The Poetry Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. MONDAY, JUNE 30, 1879.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 822, 30 June 1879, Page 2

The Poetry Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. MONDAY, JUNE 30, 1879.

The interest felt in the war now being carried on in £ululand, will become considerably intensified since the cruel and untimely death of the Prince Imperial. The recall of Lord Chelmsford from South Africa) and the appointment in his place of Sir Garnet Wolsey, will riot have created aiiy surprise among those who liavo studied*' the progress of events at the Cape. ];) Long before the disaster at Isandula, Lord Chelmsford . had expressed a desire to be I'elieved from his responsibilities, ami there could scarcely have been found a better successor than the General who has succeeded him. He is every inch a soldier. Moreover, he'eombines with liia military ; experienpe that rough knowledge of diplomacy of which every military man who hasrbnen thrown into contact with savage but formidable tribes is possessed. As a leader of expeditions against savages and over difficult; ground, Sir Garnet has already secured a reputation first by the expedition at the Red JRiver> and then by the. expedition to Ashantee. Moreover, he was for six mouths Administrator of Natal**

whither he was sent in consequence of the Langabalele acave ; and the knowledge of the country thus obtained is another considei-ation which makes the appointment appropriate. On his arrival he will find he has a hard task to perform. To carry on the war to a successful issue will be the difficulty, although he has lai*ge forces, and .the popular feeling will be with him. He will find it still more difficult to make an early peace, because both soldiers and . civilians will be against' him.. As i*egards the campaign : itself it presents" ■• numerous"obstacles which even a t clever, general can hardly surmount. r Ih v one sense the more troops the General has the weaker he is. The more men and beasts he has to: feed the greater will be the need of supplies and the greater th.e ; ;difficulty of obtaining them. * An army which c&riuot be nioVed, 1 a-^yi which cannot be fed at every place where it may halt, is as bad as no army; at all; nay^ worse. Supplies of food' i are not to be had in the cpuntry. - Everything except; beef and mutton must be carried by. sea j and Port Natal, the only" har- ' borir, is one of the worst in the world. The entrance over the bar is always,, difficult, : and . sometimes impossible ; the roadstead is dangerous, and the landing of cargo precarious, dilatory, and expensive. Nor is the trouble over when the -food is landed,, Fifteen hundred wagons and* thirty thousand oxen to draw them are not easily to be obtained in a country whose resources were inadequate-to supply the like means of transport for half- the present forces. But, even suppose these "wagons and oxen to be obtained, there still remains the problem of feeding them during a march of about 180 miles, from the port to the north of Zululand,- where the king and his warriors have taken tap' their ground. Not a blade of grass,' if we may believe the telegrams, has been left to feed the. invading army of horses and cattle. " Fire has . cleared off the nourishment of the beasts who are to carry food for the men. Cavalry, artillery and commissariat will be in an awkward plight. From , the Utrecht base, on the trans vaal side, the problem is just as hard to solve, because, though the distance is less, the start must be made in a hostile country, and all the provisions must be drawn for several hundred miles over the hilly roads of. Natal. And even assuming all these difficulties to be surmounted, the Zulu position, is such as to forbid the action of cavalry, to defy the approach of artillery, and to give no play to musket and bayonet until after ; protracted engineering operations 'have payed the way for the passage of troops. The mountain is a closed casket except to the, mountaineer, although the engineer, if time be allowed him, can break the look. . . Such" are the troubles which will have to be surmounted by the distinguished soldier 'who h&s J been sent to Natal. But Sir Garnet Wolsey has shown himself to . be -not; only a .man' of action, but as a man of thought. His breast hhizes with, decorations, the rewards of his many triumphs. Would that we had such a man to act with us at the present juncture. The Maori difficulty would then speedily be overcome without the aid of eithei' sugar of flour. The troubles of New Zealand, from the commencement of the country being 'colonized, have arisen owing to the absence of a master mind — the want of a man wise in counsel, and able .and daring in the field.