NOTES ON THE WAR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2416, 28 June 1900, Page 29

NOTES ON THE WAR.

By Major Kennedy.

June 19.

It is now stated that the proposals to try the rebels before a specially appointed commission came from Messrs Schreiner and Solomon (Cape Ministers), and was not influenced by any recommendation of a like nature from London. Be that as may, it does not dispose of the fact that for months Mr Schreiner .as Premier, and Mr Solomon as Attorney-general' in'; the Cape Ministry ■practically assisted the enemy, inasmuch as thes failed to ami and equip the volunteer and burgher forces of" the colony to .defend its integrity against rinvasion ; and- 'that, furthermore, they threatened to dismiss civil servants from their positions if they took up arms to fight against the Queen's enemies. Messrs Schreiner , and S.olomon could come before the British people and claim credit for" the initiation of laws for the punishment of rebellion, if during the early days of the struggle they had proclaimed their loyalty by using the means at their disposal to maintain the Queen's sovereignty within Cape Colony. But their repentance comes pretty later — far too late to be considered genuine by thinking men and women. Under the Dutch Roman laws that govern the Constitution of Ca-pe Colony, the State has the right to summon all burghers under 60 years of age to take up arms to repel invasion, and from time to time a portion of the burghers has been called out to suppress native tribes who revolted or who were insubordinate. As late as the years 1896-S7 we had an example of how this law worked, for during these years Sir Gordon Sprigg's Ministry used a burgher commando, in conjunction with, a volunteer force, to bring the Bechuanas — a Kaffir tribe living in the Kuruman district of Bechuanaland — to terms. The treatment meted out to some of the natives by certain members of these commandos became, a scandal, as the punishments inflicted were often most inhuman, and in more than one instance the burghers shot and killed unarmed natives without going through the formality of a trial. It seems, however, that Mr Schreiner and his colleagues in the Cape Government did not consider their oaths of office binding in regard to that portion wherein they swear to protect the integrity of the colony and its people from the acts of her Majesty's enemies, for, instead of calling out the burghers and other military forces at their disposal when danger threatened, they did all they could to retard .the preparations that the Imperial officers in the colony were trying to make to meet the coming" invasion, and they even went so far as to enter into a compact with the enemy whereby the Boer Republican forces were to respect certain districts of the colony. But this is not all, for the customs returns of the Cape show that arms and ammunition in large quantities were shipped by specially fast trains through the Cape to the Governments of the two Republics, even after the Portuguese customs officials had refused to allow such contraband of war to pass through the port of Dslagoa Bay, although it afterwards transpired that much war material passed through Delagoa Bag 1 " at a later period concealed by various devices. It was good logic when the Portuguese gave notice that they would continue to keep their ports open to the Boers, as there was nothing to be gained by stopping the shipments of contraband goods via Delagoa Bay when the Republics could continue to receive them unmolested through British ports at the Cape and over Cape railways. Judging Messrs Schreiner and Solomon 'by their acts, it seems to be impossible to regard the lip-loyalty of their proposals with anything but contempt, for the measure advocated by Schreiner and his colleague would never pass the Lower House of the Cape Parliament, and it is very doubtful if such a law would pass the Upper Chamber, and none knew this better than did Messrs Schreiner and Solomon ; hence their apparent advocacy of the proposals made to disfranchise the rebels.

A recent despatch states that a cordon of British troops has been drawn from Potchefstroom to Heidelberg for the purpose of intercepting Commandant de Wet's force trekking north. From this it appears that Commandant de Wet is in charge of a commando in the Free State, and that all along the whole of the distance between Potchefstroom on the west and Heidelberg on the east of the Transvaal-Free State railway patrols are constantly scouring the country, watching evpry possible avenue of escape by which de Wet's commando could get through the British lines. These patrols are in close touch with strong columns ready to engage de Wet's commando whenever it is reported to be trying to break through to the north-east of Heidelberg.

General Buller is manoeuvring his army corps to cover the country from Volksrust westward to Heidelberg, via Standerton, and when this part of the cordon is com- ■ plete, it seems os if the Boers south of the Vaal River and cast of the railway lines are doomed, as they cannot hope to make good their escape. Some few may be able to get through the British lines here and there, but the. great bulk of them must lay down their arms or else '.link away to their farms and wait o more favourable opportunity of rejoining Kruger'& forces. There can be no two opinions as .to. the wisdom of Lord Robert Vf- polic i y of clearing every vestige of Boer power out of the Free State before he o'lvanecs very fnr crsfc of PrcLoria. Ifc seems tht't lie is about to cleav up tho southwe.itOiii districts of the Transvaal in the same thorough manner as the despatch of a

column of troops to assist General BadenPowell west of Krugersdorp indicates his intention to clear his flanks* thoroughly as far north as the Magalie&berg range. There is a double advantage to be gained from following out this line of action. First, it will relieve a good many thousands of troops from off the lines of communication and from patrol duties, as the numbers of troops engaged at such work can be diminished considerably as &oon as the last coinr mando has been broken up or captured. Second, it will enable General Carrington to muster all his command at convenient places in the vicinity of the TransvaalRhodeaian border on the Limpopo River ready to stop any body of Boers that might attempt to trek to the noith through Rhodesia. General Carrington's force will be able to arrest any of the Rhodesian Dutch or Boer settlers who have been fighting in the Boer armies, and who may try to reach their farms in Rhodesia after the Krugerian game is played to the last. Looking at the situation by the light of recent despatches, I feel convinced that unless serious complications should arise inside of the next tAvo months in the far east that will demand the despatch' of a large number of troops to China, the strain on 'the Empire's military resources will be very materially reduced for a time at least. Ido not expect any very sudden collapse of th,e Boer war, but the determination of Lord Roberts to clear up the Free State and thus reduce the area over which the troops will have to operate will tend to greatly reduce the chances of the Boers prolonging the war. The smaller the district to which the operations are confined the sooner peace will reign, and the Union Jack be the sole emblem of authority in South Africa.

Alkrnaar station, where Kruger has moved his headquarters to, is about 60 miles west of Komati Poort, and about 40 miles south-east of Lydenberg. It is 65 miles east of Machadorp station — his last resting-place. Evidently he is determined to slip across the frontier some day shortly before the last stage of the campaign is reached. Probably the old Boer considers it is safest to be near the Portuguese possessions when the final act of the war is ready for solution. It is evident that he does not intend to pay out if he can help it, as he is holding on to the gold he kept on hand for a rainy day.

Zand River station is about 22 miles south of Kroonstad, in the Free State. The daring of the Boers to penetrate to such a position shows that they are in, no ways cowed, but are only awaiting an opportunity to harass small bodies of British troops whenever and wherever possible. The action at Zand River is another instance of the folly of allowing the Free Staters bo return to their farms. It is evident that the party that was attacked was altogether too weak to resist fche enemy for long, and consequently it -turned ont extremely lucky that a body of Yeomanry arrived to support their comrades of the Royal Lancashire (Bbh Foot) Regiment. -

June 20.

According to Boer reports General Buller's forces have appeared in the vicinity of Ermelo. This news, if true, seems contradictory, as we were told two days ago that Lord Roberts had ordered General Buller to march to the west along the railway and occupy Standerton, in order to complete the cordon of troops that Lord Roberts is forming aboiit the Free Staters that are under arms in the hills of their native land. It may be true, however, that General Buller's forces have recconnoitred towards Ermelo, but it is hardly possible for him to carry out the Standerton orders and still do a little scouting in the opposite direction.

The condition of the British prisoners now unfortunately in the hands of the Boers at Nooitgedacht is extremely distressing, and I am not unmindful of the fact that, however much the Boer Government is to blame in the matter, the British Government are not without some responsibility. It has been a customary thing for civilised nations engaged in war to arrange for an exchange of prisoners from time to time, and no doubt this could have" been effected in the present war if the British Government had tried to do so, as there is hardly a possibility of Oom Paul refusing' to exchange prisoners after Lord Roberts captured Cronje, as the Boers needed the additional fighting strength that Cronje and his men would have given them far more than the British did the few thousands of men that the Boers held captive •at Pretoria. But as no efforts were made to exchange prisoners, as the food resources of the Boers became exhausted the British soldiers who are unhappily their prisoners were bound to be placed upon scanty rations of an inferior quality, and there is no possibility of the British Government being able to help to feed them,, for if the consul at Delagoa Bay sent up supplies of food for the prisoners it would only go to swell the dinners of the Transvaal burghers. The exposure of the prisoners on the open veldt to the winter blasts is a matter that is of a different nature, and for which their captors are in a measure to blame ; and yet on this score something can be said in extenuation of the Boers for their failure to provide shelters. There is plenty of evidence to show that these prisoners were moved very hastily from Pretoria, and that consequently the Boer Government did not have the time, even if they had the materials, to erect shelters in the unsettled bleak valley where the prisoners were unloaded. Instances of great loss of life through similar treatment of thsir prisoners ocem'red during the American civil war of 1861-65, when thousands of prisoners of the Northern armies died in Confederate prison stockades, owing to starvation and exposure to the inclement weather experienced in that country during the winter months. During the Crimean war Russian prisoners and British sick and wounded suffered terrible hardships while waiting transportation to England. The formation of a loyalist Ministry by

jKnssrnJrsKESjasi

E'ihf.t, R. "T'enj.yiiin, Barrister and Solicitor, Albert Buildings, Princes street, Dunedni (ojyjrcsite C.P.0.), lias txusl moneys to lend aa 'approved security.-— Mvfc

Sir J. Gordon Sprigg h a noteworlhy event in the history of Cape Colony. The entry of a loyalist Government into the political control of Cape Colony comes as a surprise, as few who know the Dutch of the Cape would have believed such a thing possible. The Ministry as now formed includes some of the very best men of the loyalist politicians of the colony. Sir J. G. Sprigg was Treasurer in 1895, when the Right Hon. Cecil Rhodes was Premier of the colony. Sir P. H. Faure was Colonial Secretary in the Rhodes Cabinet, and the Hon. J. Frost was the Secretary of Agriculture at that time. After the Jameson raid Mr Rhodes resigned from the Ministry and Sir J. Gordon Sprigg succeeded him as Premier, and carried on the Government until defeated at the general election of 1898 by the Afrikander Bond party, led by Mr Schreiner, under the direction of Mr Hofmeyr, the recognised head of that school of rebellion, the Afrikander Bond. Sir P. H. Faure is accounted to be the only true and loyal Afrikander politician in Cape Colony. He j filled the post of Secretary of Agriculture in the last Sprigg Ministry, butj although elected to the Assembly, he was not included in the Schreiner 'Ministry when the Afrikander party obtained a working majority in the popular chamber, as he was considered to be too independent -to be trusted with an office, when the Afrikander party deemed it advisable to have faithful followers of Mr Hofmeyr in every office in the colony. Mr Rose Innes is the most prominent of the other new Ministers. He .is a member of the legal profession, well versed in mining and corporation laws, and considered the best counsellor in South Africa. During the great mining days on the Rand Mr Rose Innes had an immen.se legal practice at Johannes-burg. He also kept his chambers at Capetown. Mr Graham and Dr Smart are also lawyers by profession, the last-named being considered one of the sharpest debaters in the Legislative Assembly. With a Dutch majority in the Cape Parliament, it will be difficult for Sir J. Gordon Sprigg to carry on the Government unless he "is able to convict three or four of the Afrikander members of treason.

June 21

The cable informs us that Lord Roberts sent an assurance to President Kruger that he would not be deported if he surrendered to the British. The message is stated to have been delivered by his Honor J. A. Shagen Van Leeuven, one of tho associate justices of the High Court of the Transvaal. It is further stated that President Kruger was asleep when the messenger reached his headquarters, and that the judge communicated it to Mr Reitz (the Transvaal Stete Secretary), and that the latter suppressed the contents of the message. I am inclined to think that Lord Roberts will insist on an unconditional surrender by Kruger, Steyn, and Reitz, and probably some others, together with all arms and munitions of war.

By the collapse of a traffic bridge on the Delagoa Bay railway traffic has been suspended. The of the bridge is said to be Hector Spruit, and the Boers suspect escaped prisoners with undermining the structure. I do not know of any such place as Hector Spruit on that railway, and it may be that there is an error in transmission of the message. It is very likely that Nell Spruit, a few miles east of Alkamaar, is the place where the collapse occurred.

Leeuw Spruit, where the British reconstruction train was attacked last Thursday, is the north branch of the Zand River. It rises about two miles north-east of the Zand River station, on the main line of the Free State railway, about 20 miles south of Kroonstad, and after running in a southwesterly direction for a few miles it joins the Zand River on the west side of the line. In their raid the Boers captured 50 prisoners.

The news from South Africa is very meagre, as there is no information regarding the movements of Lord Roberts, or of any of the divisions operating in - the Transvaal. There are a few lines telling of the repairing of the railway tunnel under Laing's Nek for through traffic, which is of itself a very important matter, as the resumption of the running of trains through from Durban to Elandsfontein will enable Lord Robeits to collect supplies and munitions at Pretoria far more rapidly than he could otherwise do if he depended on the Cape lines altogether.

The arming of the men who were released from the Boer compound prison at Waterval with captured Mauser rifles will enable Lord Roberts to furnish 2000 more troops for garrison purposes at Pretoria and Johannesburg than he could have done if Mauser rifles were not available. These 2000 men will relieve an equal number of troops from garrison duties and leave them ready for service at the front whenever and wherever required.

News from the Free State reports General Rundle to be strongly entrenched at Ficksburg on the Basutoland border and at Senekal, about 40 miles north-west of the former town. He is reported to be engaged in shelling Ficksburg, although we were informed over two weeks ago that the Boers had evacuated that town. it is now stated that they are trying to break through the cordon that General Rur.dle has formed around them to the south, as they fear being caught between the cordon General Buller has formed on the north of the Vaal and the southern column iinder General Rundle

There is a report, to the effect that Lord Kitchener narrowly escaped capture on Thursday of last week while sleeping on a train. The lack of news from Lord Roberts is supposed to have arisen through the wires being cut by the enemy.

The rebels at Kuruman, 160 miles northwest of Kimb^riey, are getting tired of the war, and are seeking terms of peace. They were no doubt surprised when informed that unconditional surrender is the only terms offered to rebels.

The report of General Forestier-Walker on the suitability of the Australian horses for military purposes ought to give a great stimulus to horse-breeding throughout the Australasian colonies, particularly go in

view of tlio fact that the Imperial cavalry,, artillery, and transport service will have to be more than doubled to place these branches of the service in anything like an efficient state for defence, while the requirements of the Empire will be further increased if the army is reorganised and made equal- to the demand that is liable to "bemade upon it. The Boer war has shown up the many weak parts? of the military forces of the Empire, and in the near future there will be such a general cry for an efficient army that statesmen of all parties will be ready to bring forward measures to meet the wishes of the public. Ifc will then be found that good, serviceable horses will bring «good prices, and I advise breeders to commence to raise a good staim: of cavalry and artillery _ horses at one? to meet the profitable market that is looinia.-* up in the distance. " ' " June 22

The occupation of Krugersdorp b^ General Hunter and the entry of General Baden-Powell into Rustenburg practically places the British troops in the Transvaal on the fringe of the difficult country thai the Boers will strive to hold out in, provided they have sufficient supplies of food and ammunition to continue the' struggle for a political existence as a sovereign State.- Stretching across • the Transvaal from Rustenburg is a strip of extremely rough country known" as the. Magaliesberg 'Mountains. The Magaliesbergs ' have 'a. slight .trend to the north-east. The'western end of the range may, be said to he just east of the Hex River, about 36 miles north-west of Krugersdorp, and from there the chain runs east across the Crocodile, Yokeskey and Hennops Rivers, which gradually wind their way through the steep kranzes (i.e., gorges) that seem to cleave the rugged mountains apart from each other in such a rude fashion that one is almost forced to think of the mighty forces that in the distant past convulsed the earth and set it upon- end in such a way that one wonders how it remains stationary, for in many places there is not the slightest space between the towering cliffs save the narrow defile through which a rushing stream winds its turbulent way to mingle its waters with the Limpopo, 'that rises in the Magaliesbergs about six miles north of Krugersdorp, runs to the north-west, and, having been joined by the Marico River about 10 miles south of Handekol, runs to the north and east, and divides the British protectorate' of Bechuanaland from the Boer Republic, until it reaches the 22nd degree of latitude, in the vicinity of Tuli, on the Rhodesian frontier, where, being joined by the Tuli River,- it turns to the east, and marks the Transvaal and Rlyadesian boundary to tli2 eastern limits of their respective territories, and thence forward it flows towards the Indian Ocesn through Portuguese East Africa — through, the very worst fever-stricken jungle in. South Africa.. Fully three-quarters of tho territory of the Transvaal, as well as many, thousands of square miles of Bechuanalandy Rhodesia, and Portuguese East Africa ao drained by the Limpopo River, and, as a result of this, the country along 'its banks' is inclined to become overflowed during' ths rainy season. -These periodical overflows cause a great growth of vegetation and gives rise to the rapid decay of the old growth of the previous year, the process being all the quicker on account of the tropical heat that is poured upon the lowlying country from an almost vertical sun. The valley of the Limpopo, with its tributaries, offer the 'best possible sport for the hunter after big game that is to be fouvd in any part of t Africa, but a sportsman would be unwise to -venture his life in that country during the summer months, as ths risks from fever are too great to run, even for the sake of bagging the king of beasts. From the north over the Limpopo River General Carrington and his colonial Bushmen will move south, forming the northern portion of the cordon that is slowly folding in its embrace the fugitive burgher army of Oom Paul. The good news is chronicled that the railway communication from Capetown to Bulawayo has been reopened. The despatches do not state this in so many words, but it says that the transport Manchester Port, with\the Queensland Imperial Bushmen, has sailed from Beira for AlgooBay (i.e., Port Elizabeth, Cape Colony), and that other detachments of the Bushmen had preceded the Queenslanders to the Cape. , Reading between the lines, this would mean that the railway to Bulawayo is in working order, and that the Bushmen can be landed at Port Elizabeth and railed to Bulawayo to join General Carrington's brigade far more quickly than they could be railed from Beira to Marandellas, and marched thence to the same destination.

Although there has been little to base an opinion on regarding the movements of General Carrington's force, there is enough