SOUTH AFRICA.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1511, 14 February 1901, Page 19

SOUTH A FRICA.

' A FI ME OPENING FOR STOCK

AND PRODUCE.”

BRITAIN’S AVAR WITH .MERCEN'-

ARIES

HON. J. FROST’S OPINIONS

The Hon J. Frost, a member, without portfolio, of the ministry of Cape Colony. avlio was one of tlxe representatives of South Africa at the Australian Commonwealth celebrations, has arrived in New Zealand on a pleasure trip. lie was interviewed by a “Times” representative last week in regard to trade prospects between this colony and South Africa. Mr Frost is a courteous, elderly gentleman, apparently very keen in intellecc, and a shrewd observer.

The first question as to the prospects of trade with South Africa was met with a quiet smile and another query—" But you have already a good trade there, have you not ?” "Yes,” the interviewer replied, “we have no doubt now a considerable trade, but what we want to get at is whether this trade is likely to remain on a permanent basis.”

“Well, as you know,” answered Mr Frost, "we have lately taken a good deal in the way of supplies from these colonies. In fact, I do not know what we would have done without them, and no doubt Ave shal’ continue to require supplies for some time to come, for the country will soon be almost entirely denuded of stock, and nothing can be done as yet towards the restocking of it. For some time past Ave have been using your frozen beef in Cape Colony, because we could get nothing else. We can still supply our own mutton, but not beef. You see, bullocks are so much used for transport, and then, also, cattle are so much easier driven for supplies than sheep, that there are now very few left with us. There is, of course, also, a great loss in the transport teams. To give you some idea of this, I may cite the case of one contractor who had 2000 A ( . aggons; each waggon had sixteen oxen, and these waggons had been supplied four times over, yet none of the first four teams are iioav left. They have all been killed for food, or have died by the Avay. There yoa have a loss of 128,000 bullocks. They cost from £l4 to £l6 each —a total Amlue of £1,792,000 for oxen a^uie. ‘"The consumption of horses has also been enormous. Of course, it folloAvs that there must be a fine opening for stock and produce for a year or tAvo after tlie Avar is over. The trouble Avill be as to where the payment is to come from. No doubt some arrangement Avill ha-ve to be made with the Government. In the Transvaal and Free State especially, the people are small farmers, and ninetenths of them have their lands inortgaged. You see, the Dutch land laws are different from yours. The property is shared between the families, and Avlien a man Avants to buy his brother or his sister’s share, he has to pay for it, and nearly always he has to go to the loan companies or the insurance companies for it. The loan companies are all right, because as a rule they only lend half the value, and after the Avar land is sure to increase in price.” Mr Frost is not at all alarmed at the present position in South Africa. Fie says we knoAV Avhat the end must be, and Ave must fight to a finish. The difficulties in carrying a war to a conclusion in such a rough country, and over so large an area, are, howeA r er, enormous. For instance, Kitchener has to see that 4000 miles of railway are properly guarded. Then the Boers won’t fight; they simply scatter, and as they Avear no uniform and are sheltered by their'Triends, they escape and re-form into another commando.

The men in the field are, says MiFrost, at present largely composed of mercenaries, but it is somewhat of a puzzle as to how they are being paid. Mr Frost has had a good deal to do with these sort of troops in his time, and as. a rule, he says, the difficulty is to know how to get rid of them. Of course, they get a good deal by raiding and looting, but no doubt, also, large sums have been expended in this direction.

Many of the better class of Boers are now getting very tired of the tactics of the men still in the field. How long they will let them go on ruining, the country remains to be seen. Their own people, Mr Frost- thinks, wall be forced to go against them before long. They may not fight against them, but they will give them to understand that their room will be preferred to their company. Eventually they may even say “If you persist in coming clown into our districts w T e shall have to take up arms against you.”

Personally, Mr Frost does not think the Avar Avill continue far into the Aviliter. Even last winter it almost came to a close. Since then the Boers have not been able to get fresh supplies. Presently the cold Aveather Avill set in, the grass AA r ill fail and lose its nutritive qualities. and then the Boer horses AA T ill suffer, Avith the result that the raiding commandoes avill not be so mobile.

Kitchener fully realises this, and to place his forces in a better position to cope Avith the enemy he has already set about reducing the Aveight on his horses. The Cape people have ewery confidence in the generalship and ability of Lord

Kitchener, and Mr Frost, like almost everyone else, thinks that he is the right man in the right place. Mr Frost has a good word to say for the New Zealanders. In fact, lie says all the colonial troops have done well. Their training and their embroilmentmake them more suited for the present kind of warfare than the ordinary British soldier. Most of the colonials have been used to shift for themselves, and in every company there are generally a number of men who have a good eye tor country. British trained soldiers could not be expected to have these qualities in the same degree.