The Otago Daily Times. TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 1900.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11686, 20 March 1900, Page 4

The Otago Daily Times. TUESDA Y, MARCH 20, 1900.

The English papers which have' arrived by the San Francisco niiiil contain the first published of the despatches received from the British generals in South Africa. Though they deal with operations in. the early part of the war that now almost count as ancient history, they are interesting as from the justification they .supply, from the best' possible sources, of the criticism that, upon the strength of the reports of the war correspondents, was directed against the provision which the Imperial authorities had made, in the earlier stages of the campaign, for carrying on the struggle. Insufficiency of artillery and insufficiency of mounted troops robbed Lord JUothuen of the legitimate fruits of his encounters with the enemy at Belmout. on the 23rd November and at Enslin two days later. After describing the engagement at Bulmont, Lord Mothuen thus explains tinfinal situation,, while incidentally ho defends the policy he pursued : "The last height cleared, the enemy in large numbers galloping into the plain, the enemy's laager trekking across me ,'iOOO yards off, my mounted troops unable to carry out their -orders on one side (left) because the retreat was covered by kopjes, on the other (right) because too far, the artillery dead beat, and unable to help me. A cavalry brigade and a horse artillery battery would have 'made good ™" success. My losses are no greater than are to bo expected; to keep in

extended .order,.-■.covering, an enormous front, to. get to -the enemy's position at daybreak,; saves you in the first instance from flanking fire, and, in the second, from great lasses in the plain. There ft; far too great risk of failure in making flank and front attack in the case of a position such as lay before me at Belinput; tlie very first element of success is to keep touch between brigades from the. first: Noris; Ithere any question of taking the enemy in flank, as on horses ho "changes front in 15 minutes, as will be shown in. my next fight. Shrapnel does not.kill men in these kopjes; it only frightens, and I intend to "et at my enemy." ■■ At Enslin, as at Belmont, Lord Methuen had cause to lament the inadequacy of 'his artillery and mounted force. "The heights gained,-I found I had taken the whole' Boer force in flank, and had entirely cut them off from their hue of retreat, My guns played on the masses of horsemen, hut my few cavalry, dead beat, were powerless, and fer the second time I longed fer a, cavalry brigade and a horse artillery battery to let me reap the fruits of a hard-fought action." Three days after the engagement at Enslin Lord Methuen fought his battle at the Modder River. In each case he was opposed by a foe that largely exceeded that which he expected to meet. His information, on the day prior to the engagement at Enslin, led him to believe that the Boer force numbered 400 with two guns, .instead of which it amounted to 2500 with six guns, one Hotchkiss, and one- Maxim. When he reconnoitred the Modder ltiver on the day preceding the battle there, Lord Methuen came to the conclusion, lie says; from the information ho had received that the entire force of the enemy had assembled at Spytfonteih, and that he would not meet with any determined resistance on the Modeler: Again, he writes : " The enemy appeared to be retiring, and there were- no signs that the village was held iv strength. We all believed the force :n ■ our front was fighting a retiring position, and had no idea 8000 Boers had been brought from Spytfontein to oppose us." As a matter of fact, as Lord Methuen discovered during the engagement, and as he acknowledges, "the enemy held the river in great strength and perfectly concealed." Even when allowance is made for the difficulty of satisfactory -reconnaissance, for which the conditions of modern warfare are responsible, it is strange that within four days Lord Methuen .should have permitted himself on two occasions to so greatly underestimate, the strength of the1 enemy. Perhaps a fitting comment upon the occurrence is to. be found in the cutting observation made by Sir liedvers'Buller in a despatch covering a report by Colonel Miles on a small action at Zoutpan's Drift, in which the British force came suddenly upon the enemy. . "I suppose,'' General Buller says, " our officers will learn the value of scouting in time ; but, in spite of all one can sa}',' up tb this our men seem to Blunder into the middle of the enemy and to suffer accordingly.". One of the most interesting of the despatches is that in which General Buller describes the: reverse at Colenso on the 15th December. The failure of the attempt to take the enemy's position on that day :was due, it is officially stated,-to the loss of the guns commanded by ColonelLong—at ,least, General Buller believes that, if he had had at his disposition, at the critical moment, the artillery for which he had, as he thought, arranged, the position would have been carried; but, ■ without the immediate support of guns," he says, "I considered that it would be ■ a reckless waste of gallant lives to attempt the assault." The position is described as a very awkward one to attack. Near Colenso bridge, which is the centre of a semi-] circle surrounded by hills, their crests { dominating it by about 1400 ft, are " four | .small, lozenge-shaped, steep-sided, hogbacked hills, each as it is further from the river being higher and longer than the next inner one. The first of these hills is known as Fort Wylie, and was very strongly entrenched along every crest line that offered. General Buller reckoned that if he could effect a lodgment under cover of Fort Wylie the other hills would to a great extent mask each other, .'and that shell fire and want of water would have cleared the enemy out in time. The assault had to be abandoned, however, because Colonel Long exceeded the instructions which General Buller had been at the pains to personally give him. '" His orders," Sir liedvers says, "were to come into action .covered by the 6th Brigade, which brigaue was not. as lie knew, intended to advance on Colenso. I had personally explained to him where I wished him to come into action, and with the naval guns only, as the position was not within, effective range for his field guns. Instead of this, he advanced wjth his batteries % so fast that he left both his. infantry escort and his oxen-drawn naval guns behind, and came into action under Fort Wylie, a commanding treblyentrenched hill, at a range of 1200 yards, and, I believe, within 300 yards of the enemy's rifle pits. The men fought like heroes, and silenced Fort Wylie, but the issue could never have been in doubt, and gradually they were all shot down." Nothing could have exceeded the gallantry with which the attempt was made to save the guns, and General Buller marked his sense of it by recommendinothree officers (including Lord Roberta's late son) and , one non-commissioned officer for the coveted decoration of the Victoria Cross, and 19 non-commissioned officers and men for the medal for distinguished service in the field. In more than one of the despatches the cowardly abuse of the white flag by the enemy is mentioned, and Lord Methuen expresses his regret that the Boers, whose tactics and whose courage are described by him as " indisputable," should have been guilty of acts of which a brave enemy .should be ' ashamed. The frequency with which, even after they have been-, remonstrated with on the subject, they have had recourse to this trick suggests that they arc. shameless with regard vo it. '" '

■His Excellency the Governor will airive in Duncdin by special U'.iin at 6 o'clock tins evening. He will be met by his AVm-slvip the Mayor (Mr R, .Cliisholm) and1 City Councillors, and members of (lie Organising Committee will attend. The Highland Rifles will provido tlio guard oE honour, ami the Olago llusnnrs will furnish a captain's- escort. The Garrison Band will also attend. At a sitting of the Supreme Court in Bankruptcy, before his Honor Mr .Tustico Williams, yesterday morning, orders of release were made, on the- application of the Official Assignee, in respect to (lie following persons.—John Ryley, IHeyer Pinker, Charles Eason, Thomas Andrews, Alexander Mackay, ■lolin (Jilmour, Edmund M. Elliott, John Munden, Kobert M'Eobic, George Metcalf, Win. Frank Gillan, and Archibald Espie.

In connection withj.the disposal of tho Elderslio. estate, which has been .purchased by the Government /rom Mr John Eoid, and opened for selection 10-day, we have been informed that tho crops grown this season on section 25 are; remarkably good, the yield of oats being 126£ bushels'per acre, the barley 80 bushels per acre, and the wheat 45 bushels per acre. Section 22 gave an average yield of 50 bushels of wheat over 330 acres. The crops on sections Ma, 15, Zoa, and 21 areexpected to yield equally well, hut actual results are noC yet known. -V- ■"'■'■■:'.

The committee of.tho Dunedin Horticultural Society met last evening. Theprizelist and accounts in connection with the reoent show were passed for payment, and the secretary will be at his office on Wednesdaynext for. the purpose of paying out. Judges were nominated for the chrysanthemum showy winch will ho held on the 9th and 10th May next. Exhibitors ai-e requested to read No. 40 in the schedule as 6 Japanese, one variety. It was decided to bold the annual meeting of the society on the evening of Thursday 26th April. . . . .-..". Our Cromwell correspondent telegraphs: Three stacks of oaten sheafs and a chaff house and cutter belonging to Mr Schieb, of Queensberry Inn, were destroyed by-fire early on Sunday morning.' There were no insurances. The loss is estimated at £120. At a special meeting of the Albany street School Committee, held last evening, it'was unanimously resolved to recommend the Education Board to appoint Mr Wm. M'Laren, of Kaitangata, to the position of first assistant. Mr M'Laren has been at Kaitangata about 14- years. . . A numerously-attended and very enthusiastic meeting of the High street School Old Boys* Club iv-as held in the gymnasium last evening. Mr W. Dayies, jun., vice-president, occupied the chair. In the earlier part of the evening the committee met and passed all ■ the rules and regulations under which, the club will be governed. At the general meeting the captain (Mr E. Burton) and. the deputy-captain (Mr J. Melville) were unanimously elected. ' The first meeting of the chib mil be held in the gymnasium on Thursday evening next. Dr Frank Fitchett, son of Dean Fitchett, an old Christ's College and Otago University boy, after some years of hospital and lunacy work in Scotland, has offered his services as an army surgeon, and has been sent to South Africa. The War Office pay and allowances for additional medical officers for service, in the field, of whom a large number have' recently been taken on, are £1 a day with a, captain's field allowance, also servant, horse, and rations. A free passage out and Home is given, and a gratuity of two months' pay at the end of service. Mr A. Thomson, J.P., presided at the Port Chalmers Court yesterday, when Peter Hansen, Albert Lewis, and John Lyle, seamen, charged with drunkenness, were convicted and discharged. • The Bey. E. Blaubaum, of Melbourne, will read a paper entitled " What the Jews havo Done for the World" in the Synagogue, Moray place, this evening. Selections of sacred music will be rendered by the choir, and a collection will be taken up in aid of the Indian famine fund. -• ;'..•'■

A curious relic has been unearthed at New-1 town (telegraphs our Wellington correspondent). Some workmen making an excavation for a drain brought to light a gravestone bearing tho following inscription:—" Sacred to the memory of Thomas Kerns, late'sergeant of her Majesty's 65th Regiment, who died 22nd January, 1851; erected by his brother non-commissioned officers." The headstone, which was about 3ft below! the surface of the ground, was broken across. The inscription was chiselled into it. ..'

Mr Kiyoshi Nonaka, of the Japanese customs at Yokohama, now on a visit to Australia, to a Sydney press interviewer, says: — '^People in Japan have' learned that it1 is good to eat more meat, and the beef from this country in tins is becoming .much appreciated. A 21b tin of beef can be boug-ht in Japan for Is, mutton being a little dearer. We have no place for storing the frozen meat yet in Japan, but we will have it soon. Wools are admitted free to Japan, but oh some other goods the ~.customs charges are dear. We send a lot of silk and rice' to this country, and receive many importations of wool and other products. We are'going in for making our own woollen garments. Before, we imported them from Europe/ but factories have now started, and; the suit I am wearing was made of Australian wool; in Japan. My country and yours must come nearer in matters of commerce and trade every year. We find the people deal honestly with us. Cotton clothes are giving place to woollen ii; Japan." ,-.'..'

A good audience assembled at the Alhambra Theatre last evening, when Saturday night's programme was repeated, every item, being well received. The'management announce in another column that the Waxworks will be open each afternoon during the holidays. • , ■