MAIL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2389, 14 December 1899, Page 25

MAIL NEWS.

ADELAIDE, December 8. The following news is to hand, dated Capetown, November 17: —

With reference to the charge made by General Joubert against the English firing on the ambulance, one of Jouberts chaplains, writing to the Standard and Diggers' News at Johannesburg, says that the ambulance was not in its proper place, being within the line of fire. One shot, did fall near it, but the instant the British saw it they ceased firing. The chaplain is certain that the shot was a mere a«cident.

The Boer' wounded are loud in praise of tlie chivalry and humanity of the British soldiers.

Colonel Baden-Powell's nocturnal surprise on the Boers entrenched near Mafeking was accomplished in magnificent style. Captain Fitzclarence was selected to lead tne enterprise. The squadron left the camp when everything was still, and crept stealthily towards the enemy's lines. They gob close up before the Boers had the slightest idea anything was' afoot. The anxious watchers in Mafeking gave ringing cheers as the gallant little band dashed forward to the Boer trenches with fixed bayonets. Then the night rang out with the shouts and yells of the contending forces. Boer reinforcements came liurrieuiy forward. Captain Fitzclarence's whistle sounded, and the men ran back to their own lines, followed by a shower of rifle shots. The squadron was warmly welcomed by Colonel Baden-Powell.

Commandant Cronje'made his big attack op Mafeking at 4.30 a.m. on October 31. His big guns began to concentrate their fire on the kopje held by Captain Walford's troop of police. When the day broke the Boers were seen menacing our position, and at 6 o'clock they opened a tremendous fire into the kopje from both sides. Colonel Baden-Powell directed the town guns to support Captain Walford, whose Maxim kept up a withering fire, putting the enemy's 12-pounder temporarily out of action.

Under cover of their artillery the Boers crept up close to the- kopje, recognising that rushing tactics could alone avail, but the Maxim mowed them down. After five hours' fighting they retreated beaten.

December 9

In a letter, dated from Simon's Bay, where he is a prisoner aboard the. warship Penelope, Colonel Schiel complains to General Buller that, although he gave his parole to General White, he has not been treated according to military etiquette. Though wounded, he was locked in a cell at PieU'rmartJzburg and strictly guarded, as he was also at" Simon's Bay.

General Buller, replying, regrets the inconvenience to which Schiel has been put, but he also regrets that he cannot admit there has been any breach of etiquette. General White's authority was limited to Ladysmith, and the officer commanding in Natal is empowered to make any arrangement he pleases- for the safety of his prisoners. The smallness of the British force does not allow of any elaborate measures for the safe keeping of prisoners, who have for the present been subjected to a closer restraint than will be necessary aftei the arrival of reinforcements.

The Standard and Diggers' News reports the discovery of a case containing interesting documents down the shaft of one of the East Rand mines. Many of the papers relate to the reform conspiracy at the time of the raid.

The same paper contradicts the rumour as to the smashing of the mines, and says that the Government, instead of ruining the mines, are working them and utilising the gold for the purpose of defending the independence of the country.

PIETERMARITZBURG, November 6.

In consequence of the Boers proclaiming Northern Natal to be part of tho South African Republic, a Gazette Extraordinary has just been published, declaring the proclamation to be null and void, warning British subjects that anyone contravening the law will bo liable to be prosecuted foi high treason. This was rather a smart move on the part of the enemy, who, of cour.-es, hoped to induce all the Dutch farmers living thero to join their cause, uuder the belief that they could not be proclaimed rebels. Landroats (magistrates) have been appointed both at Newcastle and at Dundee, and tho country round )S being surveyed with a view of cutting it up into farms foi burghers. It was also notified in tho Gazette that tho Governor of Natal authorised the suspension of all duties on frozen moats and slaughtered cattle imported into the colony uuiil furllm- orders.

With the intention, no doubt, of encouraging the burghers and of gaining recruits, the Dutch Government papers are publishing and causing to be distributed amongst the back country farmers and natives highly-inflated accounts of the Dundee (Talana Hill), Elandslaagte, and Ladysmith battles, describing them as great Boer victories. Of the latter fight their accounts say that 1000 burghers annihilated General White's column, that he himself was killed, and most important documents were taken from his dead body. And, not content with these lying stories, the reports go on to "say that after the battle of Elandslaagte the wounded Boers were made to pull the British guns into camp, and the Boers had to charge and release them, whereupon the English fled into Ladysmith, and the burghers had to retire because all the ammunition was expended.

As showing the pitiful ignorance of the ordinary Dutch, one solemnly assured me he knew, because he had been told, that many of pur soldiers, in their aversion to risking their lives at the front, had tearfully begged to be excused and sent back, and that it had been found necessary to lash othei'3 together with ropes to prevent precipitate flight. Such ideas are due to complete ignorance of the merest outlines of British history, and to their being cut off from -impartial press information, where bravery is frankly recognised. Therefore the amusement which we must feel in hearing this must be mingled with pity for the true awakening in store for those burghersj who, sharing these and -similar mis--conceptions, are confidently entering on an unequal struggle against trained troops. Towards Boer, authorities and those who ought to know better no sympathy whatever can be felt, and if they have a policy at the present time it is beyond an ordinary Englishman's comprehension to understand. Take their conduct towards the natives. Now, for instance, anyone would imagine that it would be to the Boors' benefit to keep friends with these, especially with the Basutos ; but what do we find? Thousands and thousands of natives, who had to leave the Transvaal, wero cruelly sjamboked, and deliberately robbed of all their earnings, simply because they happened to be British subjects.

THE BOER PRESS ON THE WAR

Two newspapers "(says a renort from Johannesburg, dated October 20) still flourieh in the deserted city— the Standard and Diggers' News and the Rand Post. It was on the 24th that General Joubert was in -Johannesburg, and on that day ho saw a copy of the Standard, although lie did not take it away with him." It contained glowing accounts of the success of the Republican arms ; Kimberley and Mafeking wore entirely surrounded, and expected to fall at any moment; Vryburg had fallen, and Bechuanaland had been conquered and annexed. In NataJ the Boer forces also met with every success. According to the Standard, the country has been invaded and the Republicans were continuing a victorious march. A big battle had been fought at Glencoe, which the Republicans won, and Dundee camp had fallen into their hands, with many British wounded, large mimbevs of prisoners and stores. At Elandslaagto the Standard admitted a reverse, but the battle was not a one-sided one. They admit to having had 30 killed and many wounded, and to having lost in prisoners Genoial Kock, Colonel Schiel, and 85 others. On tho other hand, Ladyemith was entirely surrounded by the Boer forces, and it was expected it would bo taken very soon.

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS,

A lobby has been opened at the War Office for the exclusive use of ladies who wish to make inquiries.

Sir Redvers Buller told a friend just before he started his confident expectation of floating the British flag over Pretoria by Christina? Day.

"Blood! Blood! Boer blood!" The3e words. in red, on a white ground, were found to have been painted on the front of the British consulate at Antwerp. Mr Rhodes goes about Kimberley dressed as a farmer, and "makes a good-looking Boer." Mr Kruger, it seems, has offered 300 acres of land, with cattle, etc., for Jm head. In a letter received from one of "President Kruger' a granddaughters,, the writes says: — Tho ladies at Pretoria are practising rifleshooting. They are getting to be very good shots, and grandpapa is so pleased." Has the telephone ever been used before on a battlefield? General Hunter, in hie message to tho Secretary for "War, states that he learned the details of the fight at Ladysmith by telephone from the armoured train. Commandant de Meillion, who was taken prisoner just prior' to the battle of Elandslaagte, is a prominent member of the Wanderers' Club at Johannesburg, and has always taken a keen interest in athletic sportp. By the death of Lieutenant-colonel Gunning at Glencoe, the command of the Ist King's Royal Rifles devolves upon Major W. P. Campbell, who has 'been neatly 24- years in the regiment, and was for ceveftil years acljut* ant of the Victoria and St. George's Rifles in London.

According to the Transvaal Agency at Brussels; the Boers have 100,000 men in the field. The force includes — Boer regulars, 35,000; artillery, 1250; police, 1750; Free Stato force, including Ui'tlandera, 35,000 ; Natal Bosrs, 3000 ; Boers from Bechuanaland and Rhodesia, 8500 ; foreign legions, composed of 4000 Germans, 6000 Dutch, 2000 Irish, 1000 Scandinavians, 600 Americans, 600 French, Swiss, Italians, and 200 Jews, doing police work.

The Colesberg correspondent of the Cape Times telegraphed on October 30: — A letter smuggled through from the Free State gives chapter and verse of a " Great Boer Victory at Ladysmith." General Yule's column (it says) was annihilated, and Ladysmith was tnken by 1000 Boers. The letter lias caused much uneasiness amongst English people here, and Boer sympathisers are jubilant. The fight is supposed to have occurred on Friday. The effect of the letter, however, is spoiled by telegrams stating that all is well at Ladysmith.

An instance of how a wily native got Ul3 betlev of some rapuoious Boers is related by a King William's Town journal. It may also incidentally illubtrate the Boers' horror of soap. Shortly before making tracks for the colony, the native got a bar of ordinary soap, in which he embedded £0 British sovereigns, carefully removing all indications that the bar had been tampered with ; in fact, simply showing that it had apparently been used once or twice. Then, with a few loose shillins in hie pockets, he started for the colony, and on the way be met with a party of Boers, who overhauled him from head to foot, and examined his bundle, in which was the inno-cent-looking soap. The Boers took the few shillings the man had, and, giving him sen cral kicks and cuffs, ordered him tc clear.

Hero is a hitherto unpublished incident in connection with tho British victory at Elandslaagte, which will place or. imperishable record the name of one of Gralmmstown's sons,

now serving with the Imperial Light Horse in Natal. In the thick of the fight, Co onel Chisholme was shot through the body, and immediately Trooper Clifford Turpin, son of the Rev. W. H. Turpin, rushed forward, and, raising his commanding officer in his arms, heroically sought to convey him out of the zone of fire, but ere he could do so another bullet crashed throtigh the unfortunate colonel's brain, instantaneously killing him. For that gallanfact, in the face of a storm of lead, Trooper Turpin has been awarded his sergeant's stripes, and — prouder distinction yet — he has been specially mentioned in despatches for conspicuous bravery in the field.