Untitled

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 5997, 5 February 1881, Page 4

It has now become evident that the annexation of the Transvaal, for which Sir Theophilus Shepstone obtained the sanction of the Home Government of the day, was a great mistake. Any advantage to be derived from the annexation had a very visionary aspect, but it was supposed that it would not involve any trouble or expense when once the neighbouring Kaffir chiefs were quelled. But ere many months passed, it transpired that the Transvaal men were discontented : then the discontent grew to disaffection, and now they are in revolt. The regular forces which are on the way, and will soon be on the spot, will suppress the outbreak; but so long as it is thought worth while to retain the country it will have to be garrisoned by regular troops, and by something more than a nominal garrison of a couple of companies merely to mount guard at the seat of Government, and part of which petty force was surprised and overpowered on the march when tho outbreak first took place. Those frontier Boers, now that they have taken the field, are not an enemy to be despised, and will need to be dealt with by regular troops. There can be little doubt that they are superior to the ordinary colonial levies with which it seems Sir George Colloy has just sustained a repulse, because the Transvaal Boers are frontiers men, trained in the wars which they have always had on hand with the Kaffir tribes. So they are particularly expert marksmen, and are adepts in those arts of irregular warfare which characterise African campaigning. We are told of this last affair that the insurgents defended a laagar—that is, a circle of waggons with entrenchments, a favourite sort of fortification on those plains because readily run up. To carry that, or indeed any other fortified post merely by assault, under the deadly and continuous fire of long-range and breech-loading weapons in hands conversant with their use, is simply impossible. That was sufficiently demonstrated in the recent war, when small parties of British troops had often to defend a laagar against masses of Zulus—soldiers quite as well disciplined as those of Europe, and who, though they had not the European firearms, had all the requisites for close combat. But their impetuous courage, never surpassed, could not accomplish the task. From such a post, when well defended, the defenders can only be shelled out, or when the position is turned and no assistance expected they may find it expedient to retreat, for the laagar is, of course, not adapted for a siege. We are told that General Colley had artillery, but we are also told by the previous accounts of his advance that his force only consisted of a thousand colonial troops, and we must presume that the enemy's superiority in numbers and in the quality of his force, aided by the laagar position, proved too much for the assailants though supported by cannon. The Transvaal population of 40,000 may turn, out at least 5000 men, and we hear that many volunteers from the Boers of the neighbouring Orange River Republic have joined them. And no doubt a considerable proportion of this muster was concentrated to oppose the advance from Natal. As the matter looks at present there would soem to have been the mistake of despising the enemy in not waiting for the regular expedition to arrive. South African affairs appear to be always a tissue of bungling, both in peace and war.

The British taxpayer is pretty tired of it all, but, nevertheless, he will scarcely concur in tlie opinion sometime ago expressed by the Spectator, that it would be as well to be done, not only with the Transvaal, but with South Africa at large, save antl except the high point of Cape Town, -which, with its two bays, has important naval uses, and is a resting-place for merchantmen. If the painter were cut, it would be the probable fate of that group of colonies to fall into the hands of some foreign power—-an event by no means desirable, even though they may not as yet be very progressive. They are not much of a field for emigration. Theie is a want of water, and the laud is not generally suited for agriculture. Manual labour is almost entirely performed by the coloured races. The discovery of the diamond fields attracted strangers for a while, but the temporary excitement does not seem to have had any striking eilect in the way of population. The census of West Griqualand, where the diamond fields are situated, only gives 15,000 whites in that quarter, and double the number of coloured people. The inhabitants of Dutch extraction— in the rural districts known as Boers— still comprise, and probably always will, the vast majority of the whites in South Africa, the Cape having been originally a Dutch .settlement, founded in 1G52, and reinforced a few years later by a small French immigration, which introduced the vino culture. The vineyards of Constantia had for awhile a reputation, but there is no longer any energy in the production of wine, and as there is little farming, wheat and provisions of most kinds are largely imported. Then, as for the exports, we are informed that wool— the principal one—has greatly fallen oil", and that, moreover, it fetches sd" a pound lower in the market than Australian wool. In a word, in South Africa there is nothing of the go-ahead spirit witnessed in America or Australasia. It is said that far more ijiight be done than is done, but certainly Nature is not so favourable

there. Concerning the native tribes which are now figuring' in the Cape news, they have all at one time or other come from the north, the Hottentots, at present few in numbers, being the real aborigines of the Cape region. Both the Basutos and the Fingoes were driven south by the wars of Chaka and the earlier Zulu Kings. The Basuto country is described by the Times correspondent as a little province about the size of Wales, lying between the Cape Colony, Natal, and the Orange River State. The Basutos are armed " with a carbine, probably the Westley Richards, which is a favourite rifie with the South African fanners, and has been introduced in great quantities ; but it is rare to find a native a good shot, unless he has received special instruction from the white man."