THE BOER WAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11535, 21 November 1900, Page 5

THE BOER WAR.

BOER FAMILIES DEPORTED SNIPING IN THE STREETS OF; • ' PRETORIA. : A GALLANT COLONIAL. .. By Telegraph.—Press Association.— London, November 20. Lord Kitchener has returned tc Standerton. He is sending the families of Transvaalers who are with commandos to Natal. Sniping is still persistent in many places, occasionally even in the streets of Pretoria. Reuter states that Harvey P. T. Finlayson, of Adelaide, in command of a detachment of Cape Mounted Police at Modeler River, succeeded in relieving £he Highlanders at Jacobsdal. - Finlayson, with four men, without waiting for the laggard footmen, galloped into the town, experiencing in the square a fire from four sides. He chased a number of fugitive horsemen, and then returned and arrested the snipers. A CORPS OF SCOTSMEN. Capetown, November 19. The Caledonian Society in South Africa is raising a corps of 300 mounted Scotsmen. j THE USE OF EXPLOSIVE BULLETS. London, November 19. The horrible wounds caused by the Boers' constant use of explosive bullets are causing a demand for retaliation. AN ITALIAN SENTENCED TO DEATH. London, November 19. An Italian - ; who had been fighting with the Boers, and who had sworn neutrality, has been sentenced' to be hanged at Johannesburg for killing two members of Compton'a | Horse, who were garrisoning a farmhouse. GENERAL BULLER VISITS THE QUEEN. London, November 19. Sir Redvers and Lady Buller are visiting the Queen at Windsor. BULLER'S VINDICATION. TIIL GREAT DIFFICULTIES HE HAD TO FACE. Pietebmakitzburc, October 18. General Buller was presented yesterday with a sword of honour subscribed for by the people of Natal. In returning thanks the general speke as follows: — "I landed at Capetown on October 31 last year, a general without an array. My army was to follow. I do not oelieve any general even with an army ever found so difficult a situation to face as I did at the moment that I disembarked at Capetown. "At that moment . Mafeking was. beleaguered, Kimberley was beleaguered, the two main avenues across the Orange Free State—Belhulie Bridge and Norvals Fontwere in the hands of the enemy, and Ladysmith was in such a state that the first telegram I sent brought the reply that it would only be a matter of hours before that would be closed in also.

"At that time there were in Capo Colony two and a-lialf battalions and one cavalry regiment, and in Natal, south of Ladysmith, two battalions of infantry and some volunteers who had gathered for the defence of their homes.

The situation was this: that my army— and a very fine army it waswas not to arrive till December 22, seven weeks ahead, and the most important part— cavalry and artillery—was, owing to the time necessary for the embarkation of the mounted corps, to be the last to arrive.

"The question was: 'What was I to do ? Sit still for seven weeks V And aftei seven weeks The two main avenues into the Free State were in tho hands of the enemy, and, including the 600 miles to bo traversed in Cape Colony, it would have taken at least fivo weeks to advance to Bloemfonlein, or far enough north to hope to influence tho situation in Natal.

"If I had waited for my army and then advanced, what would have happened to Natal in the intervening 12 weeks '! What would have happened to the British Empire in Soul Africa 1

" I do not believe there is here a man of reason who knows the circumstances who would not have said that if no other troops had arrived in Natal for 12 weeks the Boers would have entirely occupied Natal; and ii they had occupied it, what would have been the effect in Europe and on people at Home '! And what misery would have been entailed on the inhabitants of Natal !

"I have been found fault with by socalled military critics in the English paper's. I have been pelted with criticisms translated from French and Italian military critics. I havo been told that I allowed the enemy to dictate to me my strategy. "I was told that I was incapable of perfecting the plans which I had made before leaving England, but I have not been told what is the truth, that the circumstances had entirely altered during my voyage from England. The Government left me a perfectly free hand. "I hope I am not indiscreet, but I feel I must tell a story of a man who has done more for Natal than I have done, who is my senior, and from whom I have learned much.

"After my arrival in South Africa I received a telegram from Sir Evelyn Wood, whoso military knowledge and soldierly spirit enabled him to see by intuition the difficulties to be faced. Ho telegraphed and asked mo to let him come out and servo under me.

" I was never so tempted in my life to take any one at his word. I had begun to look upon tho work in Natal as a forlorn hope, and I knew that if J failed in my first attempt to relieve Ladysmith I should run the risk of losing the supreme command of the army in South Africa.

"I came out hero to do the bast I could, and I did it. I think it would have been a. cowardly thing for md to let Sir Evelyn Wood oorao here and take the risk while I wac in great anxiety about myself. (Cheers.) "I came hero and foiled in my first attempt to relievo Ladysmith and lost the command in South Africa, end, I think, rightly. I had taken on a task, and I was bound to see it through. " I am very glad now that I came, as it has given me the opportunity to become associated with the most gallant army any general eve* had the honour and pleasure of leading. I cannot describe to you what my men have done and how they have done it, but to one and all I feel I owe a debt of gratitude.

" To the volunteers it has not been a matter of soldier' work only, but a question ot day after day facing the unknown with stout heart and a bold face and with extreme skill. "The war such as we have been fighting in the country from which I have just come is a war in which the individual soldier is day after day under fire. It is a tremendous strain, such as, I believe, in the history of the world no soldier had ever to undergo before.

"I do not want tc praise one branch of the service moro than another, and I can say that the entire force had done splendidly. 1 havo received the greatest help from old Natal colonists with regard to the oountrj with which they were, by rcsidonce, conver sant. - "If the history of this war be fairly written, it will be stated that no general ever got better information than I did. and got it from colonists in the districts through which 1 passed. "lam grateful to you for your handsome present, and for allowing me to speak, so te say, in my own defence, and to tell the English papers and the German critics that people living on the spot know best wh?.t should be and what has been done. ' "If General Hilvurd had not been at Estcourt at the end "of November, the Boers would have taken Pietermaritisburg. I am pure you belie that it would have been a I terrible calamity, and if I and Hilyard'a men I had been sitting still at Capetown I would have felt downright ashamed of myself.' (Cheers.) ' ,