'LETTERS PROM THE FRONT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2433, 31 October 1900, Page 32

'LETTERS PROM THE FRONT.

Captain Hume, of the New Zealand Per_<ienent Artillery (son of Lieutenant-colonel Hume), who is serving with the Royal Artillery in South Africa, in the course, of a letter to a friend in Auckland, says: — i The best show I was in was at Six-miles Spruit, before Pretoria, the day before entering, and here we and the navy 4.7 in guns ' got into a very hot corner, and had to retire our guns to a more favourable position. Up ' to this I had 'only been under a little shell fire, but here, as I say, we got into a tight J.place, and before we knew where we were twe had, besides shell fire, pom-poms, Maxims, and M&user bullets, coining in all around and among us. Strange to say, our only I casualties were the naval commander, De j&orsey, and a couple of the men wounded, .the former by a pom-pom, rather badly, but [■I'm glad to gay he ia now aomg well, and was |invalided home. I was standing just along- ' side/ of him. when he fell, and we only then realised the position we were in, and it took rtU9 some little time to get out of it ; we were Jihen being pelted at from about 1500 to 1600 .yfwds. Bullocks are not the swiftest of beasts fej6 get round and drive off; however, we got jshem round with the guns, with the loss of jjfchres bullocks and two mules. The Boers' artillery shooting on this, and all other oceajeions I have seen, was very good, as far as ranging, and their shells were among us jat-onee, but luckily for us there is not much jfoursting effect from them, and unless they jihit you direct there is not much to be concerned about. But if their shells acted as (.■well, and their fuses, as ours do we should' tfhave had a bad time. One of the most inter,e3ting fights we had was on. June 8, at Silverjißon, when our camp was taken by surprise, stnd 941b shells started to drop among us. This (was confined to a Boer Long Tom and ourselves, and nobody else took part, but we had a good audience of the Guards, etc. The ;3oers brought this gun up on a railway truck, jand fired from the line, and got about eight shots in at us before we got our two guns inio .motion. Their shooting wa3 bad, and I fancy bwas almost their extreme range — viz., 9200 (Yards. . This is almost the limit of our sin. cHowever, we started on them, our first three {shot's not being very good. We then got .nearer the mark, and liad really, hard luck in mot putting their gun out of action and capIturing it. Our seventh shot pitched on the line between the rails, about 15 yards short, 'and the lyddite smashed up the rail on both 'eides. This was enough for them, and we caw the smoke of 'the engine, and off they i vent. If by luck our shot had been over 'instead of just under, they, of course, would not hare been able to steam away, and a force could have gone on and captured the gun. OMy next fight of importance was at Diamond I Hill. This was a big go, the enemy having a splendid position, on a long line of rough. Ikopjes, with an admirable retreating cover. This" battle lasted a good two days,' and although I saw most of it, being in a good position, we oureelves were not trembled much iby them, except from a little field gun fire, •which did no harm to us. On the first day vre fired some 80 rounds, mostly lyddite, to clear their positions, and we did a lot of damage, we were told; but it is very hard to estimate really what damage you have /done, as you find little on the spot, las a rule, after a fight'; the Boerd always Ibury or carry away their dead or wounded. On the second day a message was sent clown to our guns to come up and assist a field battery that was in difficulties. When getting up. it was found this battery — I think the 82nd, if I remember right — was in a very ,tight place. There they were, all lying down 'fiat on their stomach 3, in rear of their guns, i -which they could not stand up to and serve, ,ao great was the enemy's fire from -fibout ,1600 yds. A good position luckily was found for our -two guns, some few hundred yards in right rear of the field battery, and pretty well under cover. After we had fired four or five rounds of lyddite, the Boers began to retreat in all directions, and bo the field guns were enabled to "be handled, and' then did good execution with ours. The casualties altogether in this fight on our side were about 2£o, but all fought magnificently, the C.I.V. doing very good work, with-the Guards Brigade, and others. Some few days after we occupied the positions we had been shelling; we found six or Beven Boers buried, about a couple of feet under, and the Guards reburied ithem. One -was found with his head riprht off, evidently the effects of our lyddite. Our shells are only 501b weight, being just about flialf of the" Boer Long Tom, which are 941b, ■but there is no getting away from the effects of lyddite. It must be awful, and it seems lo be the only thing to clear the_enemy out . of such positions as they are invariably in. It is, I think, a pity that the artillery branch of the service seems to have been sadly ne'iglected at the beginning of the campaign, and |1 attribute a great many of our reverses to I this, as it seems in many instances our troops i were outranged. I have myself seen a whole ' division stuck up by a Boer long-range gun, which the field and horse artillery could not | encounter for want of range, and then these sin and 4.7 in guns come in ; and I think even these guns can be improved on, and a food light modern long-range gun, with, moile mounting, which may be termed guns of position,. will play a great part in the future. Most of the shooting we have done has been practically sniping at small parties of the enemy. The New Zealanders I hear well of wherever T am, and although I've seen very little- of them, I know they have done very good work. I met some of them in Pretoria a few days after the general entry, which they were not in time for. I felt very proud, when marching past Lord " Bobs " on the day of entry into Pretoria: as my major was away, I had command of the two guns. Trooper J. Soreiic:on, reported by cable this week as having been killed, was one of the three CaverEham representatives of the fourth contingent, the other two being Trooper J. Moore anc 1 Trooper W. E. Christie (now Regimental Quartermaster - sergeant). The Caversham committee, wins chope the above three from several applicants fur horses tiad

equipment, were very much impressed with Sorenson. His appearance and manner were manly and courteous. He was very anxious to go to the front, and was a first-class horseman. He had gone to Ohristchurch. to get a place in the third contingent, but after being in camp for several days was rejected at the last moment to make room for someone else. He than came back to Dunedin, and was successful in getting away with the fourth. Before leaving here he was allowed to change the horse allotted to him (Oorstorphine) for one presented by M'Leod Bros., and in a letter tp the mayor (Mr T. K. Sidey) last week he stated he still had this horse, and he considered it the best of the lot. He was in good health, and had participated in the fighting when Captain Harvey was shot. Trooper Sorenson appeared to be one who would want to do his snare of the fighting, and not shirk any hard work, and all who knew hhn will very much regret to hear of his death.

Acting-captain J. M. Nicolson, at present serving in South Africa, writing from Ottoshoop to a friend in Dunedin, says: — "For some months past we have been trotting up and down the country looking -for the Boers, but it was only on the 16fch August that we fell in with them, and gave them a lively time of it. We drove them off one hill, but fotmd they had taken possession of a larger one behind, so we wer.B told to take that. Captains Harvey and Fulton started down the hill and across the valley, while I engaged the Boers from the top of our own hill. They did not open fire on our men until they were very near the top, but our men continued to advance, and soon reached the summit. We then saw that they were recreating, so I volunteered to go and help them. I started down our hill and across the valley under a heavy cross fire, and started to climb the hill. I reached the top just "in time, as our men were slowly retiring; but as soon as they saw us coming -they- atood their ground, and we soon drove the Boers off. It was a hard fight, and the bullets wereflying round me like a hailstorm, but, I am thankful to say, I escaped with only a few scratches. We had two killed and eight wounded, but the Boers had considerably more, as their bodies were lying all round us. There was fighting on Saturday and Sunday also, but we did not take much part in it. On Monday, however, we had a terrible ' go.' They (the Boers) seemed to be firing on us from all aide 3, and some of our men had narrow escapes, but after about seven hour 3* fighting we drove them back, and were not troubled any more that day."