TAHUNA CAMP NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2403, 22 March 1900, Page 49

TAHUNA CAMP NOTES.

MONDAY,

On Saturday afternoon the men of the fifth contingent were engaged in bringing in their mounts from liurnside. taouio 50 animal* were taken to the camp during the afternoon, and 16 more yesterday. Pine stabling accommodation is available at Tahuna P^rk, and the Jio:tc3 were =oon comfortably housed. The}- ara a somcvtliDt mixed lot, but, on the whole, they may be piid to be well up to the overage, while two or three are reolly firsiclafs looking; animals.

On Saturday morning there was Ihe usual dismounted drill, and since then the men have had their attention engaged in bringing in and seeing 10 the ho >•«>». On Saturday night Sergeant Ro--3. of the North Otaso Mounted Rifiei, armed in town, and proceeded to the csuup. On Sunday morning the men marched to the IPorbury camp to attend church parade, with the exception of the Roman Catholic portion of the troops, who proceeded, under Gunner Lynch, of the Permanent Artillery, ■•to St. Patrick's Basilica, Sot'th Dunedin, where they attended Mass. WESTPORT. March 18.

The BuLler members of the fifth contingent had a great send-off la<3l night at the drillshed. Addresses were delivered by a number of representative citizens, and the men v v ero chceiecl by a large body of people. The Grey contingent were afco present, having been met on arrival by the mayor and many townspeople. Later a procession was formed, and the men escorted to the wharves, where peveval thousand persons gathered to give a final cheer.

A WOUNDED OFFICER'S LETTER,

Captain Hugh M'Kenzie Shewan. of the Royal Dublin Fusilier?, sent a letter from. Durban to his mother in England, in which he made light of the casualty, as a gallant officer might be expected lo lo His mother forwarded the letter to her dnughter, and Cup lain Shev. an's sister, Mrs Thruston, who is at present in Dunedin, and we have been kindly permitted to male© the following extract : —

Here I am living on the fat of the land, and having a very good time after all the campaigning. I have a slight flesh wound in my right leg, and a bullet is supposed to be in my left lea; ; but I am now perfectly well, and walk about with hardly a limp. I expect to rejoin my regiment in a few days, as they arc at present very short of officers and very hard worked. The Tugela fight was not- a lucky o.ie for us. The Dublins were put in front, and we got to the river over quito open ground without having a shot fied at us, but when there a tremendous fusillade was suddenly sprung upon us from all quarters, and quite close up. We were entirely in the open, and men bep;an foiling right and left. Suddenly I felt something like a very powerful electric shock in my left leg, and then another in my right. I fell down and lay there, and T never spent such an uncomfortable quarter of an hour in my lite. They wore evidently aiming at my position, whicn was quite in the open, and bullets kept striking the ground all round me. However, they got tired of that, and though I was done for in a way, I got up and limped along with the aid of a stick — which I now always carry instead of a sword — to where I saw a lot of men lying behind a bank. There I paw poor Henry, a very good-looking youngster, lying stone dead. I then heard that the regiment had been ordered to retire, and I came across them on the way back. The colonel insisted on mv being carried. So I was put into an ambulance, taken to a field hospital, sent to Maritzburg next clay, and then on here. I was very annoyed to see that I had been reported seriously wounded. The bullets make a very clean little hole, and do little damage \mle&s they strike the bone. I got off very luckily, and I hope I shall bo equally fortunate next time — but one must be prepared for anything. Poor Bacon was killed instantaneously, shot through the head. There is bound to be another big fight in a few days, when I hope I shall be there to assist.

Major-general George Tind&l Proiyman, 0.8., who has been appointed Governor of Bloemfontein, vvss born in 1815, and was appointed to a lieutenancy in the Royal Artillery in 1865. T^p served wilh distinction in tho^ Afghon wars of 1870-79-80. and ro«e rapidly. He wan mentioned in despatches, received a medal v\ifch three clasps and a bronze star.