LETTER FROM MAJOR ROBIN

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11368, 10 May 1900, Page 5

LETTER FROM MAJOR ROBIN

INTERESTING ITEMS.

[lIT TELEGItAHI,—PRESS ASSOCIATION'.]

Wellington', Wednesday. The following letter has been received by Colonel Penton from Major Robin, dated, "Outposts, centre action, Bloemfontein, March 18:-

"A few lines in haste to let yoyu know your contingent took part in the occupation of Bloemfontcin, as well as the relief of Kiraberley. We were promised, with other worked-out mounted brigades, three weekt here to refit and remount, but we, with about 2000 cavalry, mounted infantry, and artillery, are to move oil somewhoro to cut ofl a commando of the enemy, and leave at a ; quarter-past twelve, We are supposed to get back in about six days. The horses M are getting pretty badly, done up. .. r J '.-. ■ All the • officers and regiments here are astonished at the way they have kept up,

11 and swear by the New Zealand horse. •■:■■. In fact, Veterinary Officer Neale *o-day : . in--4 formed me that he had been asked if New '. Zealand could in future supply -remounts. -■ ' '• ""I have to report "that Trooper Aitken, .who was, wounded through the calf of the '■'■ leg, and had his horse shot, while attached '- <" ; to Lieutenant-Colonel Ross, for scouting, is \ ■ . in Kimberley Hospital, and nearly well. :He 'was wounded near Jacobsdal, and taken by ; : - ; ':','•■• Boers, and a - few days afterwards, when ': .V the troops occupied that place, he was (with r'l' ;; ' nine other soldiers of regulars) found in their '"' : hospital, having been well treated. He was .::,'•■. removed to Kimberley. ' /'Privates Butler, Kelso, and Casey, who s'v ;;- : missed the column on March 2 last, were " * : ' v picked up by No. 1 Company two days after- \ ■■? . wards, none the worse for their wandering. '•■■•;: We have been kept very busy. Providing detachments here and there, and ~ scout parties for other columns, made 'it very difficult to keep in touch. All are now together again,- except the men in the hospital and base, etc. On return from this expedition we will likely have a few days, and I will supply detailed list of the contingent, and the state of their health, 'etc. "I.havo had no word yet of the Second ' Contingent. I hope they get a good show. " The officers are all well except Mr. Cana- * van, who has been bad for the past fortnight ■~ —nothing serious, diarrhoea and a sort of 'lowness. lam relieving him on this expedition, and trust diet and rest will pull him up. "Mr. Lindsay was yesterday examined medically as to his fitness for an Imperial commission; of course he passed, and may any day be posted to some regiment. " I have to report two accidents, neither likely, "to have serious results. Private Blair, in action, while firing his carbine, the cartridge failed to explode. He opened the lever and put his hand to the breech to catch the cartridge, when it exploded, wounding his hand. He is now all right. Private Twogood, in cleaning a revolver in the usual way, did not know it was loaded, and discharged it, and the ball went into i his foot. He has been removed to the hos- ' ■ pital, but will soon be all right."

MESSAGE FROM MAJOR CRADOCK. ' The following telegram has been received by the Defence Department from Major Cradock, commanding the Second New Zealand Contingent:—"Arrived Bloemfontein. ,1 hear all the sick are improving. The three contingents are amalgamating into one /regiment and proceeding forward immediately in General Hutton's brigade. Eightyseven remounts arrived most opportunely. They aro urgently required. I have just been informed that No. 522, T. Anderson, died of dysentery." / [Anderson's death was announced in the Herald on May I.]

IMPERIAL COMMISSIONS FOR NEW

ZEALANDERS.

[by TELEGRAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION.] Wellington, Wednesday. 0 Telegraphing on April 24 to Lord Ranfurly, Lord Roberts asked what number of commissions he could offer members of the New Zealand Contingents now serving in South Africa, and for what branches of the service. The Government have decided to place unreservedly twenty of the commissions at the disposal of Lord Roberts, on the distinct understanding that such shall be spread over the whole of the New Zealand Contingents. The disposal of the remaining • ten commissions will be considered later on ' by the Government.

FIFTH CONTINGENT. [by telegraph.— association.] Wellington, Wednesday. , News has been received of the arrival of the troopships Waimate and Maori at Beira, "All well." [Tho Maori took the Auckland and Canterbury men of the Fifth Contingent, and the Waimate took the remainder of the contingent.] ' LETTERS PROM TROOPERS.

The following is a portion of a letter dated March 24, from Mr. Norman Keane, of Roberts' Horse : —

, "We are stationed for a couple of days at a place called Thabanchu, where we came to ' collect arms from five or six hundred Boers. I expect we will go back to Bloemfontein, ,or else further north to-morrow. We had >-, a ' good bit of fighting at Koodoo Drift, - where we captured Cronje and 4500 men, and also on the way to Bloemfontein; but when we got to the latter place we had quite, reception from the people there, as it is quite r >an English place, and all the Boers had cleared out. Received your welcome letter, of December 22 the other day, and it greatly cheered me up. ... lam awfully sorry that I have not been able to send you a lot of war news, but all news is suppressed here. The only news the papers get here has to come from London. We get the actual > fighting, but no time to write about it. When Ave are not fighting or marching we are on fatigues of all descriptions, such as getting up stores, rations, cleaning, and feeding horses, cooking for ourselves. As soon as it is dark we are only too glad to lie down and go to sleep, sometimes in about 6in of ,mud. I can tell you this is roughing it, sleeping on the open veldt for the last two months where there is not a tree larger than a gooseberry bush, and often not that. The .(■worst is when it rains all night, and we have only our blankets wrapped round us to keep the rain off. But thank goodness the sun dries us up in no time next day. We have also been on half rations all the time, but ' manage to get a good feed when we get near a town, and we make up for it then. I have bought about six lots of paper to try and write home lately, and it gets wet and i destroyed before I can use it. ... I don't think it will be long before we are down at Johannesburg, as the Boers don't make much of a stand against us now. They generally send in a few shells (very pleasant things), and pepper us with their rifles, - which we pay back with interest, and then , off. There is not much scenery of interest in this country. It is all plains and kopjes, which much resemble Rangitoto, only a good ,bit smaller, but quite as rough. We left Orange River February 1, went through Douglas, and on to Sunnyside, where we had our first row with the Boers. After a few shots they cleared out. We chased them into General Macdonald's forces, where • . they got a good beating. From there on to Belmont, where we joined General French's cojumn, and were formed into the second •5, cavalry brigade, and marched to the relief of Kimberley. Our first fight was at Reit River, February 12, where two men were shot on our side. From there on to Modder ' River we. had a running fight, and the day we arrived there we were 18 hours in the saddle, and nearly dead with thirst. It was an awful shame to see hundreds of grand horses, nearly all English cavalry and artillery, lying on the road dead from exhaustion. Then on to Kimberley, where I dropped a postcard and photos, (all that I could "manage for you), then on to Cronje's laager. He surrendered on February 27 ; from there to Bloemfontein, fighting all the way. We entered and marched through on March 10, and were then posted about six miles out. We then marched out to this place, where we .arrived on the 20th, to collect arms ?nd to intercept a convoy which has to pass through here on its way to Pretoria. It is seven miles long, ond has provisions for the Boers, so that, if we get it it will be a good capture. Our mode of fighting is generally thus : After the scouts come in, having located the Boers, we, the mounted infantry, ride off on to their flank, dismount, every No. 3 of a section of four men, holding the horses behind a kopje, while we mount to 'the top. The artillery then dislodge them out of their kopjes from the front, and we pepper them as they fall back, sometimes getting a pretty warm time ourselves. When they get into the open we turn the Lancers ! on them. They cut them up in awful style. The Boers say they are not men, but devils with their lances in one hand and sword in I 'the other. We then see a cloud of dust made by the horses (horses and men being obscured), a few wounded and dead men being carried in. We then mount, proceed for ij 'another 10 miles, and repeat the performance, sometimes having to lie and hold a kopje for several hours in the broiling sun. . . We are mere machines here, and everything is.kept awfully secret. I am writing this :'...■• while on kopje duty, sentry go, so please ex- ..• i,.., cuse everything, ■ Remembrance to friends." ; i. ■ A trooper writing from Paardeberg, bank .....: . of Modder River, on March 8, says :—"We

are now at the place where General. Cronje surrendered to Lord Roberts. Cronje appears to have got himself into a bad position, and his case must have been hopeless from X the first The battlefield is - covered with the remains of the burnt transport waggons, and their contents. There are heaps of our shells lying about showing what great work our artillery must have.done. The banks . of ' the river are honeycombed with underground shell-proof .passages and trenches, and in these were found wearing apparel of all descriptions, also clothes chests which the Boers had left behind. The filledin trenches showed where the dead had been buried. The battlefield is also strewn with dead horses, mules, and bullocks, Some are lying about in fours and fives together, and were probably killed by shells. Yellow patches here and there mark where the deadly lyddite exploded. Altogether Paardeberg presents a scene of destruction, and it would do Oom Paul good to see what havoc the British artillery can work when put to the test. In the afternoon we crossed the river, about 100 yds lower down than the ford where the Black Watch lost a great number of men when they tried to cross the river. Some of the wounded Boer prisoners brought into Kimberley, criticised Cronje's tactics. They said that ho is a good kopje defender, but he is practically useless in a I flat country."