LETTERS FROM OTAGO MEN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2428, 26 September 1900, Page 30

LETTERS FROM OTAGO MEN.

"" Lieutenant Tubman, of the fourth contingent, and now of the .Fourth. Regiment of the second brigade of the Rhodesian Field. Force, Avriting- from Fort Tuli on July 22 to Mr J. W. Smith, of the, High .street School, says: — " We arrived here on the 19ch inst., after ( trekking 160 miles from Bulawayo, and to-day . wo got orders to go back again. I used "tothink Rhodesia was a fine country for a young man to go to, but a short stay here dispelled that idea. I think Lhere is less freedom here than there was in the Transvaal before thc^ war. The Chartered Company own the country, and taxation is five times as great as in Great; Britain.'- If a man discovers a mine and floats it one-third of the shares (fully paid) go to the company, and if the mine is privately owned the company gets one-third of the gold. If a man opens a store in the countiy lie has to pay an enormous tax for the privilege. One storekeeper, who owns a small store, informed me that lie had to pay £500 a year for the privilege. There is very little production in the country. Last year the gold production, was 6000 ounces, and thousands of reefs are pegged off, but the mine*; are only of a low grade. Everyone is waiting for the boom in order to sell, but I am. afraid tho boom will never come: Bulawayo is a handsome little town, about the size of Oaniara, but it is run on English capital. The war has caused everything to be at siege prices. I took a man to dinner one day, and we had a fair meal and a bottle of ale, but it cc.it £1 Is. The climate is not bad just now, but I believe it is very bad in tho rainy season.. The Chartered Company decided- the other week to import Chinese iabour for the mirier. The company have been endeavouring to sell to the Imperial Government, but the figure is too high. We got word that all who wish to c>'o Home after the war were to send in their names. I don't know if I will get, as only a limited nan^jer can be taken." Lieutenant Tubman mentions that ths horse which -he lost was recovered.

Mr -A: T. Price, of this- city, has kindly handed us a letter received by him from Corporal James Low, of the Otago section of the fourth contingent, from which we make some extracts. Writing from Mafeking on August, 8, Corporal Low sa3 r s, inter alia: — " Over four months have elapsed since we landed nt Beira iintil our arrival here. After a stay of three weeks at Marandellas, the company was split up, about 20 of us being left behind to look after &ick horses, some of which we had to shoot eventually. We left Marandellas on Juue 18, and after 23 dayfa' inarching .reached Bulawayo. Our trek was 14- miles a day, but we had to march on foot more than half the way. Major Davis, of the first contingent, took us over at Bulawayo. After two days' rest at this place we were ordered to Fort Tuli, a fever-stricken place, on the borders. The country to wards Fort Tuli is very rough, with the exception of the place where the Matabele war took place, which, is a large plain. When we were ready to start from Manzeyama, we were ordered back to Mafeking — a distance of over 80 miles. When we got to Bulawayo we had a week's spell, and then entrained for Mafeking. About 20 miles distant from Mafeking we could see where all the lines had been pulled up, and the bridges and houses destroyed. When we came in sight of Mafeking- 1 never -"got such a surprise in my life. The town, which is about the size of Milton, is situated on a large plain, with not a kopje in sight. There is no dotibt General Baden-Powell was a good man to hold such a place. The Boers can have 'no -heart for one rush would have taken the town. General Baden-Powell says it was only bluff that held the Boers in check. The town was, however, well fortified and well trenched, and about 17 Ti'ere posted at each fort. Sometimes these men could' hardly drag themselves along, and one of tho sisters of the convent, which I was through, says they often had to take them in and feed them, so weak were they. The^town was terribly knocked about by the Boers' 96-pounder, and whenever it ysaa fired the .people used to run lq_theirbomb-

proof houses like rabbits. These shelters. wera . only holes dug in the ground and .covered * with sandbags and earth. . The women's laager was an underground trench about a quarter of a mile long, and hardly high enough to stand up in; but nothing could touch them there^ 1 got pieces of shells that "blew up the Railway 1 Hotel, but the next man that went for a piece had to pay £2 10s for it. There is none to bo got now, and one man wants £200 for a collection. We have just received orders to go . to Rensburg, where I suppose we will^seo some fighting." A letter has been .received from Trumpeter " Wilkinson (brother of Mr John Wilkinson* . solicitor, of Dunedin), who is attached to the fourth contingent. Trumpeter Wilkinson is regimental' clerk to the Fourth Regiment (N.Z.), Second Brigade, and his letter is dated from Tuli, in Rhodesia, 21st July. He states , that the place is known -as " the hell. of South . Africa," the Kaffir word " Tuli " signifying "'hell." It is infested with rats,, scorpions, and a variety of venomous insects. • Trumpeter Wilkinson states that the troops had, marched over 503 miles from June 7 to July 21. He used to laugh in "New Zealand at being told tlmt a country town comprised a •" pub^" store, and blacksmith's shop;. but in South." Africa a Kafnr's kraal with perhaps about 20 niggers is given a jawbreaking/nanie such as Mangolazana. One thinks that one iscpming to a- large town, and gives Ms gear an

exti'a rub for luck. Trumpeter Wilkinson, adds that he has had both typhoid, and malaxial fever, but he was getting strong, again.. "He further remarks : — '-If- it were not for' the tucker we fellows bought at- stores on the.read •■ we would be ppor-looking objects, and ,it is_a> disgrace to New Zealand that they, sent us -a\',ay without a good supply of flour and oatmeal, when there was to much' money over. ' What is the use of, sending remounts to ue, ' or even to any of tho contingents? We will . never see them. They are landed- at the Cape, and the Imperial officers simply collar them, for themselves, and send us scrags and boj.es of bones. "This is a fact, and it is not good' enough." -• ' In Hie course of 'a. letter written 30 -miles from Middleburg, on July 27, and published . in the North Oiago Times, Trumpeter John- ■ stone says that the main yarl.of the first three • contingents are with the column under Colonel Pilcher. Colonel Robin is in"charge of them. They are all looking fit and in the best of health, and, better than all, they aro still upholding their reputations a* scouts ; in fact, % they are the best out here.* They have only ' •one drawback, and that is that they 'are not > able to talk Kaffir or Dutch, with a knowledge of which they would be able to knock all the ' South African scouts off the slate. Every officer whom they have served under" has nothing but praise for them. At present they are talked about a by lank and file and by all the troops they have run against, and by a great number who have not met them.

The Wanganui Chronicle publishes an interesting letaei from Trooper Thorpe, of the first contingent. The trooper, writing from Pretoria on June 25, mentions ;some of tho avocatioij.s followed by various 'members o£ our contingents. Trooper Anthony Tucker, , of Wang-aimi, who joined the second contingent from the Wellington PGst Office, is chief telegraphist at the railway, station, Bra-snipe.- ; tein, one of 'the railway stations, of Johannes- v .burg.- - ; New -Zealanders have al§6 .secured"" several clerkship?. Joseph, a Maori,', of \ Napier, and of the third contingent, is stoking, on one of the engines, and seems to think' it great I mi. *" ' Fred Shaw io a platelayer,- in. charge of a number of' E-gffirs, at Krugersdorp.". Hobbs, df the second contingent, Is/ ,in the Crown ' Reef mine'; Bunting is in' .charge of a small station". ' Sergeant Grant, of the Permanent Artillery, together with, - -several others, also are at Br'amfontein. Ser-geant-trumpeter Fox attends a crossing gate in Johannesburg, and so 1 on. But if they like they can all rejoiri' their regiment at'the \ end of the war, for "the director, in an order, says that anyone who volunteers for railway rervice, and who turns out unsuitable, returns to his regiment,' and also* when his regiment; leaves for home, should he wish to do so. •

Trooper Thorpe applied for a, job .as a'railway surveyor's assistant, and" by the assistance of Captain Greenwood, of the Canadians, who is in charge of the railway, and; his chief clerk, a Wcptport member of the second contingent, named Young, obtained work ' on the railway survey from Bramfontein to the Tar.l River, by way of Doornkop. The ■writer Eays he will try and stay there for a few years,, and should a land and survey department "bo formed, intends to apply for a billet, 'but lie does not expect that will happen foT a while yet. -----

THE TSTEW" ZEALAND ROUGH RIDERS.- . WITH THE BATTERY SECTION.; Trooper H. G. MT'Leod, of the New Zea-r^ land 15-pounder Battery (fourth contingent),' writing from .Mafeking on the 10th ult.,.describes an engagement in which the section' which joined- the artillery took part near Zeerust. He says: "Our force, numbering 'somo 1500 or 1600, was composed wholly .of colonials xmtil we reached .Zeerust. Th e - force then consisted of Bushmen, Cameron's Scouts. New-Zealanders (15-pounder Battery)," and West Australians, subsequently reinforced by fovir oi five squadrons of Paget's Horse, two Maxims, and the Pom-pom Battsry under Major Gosling. The scouts first; located the enemy under cover behind a hedge, nbout one mile and a-half away from, where we had outspamied the previous night. We put in a shot or two, the men behaving splendidly. We srofc one or two shells, which, burst 400 yds or 500 yds in front of us, but the next shell burst near No. 1 gun, a fragment striking Lieutenant Bosworth on the belt. We then , advanced and got into position near a small kopie, when things developed into 'a general fight. A party of tho enemy's scouts were concealed- in some cover - to our left, where they were located by our* men. A shot was put right into the' middle of them, the men being complimented by General Oarrjngton on their good marksmanship, and as the Boers retreated at full gallop across the veldt the Bushmen gave them. • four or five good volleys. We changed our-po'si-tion again, the shells coming round very thick whilst doing so. It was a regular duel now, our guns doing splendid work. Their guns were nine and 12-pounders. At 1 p.m. we were treated to rifle fire from the enemy'? trenches. Corporal Robertson, in charge" of' No. 3 ammunition waggon, having a narrow escape from a bullet which struck a bottle in his coat pocket, and grazed his -hip. Ats a quarter to 2 p.m. the enemy ceasect' fire, and Captain Baker, in charge of a detachment, went out to "draw their fire again. He succeeded, and shortly afterwards we had/ the good luck to disable one of their guns. 1 " They ceased again, and shortly afterwards we were again at it. the pom-poms and! Maxims doing splendid work, Lieutenant Bosworth again having a narrow shave, 'this time from a richochet. At about 3' p.m.;

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two guns were left at Wonderfontein (where we fought), and two were left a mile further back. After a lull we opened again with our two-pounder guns, and the enemy shelled us vigorously, and darkness prevented further hostilities, and we- returned to the River camp. While we were engaging the enemy in the front a party of their sharpshooters stole along behind some cover, and opened fire on the ambulance and Red Cross waggons, at 4 p.m., at the Mexico River. We had left a pom-pom on a kopje just above us, and we raked their position again and again, and they 'sang dumb ' in a .very short time. Corporal Robertson was the only one in the battery to receive a wound, Ihe" other casualties, mostly among the Bushmen, were nine wounded. A lieutenant and five of Paget's Horse, and a sergeant and eight men of the Bushmen, were captured by the enemy. The men of our battery bore the fire splendidly, and were complimented by Major Powell on their marksmanship. Two sections (eight) of the Bushmen, while lying in the grass, were confronted by three Boers on foot, who came over a ridge and asked them actually" to throw down their arms. They replied'by shooting .two of them, and the. third managed to escape. Roused at dark next morning", we .. made a. reconnaissance and returned to Mafeking, via Zeerust. We had got a ihile-or two on the ' back track ' when our scoutd located the enemy in 'some tree's" to the left. We -got our guns>m -action and cleared them out. After two hours' fighting w©; advanced "again and engaged the enemy, who were located in a sort of donga on'jilie slope of a Kopje alongside the road; The slope had been burnt off .the night before by the Boers, and it was no ea^ matter to see them. V/ie gave them 10 or 12 rounds when the Maxims and pom-poms clipped in and raked tfie whole slope, routing them. After this things developed into a running fight, the scouts doing most of the firing. On the Monday Lieutenant Paget was wounded in the leg. The enemy were continually sniping our rear on our returning.- In a deserted farmhouse, near the place of cur first engagement, a wounded Boer was found, with_.aji arm and leg shot off, and Lad^evidently been left for vs to piekiip. AganTleavins Zeerusfc we proceeded to Ottoshoop. and were joined by a detaclimont^pf the Iris^i Fusilier:;, who arrived with 30 or 40 Boar prisoner**, captured alone; the road, amongst them being one of Kruger's grandsons, arrested at Zeerus'.." Mr S. L. Brookes, of Anderson's Bay, has received from his son. Trooper Brookes, a copy of the Mafeking- Mail and Protectorate Guar dian. It is a bmnll sheet, published daily. and will no doubt be treasured as a memento of a visit paid to a town, the name of which is sure to go down in history. , .