the chief object of their association, undertake, if not to go to the front, to nurse wounded soldiers or Volunteers. An uniform is spoken of for the Natal Red Cross Society, possibly a white print costume with a red cross conspicuous on it. ; It is reported in the Diamond News that : an inquiry is now being instituted into a charge preferred by some prisoners of war j against a portion of a troop of the Diamond- : field Horse. The natives assert that prior ' to their capture, about fifty of them, all peaceably disposed, were fired upon by the , white men, eleven of their number killed, i and seventeen taken prisoners. The Volun- ' teers, on the other hand, emphatically deny ' this, and stats that they only returned a volley when fired upon. The liev. Father O'Haire, well known throughout thi3 colony, and now superior of the new Apostolical School of the Society of African Missions at Cork, ha 3 addressed an appeal to the faithful on behalf of the ] society, which proposes to make the central ' regions of the continent its field of mission 1 labour. j