THE SIXTH CONTINGENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11551, 15 January 1901, Page 5

THE SIXTH CONTINGENT.

DRILL AT THE DOMAIN CAMP.

spoilt two-thirds of : the members of the Auckland detachment of the Sixth New Zealand Contingent have been now provided with horses and saddlery, and the remainder will be equipped as soon as sufficient horses are drafted into camp from the districts being visited by the Government stock inspector (Mr. Clifton) 'and the veterinary surgeon. Some difficulty is being experienced in obtaining mounts suitable for cavalry purposes. Yesterday forenoon and afternoon the men were divided into two squads, the one under Captain Reid. and the other under Ser-geant-Major Crispin, and were put through their first course of mounted infantry drill, starting with .recruit work. It will, of course, take some little time to initiate the horses into the movements involved, and the fact that the majority of, them were new to the work naturally told against the drill, though on . the whole the troopers shaped remarkably well for their first pahide. ' ' , ' / ' Two applicants, Thomas and Clarke, were taken to the Government, range at Mount Eden in the afternoon for their rifle shooting test. They were put through by Ser-geant-Major Cheator, and had no difficulty in registering the necessary hits to qualify. Together with two or three other applicants who were in attendance during the day, they were passed into camp, and the contingent will in the course of, a day or two be complete. " v?'' . ' A number of the men who have not had long experience in rifle shooting, were handed over to Sergeant-Major Carpenter yesterday afternoon, and were _ put through a course of instruction in aiming and handling the weapons with which they are to be armed.

This morning the men will parade at half-past ten for mounted drill, and again in the afternoon, and will be kept at this work until the day of embarkation for South Africa-. ■ ' "

The general committee appointed in connection with the demonstration on the occasion of the send ( -off of the contingent will meet this afternoon at half-past three o'clock to receive reports of sub-committees.

DEMONSTRATION BY VETERANS.

THE COLOURS OF THE 53th REGIMENT. •'

A meeting of veterans was held in the City Council Chambers last night, to consider what part;, if any, the veterans should take in the demonstration at the departure of the Sixth Contingent. Captain Mcintosh presided, and about 40 veterans attended. It was agreed at the outset that the veterans place their services at the disposal of the Demonstration Committee for the purpose of taking part in the demonstration. A suggestion was made that the colours of the 58th Regiment be taken otic on the occasion, and it was agreed to appoint a committee, consisting of Captain McConnell, Captain Slatteiy, Captain Mcintosh, Sergeant Sage, Sergeant Healy, and Mr. J. Rowe (all of the 58th) to wait on the Mayor and ask him to request the permission of Mr. Justice Conolly for the removal of the colours from the Supreme Court buildings for the day, the colours to be carried and guarded by the committee, and returned immediately after the' demonstration to the Supreme Court. The place of meeting on the day of the demonstration was fixed as the Drill-shed. It- was also agreed that all veterans unable to march should be allotted a place near the embarking stage at the steamer, to act as a guard of honour, and also that the colours of the 58th Regiment, if obtained, be displayed at the point of embarkation on the arrival of the* procession. : v: " v - ■" r THE OFFICERS. [BY TELEGRAPH.— PRESS : association.] • '. . Wellington, Monday. . Captain Andrews/, of the Hyderabad Lancers, who is at present in the colony on furlough,'has accepted the captaincy of one of the companies of the Sixth Contingent. Another has been offered to Captain Fulton, of Dunedin, who went with the Fourth Contingent, ; and returned invalided. THE ASSISTANT SURGEON. [BY TELEGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION.]. Dunedin, Monday. V Dr. O'Neill; resident surgeon of the Dunedin Hospital was to-day presented by the medical staff of. the institution with a valuable field-glass, prior to; his departure for South Africa, as assistant surgeon - of the Sixth Contingent. 4

RECEPTION OF TROOPS.,: ;> T, gggj [BY TfLKGRAPtt.— ASSOCIATION.] | §S§ ' §|| DriNTimN, Monday. |j | bgj ~At a meeting of the-, Reception Commits*' J , tee, it was decided to telegraph to the' Act-ing-Premier asking that, if possible, it should be arranged that the Orient, with thft'retuming troopers, should arrive ;oft y the<; " Heads sometime on the night tjf Monday, p the 21st. inst., so .that' she could ' enter 'it * high water between three and four next morning. After the parade and ; sports at , Forburv, it was decided to entertain the returning soldiers at a social lin the evening. ( A REJECTED APPLICANT'S COMPLAINT. " 1 ; 10 THE EDITOR. Sir,l noticed a letter in % recent issuo of your paper, bearing the j signature o£ T. W. Cunningham, : and I desire to endorse : his remarks.'-"I was olio of the disappointed ■ applicants. TII6 reason assigned was that I did not come from the Auckland province.although I am a New Zoalander. I am of opinion that if a man in willing to have a•.go, and is physically fit (without all this bother of height and chest measurement), ho; should accepted. Military riding' , and red tape officialdom is, as the Yank puts it,, '? all my eve and Polly lleilly."—I am, etc., DtJ.VEDIKITfi. , , THE DATE OF THE JTAREWELL TO THE EDITOR. ; Sir.—ln reply to " Tradesman's" Icttor in your , issue of this date, re the date for taking, ~ jjR;;; farewell of the Sixth. Contingent, may I point .< out that %to fix the '.departure for the 29th - j would upset numberless private arrangements already made for that, date, including' doubtless those, of many volunteers, who,. like myself, have already laid their plans.' .We give up four days at Easter, beside tho Queen's Birthday (God bless her!), and now we are to be asked to give up anothei holi- -; j day. Really, Mr. Editor, some people are J lacking in the saving grace of humour. We protest at not being allowed to farewells contingent, and then when wo 'got the chance, we grumble at giving up one day for the function. If the 28th be so inconvenient. what about the 30th? We somehow managed, (or else my memory plays me a trick) to take two holidays together last week,, if. not the week before also. Or, if neither the 28th nor the 30th* would: suit "Tradesman's''' retailing, Jiow about Saturday, the 26th? I should We glad to see some other <*\prnssioß _ iof opinion from _ .. A Ranker. - A LETTER FROM THE FRONT. ,

; Lance-Corporal Gannon, of the Gisborne : section ■of the Fourth Contingent,' writing from KlerksclorpV Western Transvaal, ■on November 23, gives a detailed and interesting V . ' : ; account of the movements of the force' smco the Ottoshoop -engagement in-August, last, «. c During the time that, has elapsed they have been actively employed in ; the pursuit of, Boors under Generals Lemmer, Do Wot, Da la Ray. • and minor commandos. The total strength - of the column , under General. Douglas is about 3000, comprising the Fourth y ; • and Fifth New Zealand Contingents'," ,th» ' Australian , 'Bushmen, Northumberland Fusiliers, and the Northampton' and North ' Lancashire Regiments. They trek ~' along within range of General Methufcn's column, and are thus at times enabled to engage- the Boers from many quartern.' ;; Both: generals : y are held in high esteem by all ranks.- Considering the disadvantages they labour under v. as attacking . parties, ; all reasonable tact - is ; ; generally displayed in the engagements with, the enemy. . But a change in. the mode <t • procedure is' necessary. Wo have (says th» writer) peppered the Boers .with - lyddite,, shrapnel, pom-poms, Maxims, and riflo fire.; We exceed in numbers the Boers wo have j come across, but they always secure splendid positions. ■■ It is only after downright hard fighting we can get them dislodged. " The. Boers say the British have 10 men to; look after one ox waggon,, and therefore cannot : leave the convoys to give them clmsi>. ■■•..-!: 'I Vai S-. is quite true. Probably, however, ; the Boers . would prefer our convoys to be less strongly protected. Undoubtedly our ox • waggons are' a terrible hindrance ;: to our. movements..4\Had we ' mule waggons we would do much better, as we could scour ■ the ' surrounding : : \ .. country 20 to 30 miles every day. ' The slowtravelling oxen and the necessity of having. our convoys. well guarded absorbs many cf i our. men for that duty. One peculiarity I ; i have noticed in our pursuit of the -Boers is : that; we 1 travel sby the main 4 . roads,- rarely ;r V venturing with our convoys off the regular track. ; Graded roads, such as we ; 1 aye in - • " New Zealand,' be it understood, are unknown in the Transvaal. . What are the main reads follow the lino ■ that offers the . least geo-. ]'? graphical, not military, resistance. That route invariably follows the lay of the lowlying country. The consequences j are .that . the ■ elevated country, with its excellent; : . natural strongholds among the ridges -'ana ' kopjes, overshadow us in our marches'. Th© Boers know their way about, and are not V: ' slow in'taking their stand at the favourable.: positions that from time to time command our route. From such points of vantage . t.hoy snipe away at us as opportunity offers. ' Sometimes "they display what: appeal's about) to culminate in \ desperate' resistance— fight to _ the death. But, hey, presto!—in a =■• twinkling . off they gallop. Thus getting away ahead of us, they secure another, lofty situation, and await our arrival, at the aa'm.e time keeping a- keen eye to their own outlet . for . escape. : With our crawling convoys we ".-■<■■■ ac length get up to them. They indulge in - the usual - rifio five, and perform their previous tactics de novo. Some new method' in dealing with these gentry will have- to i t>» <:>; adopted, r If we were to garrison the towns/ - and; by the aid of flying columns make pen*, odioal and rapid onslaughts, ;-• destroy .-the crops now 1 ready to rno ■■. reaped, and com-! ■ mandeer wholesale sheep 1 and cattle,' the Boer would soon recognise • the hopelessness of the struggle—a .struggle: profitless ; to 1 him. and inconvenient to us. We heal -that they. nrci surrendering in great numbers, hut while things go -on as, they are many of their: de-" ' ", tm'hments will: persist in fighting, and'keep -5 v us here long after. Christmas..;. If we could ~ : have a straight-out fight the whole business .' could bo settled in 24- hours. ' For..- weeks ; past- wo'; have been in constant' conflict ;;: with them. ' The locality of our operations has been to the west of Pretoria,' ill the vicinity of Lichtenburg. ; Zeerust, '. Ottoshoop, and Elands River. , The hollo- ; • - graph, is <; brought into frequent ' use. • At .times .we can see the Boers signalling with' : it to each other at. a distance of 17, or ;20 miles apart. Recently, after wo had disposed successfully of a tough piece o„f work with v'; the enemy, General Methuen, who was 15 miles off with his column, heliographed- that he was 1 greatly. pleased with our perform- 7 ance, and intimated that he was proceeding : south. On October 24 we left Winterdorp. ' - We had not ridden far when the now familiar " ping, pong" of 'the Mauser made itself heard. A big engagement ensued. The enemy, after a> <•- determined resistance, seeing that wo : were ;: closing in on them, began to retire. We , took advantage of the incident, and pursued : them at a. gallop, firing - from i our horses. Many" Boers were killed and ' wounded, 25 prisoners taken, 17,000 rounds of ammunition, 25 ox waggons, and cattle and sheep. Similar encounters to these have , not been rare during the past few weeks.' _ ' The monotony of Boor hunting, the' perio-, dical sniping, and the inconvenience of being ■ , occasionally on half or three-quarter ' rations; . per diem instead ;of the full quantum, that ; is, when we can. get no tiling to.commandeer,' is relieved occasionally by a musical evening and any other impromptu relaxation ■ that' . offers. On one occasion the Northumberland Fusiliers favoured us with a band;concert in front- of ,our horse lines. At their request, wo gave otu New Zealand : war cry in all its savage ferosity. To the dilletante :: 'the war cry. would not probably he rankefl a3 a musical item of a high order. If, how- . ever, anything was lacking-in that respect on the part of the New Zealanders, they made up for it subsequently at _ athletic sports. These were? held on the site of .a* lake whose waters bad evaporated. Here tha Maorilanders showed their prowess ; by an-;.... . notwithstanding. the numerous ; com- .- • t ; petitors—a majority of. the racing events on the day's ' programme.'; In ■ addition: to the * diversion we- had an open-air concert unde. : the patronage of General Lord Dousflas._ •* might also add the congratulations _of Her Majesty the Oneen to the colonials, -for their . , good work in South Africa, has been formally . conveyed to us.' It is rumoured :- that - General French is to take supreme command, General Douglas ; retaining, as •at present, . command of our ' column. • ' Major Danes, who, by the way, i came a natty cropper in one of our recent engagements, through his liorso falling, will be our regimental officer, with Lieutenant Arthur, of Gisborne,. as . troop officer. ; The latest reports to; hand are that the Boers are all over' the . country and we expect to be in action again in a fe' i days- - "' ' ■