THE TRANSVAAL WAR

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1510, 7 February 1901, Page 48

THE TRANSVAAL WAR

i OPERATIONS IN THE NORTH

' LONDON, January 30. Forty Boers attacked fifteen Yeomanry at 1 the Gammaga Pass, and afterwards fled in the direction of Oalvima, 160 miles north, of Capetown, after sustaining losses. . A party of Boers attacked a tram, which was standing at a station on the Delagoa line. The driver of the tr«.m shot their leader, Commandant Tic■brandt, dead, while, he was tampering with the vacuum 'brake. Ihe rest of Boers then fled. . Major-General Sraith-Dornen dispersed the Boers around Carolina., twentyfive miles south of Machadodorp on the Delagoa. railway. The British had non* men killed and eighteen wounded. The Boers entered Boksburg, eighteen miles east of Johannesburg, on the JJth, and damaged the Modderrontein and Vanryn mines. Commandant Alaiais and two Boers were captured. SKIRMISHING WITH BE WET. h LONDON, January 30. Mamr-General Knox engaged General He W et’s force forty miles north of Thabanchu, m Grange . River Colony, m order to prevent his attempting a reinvasion of Caption?. February 1. _ Major-General Charles Knox engaged B© Web to the southward of Wekome, thirty miles north-east ef Ladybrand, on the 29tli ult.. Some hours’ fighting toon place, and the Boers removed many casualties .from the field in carts, leaving five dead. 1 The British lost two officers and one private killed, and one officer and twelve men wounded. De Wet, on January 30th, crossed the British lino between Ladybrand and Bloemfontein, at Israel’s Poorfc, General Bruce Hamilton’s column at the Bloemfontein waterworks, being unable to intercept him. FRENCH AGAIN IN ACTION. CAVALRY MOVEMENTS. LONDON, February 1. General French’s cavalry and mounted infantry are sweeping the country to the eastward of Pretoria and Johannesburg, between the Delagoa and Natal railways, as far as Ermelo. They engaged two thousand of the enemy in a wide valLey, and forced them to retire, with the loss of four killed and nine wounded. The British had one killed and seven wounded. MISCELLANEOUS. LONDON, February 1. Lord Kitchener, writing to the Italian Archbishop of Sogaro, says, “My task is more difficult than the Soudan.” He denies the “gross lies of British cruel-

t?” Active field operations on a large s&syje - ' aro imminent in South Africa. Large. numbers of mounted troops are being employed, and. infantry is being moved in mule waggons. Lord 1 Kitchener i 3 anxious to send ten thousand prisoners to the Nilgiri Hills, iil the South of India. ; King Edward has sent the following cablegram to Lord Kitchener : —“One of the late Queen’s last inquiries was after you and your gallant army.” Owing to the bluejackets and West Indian soldiers at St. Helena quarrelling, the latter were placed in barracks.

They then mutinied, hut under threat of artillery fire from the Glcucesters, finally surrendered. A commissioner at Kroonstad, in Orange River Colony, has obtained the evidence of an eye-witness that Commandant FrOueman cruelly sjambocked the peace envoy Morgandaal on the 10th inst. • • When General De Wet ordered the envoy to be shot, Fro'aemaii shot Morgandanl without trial. ' [The man. Morgandaal was presumably one cf the emissaries that were sent from the Boer meeting recently held atKroonstad for the purpose of explaining to De Wet the hopeless nature of the struggle, and to urge him to surrender.] Ten thousand remounts are ready m England, and the first batch will leave on Tuesday next. Six batteries at Aldershot have been jxrmed with German.- made quick-firing

* guns. ■ ... , Mprgandaal on his peace mission to General De Wet was shot on the 28th. Field-Cornet Van Heerden, a proMurraysburg Afrikander, has been fined £IOO for using seditious language. LONDON, February 2. :%The raiders at Olifant’s River Valley, on the railway, seventy miles east ot Pretoria, abandoned many norsas and carts, and endeavoured to retreat . thro ugh Miriong’s Peort. The British;: repulsing them, occupied thp; pass, driving a portion of the enemy to the IConga Mountains, and turing some, while the remained* retired eastward. A thousand mounted troops have landed at Pert Elizabeth.

VIENNA, February 1. V r hen the President of the Reichsrath announced Queen Victoria’s death, in German, the members of the People’s Party and the extreme Czechs shouted • "Long live the Boers! Down with the wretched Britons!” INTERVIEW WITH MAJOR MADOCKS. CAMPAIGNING IN SOUTH AFRICA. Major Madccks, the hero of New Zealand Hill, in an interview with a “Mail' reporter on the 31st, narrated some of his experiences of the campaign in South Africa. “In the relief of Kimberley,“ said Major Madocks, ‘‘l was with the First New Zealand Contingent. ’ After that we were suddenly ordered to go to Paardcberg. Horses were short, anti only about half of cur men were able to go. These formed a composite company of the First Contingent, about a hundred in all. From Paardelierg we went to Bloemfontein, the two big battles of Poplar Grove and Reitfcntein being fought on the way. We were right in advance in the entry into Bloemfontein. The frightful c inbreak ef enteric which took place there you know all about. When we hao. b-'in a few days in Bloemfontein we made up another composite company, about eighty strong, of which I took command. M e went off to Thabanchu, and were away for some three weeks. On the way ba-ci* the Banna’s Post disaster occurred.

About ten days after our return to Bloemfontein, the general advance v. as resumed, and we got to Pretoria in cue course. At Krconstad we joined the Second and Third New Zealand Contingents.”

“Did you continue with the New Zealanders?” asked the interviewer. “Well, during most of this time, replied Major Madocks, “the number of officers was large in proportion to the number cf men, so many of the men having had to be left behind at Bloemfontein. In these circumstances I was told off fcs galloper to General lan Hamilton. Among those to whom I-carried despatches was Lord Kitchener, who impressed me as a very masterful man, jusc the man, indeed, for the work before him At the end of about a week General lan Hamilton offered me a post as A D.€. which 1 accepted on the condition that I should he allowed to rejoin the New Zealanders when they reassembled. That did not happen nil October. Then it was announced .hao the First Contingent could return to New Zealand. On the supposition that they would do so, I arranged to go to England with General lan Hamilton. But an order came out that the hirst Contingent could not leave, as they come, not be spared, and I decided not to go oj England. I was the only New Zeamnuer with General lan Hamilton with tae exception of my orderly, and I got as far as Komati Poort. on the Portuguese border witnessing the battle of Lyaenbnrg, which was admirably planned by General Duller. The Boers lost heavily there, and would have suffered still more severe losses had they made anything of a stand.” ~ , , . “When did yon decide to return to New Zealand ? T7v r .,+. “I decided to accompany the lur,. Contingent when it was definitely said that they could com© oaoxc.' “Had vou any other command be cor--, leaving South Africa ?” . ± c “Yes: I had command of a m-. o. Canadians, Australians, and New Zealanders; men from every colony, m and numbering about; four’ *1 together, at Worcester m Cape Colony, whilo a big Bond meeting was tanm place. Worcester is a very pretty town, in the mountains. It is very centrauy situated, and very Dutch. “The cablegrams told us that your presence was resented.” “Well,” said Major Madocks. -there would probably have been a row n we had not been there. The Bend peop.e would in all likelihood have stoned -he houses of the loyalists, at the least. “What precautions did you t-afcer “We policed the tov/n, and we held a strong position, on which guns were “ Did you hear any of the speeches which were delivered at the meeting ? “ No, but I read reports of them. Some of them were very disloyal and seditious.” . “ Had you any special experiences ME had the bad lack to be attacked with malarial fever. i was sent clown to Capetown, where I was m a m dreary hospital for a fortnight during whica time I was extremely well looked at i-er. The fever left me very weak. I was lust able to walk aboard the steamer at Capetown, but, I picked up splendidly on the voyage.” “ What rule is followed m sen tang volunteers back from the front ? “ After they have served a year they are if possible, allowed to return. In the’case of all the corps raised m South Africa the men can get their discharges at the'ena of that period. After a year in the field a man gets awfully sick of the life. One new man is worth two men who have grown stale in that way. That is why some of us would like to see the Second Contingent on their way hack.” ~ „ “What useful qualities have New Zealanders shown themselves to possess?” “They are good at scouting, and, generally, they are more useful, than the

regular mounted infantry because tliey have more intelligence and more selfreliance. They can act without an officer. One thing that made the New Zealanders such very good soldiers, so far as my observation went, was theii determination to be a credit- to New Zealand. They were awfully anxious to do the right thing."’ “Can you tell me anything about New Zealand officers?” “ Lieutenant-Colonel Robin, after being a fortnight in Capetown, went hac-x to Pretoria.”

The interviewer here made a reierence to a newspaper correspondence which recently took place in Otago. “Subordinates,” remarked Major Madocks, “ cannot realise the anxieties and responsibilities of a man who is in command. And people in general cannot realise the difference which there is between a man who has a command and a man who holds a subordinate position.. The thought that he is responsible for his men’s lives is only one or a commanding officer’s responsibilities.” “Do you know anything of other New Zealand officers?” “ I believe Lieutenant-Colonel New all will be back in the colony very shortly. Colonel Cradock was selected from amongst a. large number of officers to command a corps of mounted infantry about 1200 strong, and consisting mostly of Australian Bushmen and New Zealanders. ' The Second Contingent loved Colonel Cradock very much. He is a very good man in the field ; very cool, and having a. splendid eye for country. He is a ‘ thruster ’ —he does not stick at anything.” Did you see much of the Australian contingents ?” “Yes. We were often together. Tm First Western Australian Contingent were an exceptionally fine body cf men.” “What do you thiuk of the enemy?” “The Boers are determined men. They are very deep ; it is difficult to fathom their minds. It seems to me that they will believe any preposterous lie if they want to believe it, while they won’t believe a thing that is really true ir it is against their wishes.” ‘■’Do you think the end is near?’ “Personally, I think it will be a long time before the job is finished. Ido net think the Boers will stop fighting unless they come to see the folly of their ways, which I think is extremely improbable, or unless their ammunition gives out.” “They must have had ample supplies ?’ “Yes,” said Major Madocks, “they must have laid in enormous supplies of ammunition before the war started. It must also have been well distributed, for whenever a farmhouse was being burned down you could hear the cartridges explode.” Speaking of British officers that he met at the front, Major Madocks mentioned that General Baden-Powell confessed that the trials of Mafeking were not without their effect on his nerves. The Major also emphasised the hardships which the campaign had entailed on 7 he foot soldier, who was unable to augment his rations by methods which were open to liis mounted comrades. Major Madocks’s plans for the future are not vet settled. ITis engagement with the New Zealand Government wid not terminate till September.

The Hon J. G. Ward (Acting-Premier) has been advised that the following New Zealand troopers left-Capetown for this colony by the Rimutaka on 2eth Jauuarv: —Troopers A. Western, Picton. feecond Contingent; D. Fulton, New Plymouth, J. G. Wilson, Mangahoe, Hunterville, Pv. G. Saxby, Napier and C. C. Roberts. Ashburton, of tiie uun ConUrgent; 2723 lor (?), and 1008 Allen « ? W. Allen, New Plymouth), Fourth Contllßvltlie Westralia, which reached Wellington on the 30th ult., several soldiers v-ho have been on service in South Africa returned to heilmg-Ou. Major Madocks (of the First Contingent) and Lieutenant Walker (of the Third Contingent) also returned m the M e-Aralia. Troopers Boucher (First Contingent), of Wanganui; W. T. Scott (Third Contingent), of Christchurch; Farrier G. Oiancre (Fourth Contingent), of Dunedin; Privates L. M. Henderson (Kitcheners Horse), of Wellington ; B. Perks (Kitchener’s Horse), of Dunedin: J- DHamilton (Kitcheners Horse) of ehurch); Thomson (S.A.L.H ), of Wellington ; R. Krough , (S.A.L-H.), of Hawke’s Bay; A. Puaett (S.A.E.- , ! Hawke’s Bay; and S. Geary (Kitchener’s Horse), of Wellington, are tue names of the returned men. lar.dia Rifles left for South Airica as members of the Sixth Contingent: —Sergeant Quinlan, Bugler Girdlestone, Privates Maiison, Walsh, Finch, Josephson, Thomson Murray, Murdoch, Horning, Johnston. Quin, King and Per rim. An amusing story is told aoout Commandant de Wet. Three Yeomanry scouts were taken prisoners by the now redoubtable general near Lind ley. He Wet, who does not care to be burdened with’prisoners, told these three yeomen that he had an important despatch for General Rundie, and if they would personally undertake! to deliver it he would give them the-ir liberty. All three gave their word of honour to deliver the missive. They received it, a large envelope, w-ell sealed, and with all the outward appearance of containing some important document. They lost no time in saddling up, and covered the ground in no time. On reaching Rundle’s headquarters they insisted on handing the letter" to the General per-

scnally, and on bis' opening it—the three braves still standing as his audience —he read aloud the contents as follows: <; To General Bundle.—Dear Sir.—Please chain up these three, as I can catch them every dav.—Yours, Christian d© Wet.”