WITH THE NEW ZEALAND ROUGH RIDERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11538, 24 November 1900, Page 5

WITH THE NEW ZEALAND ROUGH RIDERS.

OPERATIONS IN THE WEST TRAP* VAAL. THE BOERS DEMORALISED. [fbom OUB SPECIAL WAtt cosßxsronnimT.] . ' , (By Telegraph front'' Dunedin.) ; Oliphant's Nek, October 7. ' When our column joined Lord Methuea'i on September 18, at Barker's Pan, we understood the combined forces would proceed to the relief of. Schweizer Renneke. r General Methuen decided, however, to undertake that work himself and we remained in bivouac : for ten days, awaiting his return. , During that time a convoy was sent to the border for supplies. Or, the 22nd athletic sporta were held, and substantial money prizes ■ given to the successful competitors. . .Our boys had the honour of winning, more event* than any other regiment. We were all heartily glad when we received marching orders, as the weather had been i most disagreeable, owing to the violent dust-. storms, which were of daily occurrence. Our orders were to march with all speed to lvustenbnrg. General M'ethuen parched there also, his line of route being parallel,; and about ten miles on our right flank. When within five miles of Lichtenburg we surprised and captured 12 Boers, who were evidently the advanced party ot Lemmer'a;■ commando, which was known to be trekking • south-west, numbering about 150. '*> ■ ■ . ,"- Not long after we had bivouacked the remainder of his force, thinking there was Ml danger ahead, advanced upon our outposts, which were detailed from the Auckland portion of the regiment. The remainder of the regiment was at once ordered out, accompanied by three quick-firing guns. sOn seeing our reinforcements arriving, the enemy retired in haste, but not before we had emptied a few saddles." Fortunately none of our men were hit. At dark we returned to camp, fai expectation of an engagement on the following morning. Our regiment did not, however, come in contact with them, but a troop of the New South Wales Bushmen, operating on our right flank did, and got a volley at about 30yds, which brought down seven of them. We galloped off at once to their, assistance, • and had pursued the enemy's convoy some distance when Lord Methuen'a guns opened on them from the other side, scattering them in all directions, Lemmer himself, having joined De la Rey three days after with only 11 men. When just about to retire on the main body, Lemmer' chief of staff came through to us, under a flag of truce. He told us that in future the Boers would keep no prisoners except officers. He also told us that the Boer leaders in this district had held » council of war a few days previously at' Lichtenburg. De la Rey and Lemmer were present in person. They agreed that their cause was irretrievably lost, but that they would continue to fight, in order to do us as much harm as possible. The messenger confessed being heartily tired of the war,; and asked if we would take him prisoner. Of course we could not do so, and he had' to return to his commando. On August 2 our regiment was again detailed for outpost duty, and came in contact' with small parties of the enemy. After an exchange of shots they invariably retired, without doing any damage whatever. The following day we engaged a party of the enemy, under General De la Rey. When we turned our guns on his position he retired to the hills. Our loss was one wounded, a trooper of the Fifth Contingent, who was hit in the thigh by a spent shot. We do ; not know the extent of the enemy's loss, but it must have been considerable, for the artillery made splendid practice with the shrapnel and lyddite.' On the 4th we entered a long valley lead-' - ing through the mountains, and in the evening bivouacked at the narrowest part, known as Oliphant's Nek., To-morrow we move on to Rustenburg, a distance of 10 miles. f:, ' The Boers in this locality are certainly in a very demoralised condition, and are simply a nuisance. They won't fight, but prefer; to wander among the kopjes, in the hope of i doing a little sniping. Whenever we appear they fire a shot or two, and retire be-; yond rifle-range. Their ammunition, too, is running very short, as well as their food supply. It is generally assumed that the whole of De la Rey's commando will surrender in about a fortnight. The general health of our men is good. Since we left Ottoshoop, about , four weeks ago, only four men have been in hospital, every case being a slight attack of fever. At the moment of writing only one man is returned as being unfit for duty. Our horses, - too, despite the short allowance of forage,, are in very fair condition. We received word yesterday of great British successes in the north and east,: and all hope the news is true. Certain it is, how- • ever, that several regiments have orders to proceed to the Cape for embarkation to Great Britain, so we, deduce that the war must be very nearly over. Perhaps when we reach Rustenburg we shall get fuller particulars. '- :