ON THE EVE OF THE WAR.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 8663, 4 November 1899, Page 4

ON THE EVE OF THE WAR.

THE CAMP AT LADYSMITH. REGIMENTS AND MANOEUVRES. "Is there to be war?" That is the first question (says a correspondent at LadyBmifch of the Natal U itness, writing early last month) people will hear on reaching Ladysmitb, and " What i« the latest newß?" Maritzburg, with its military everywhere, its endless processions of heavily-laden qtoromissuriat waggons, and its khaki battalions, which seem never to rest, is at the present time but a counterpart of Ladymith. Here the hoavy mule waggons are ever on the move between the railway and the camp. Heavy though their loads are, and many though their journeys be, the miles of boxes and the Btackß of sacks and bales at the station are over becoming larger. But whether tho transport is unablo to remove the truck loads as they arrive, or whether tho material is destined for a further journey by rail, is one of those secrets regarding which the heads of tbo A.S.O. do not encourage enquiries. LadysmUh camp has had its permanent structures recently enlarged, but now the array of t«nts, erected by the different, regiments and contingents as they arrive, promises, by its magnitude, to shortly, overshadow the older portion. On the loft, on entorine the camp proper, tho tents of the Royal Engineers have been pitched. Across the Klip River the bell tents and the marques of the Liverpool Regiment stretch northwards in long lines, and standing on higher ground, is tho 10th Mountain Battery of the Royal Artillery. Their formation is tho old and familiar one, two rows of tents with the space-between occupied by the horses, mules, and waggons ; at one end a cluster or. mess tents, at the other the guns of tho battery glint in the sunshine. Other regiments a» they arrive will also be quartered along the side of the river, and there are rumors, of the usual fatherless sort, floating about camp that within a brief period there are to be two miles of tnnU alone the banks of the Klip River. Considering the number ot the tent lines, two miles uf the presentwidth represent accommodation for a fairly extensive selection of the British Army. Many improvements havo been effected wilhin the permanent portion of the camp, "TintoHu," as it is sometimes facetiously referred to. Tho moat, important work is the drainage, which, where it existed before, has now undergone changes for the bettor, while it has been introduced in portions which knew it not before. On the eminence to the right on Hearing the camp, opposite the polo giound, the engineers are engaged on t he eruci ion of a new hospital. The building will be long, stretching from east to west, with a wing towarda the south. There will bo I.TO beds, and the hospital will bo constructed on the latest, which means scientific, principles. The health of the troops ai Ladysinilh is excellent. Surgeon-Major Bruce has abjured horso-sickneus and its mysteries, anil devotes himself to tlie treatment of Mr Atkins — greatly to the benefit of the said Mr Atkins. General Sir William I'uim-Symons spent tho ueek at Ladysniitli. On Friday there was a field day, and all the troops in camp were out. Early in the morning the forces marched from camp, and a grand sight they presenter! as in solid masses they swept round the hills behind Ladysmitli The big guns thundered amongst the hills to tho north dui ing the day, and tho in- fi fantiy ami cavalry put in much hard work. I' It was not till the sum was sinking behind ■"' the Drakensburg th.it the last of the rcgi- " incuts, the Live! pool, swung home, dust E covered, and red tuiuk visa^rs, each m»u " the picture of riotous good l\«alth and of b manly vigor, m

A poll on the (jiieslion of tlip graiitiiiL' of a concession to the Auckland Klcctric Tramways Company, to tonstruct ekelnc tr.unways in Auckland, will be titan on Friday, November 10th. The voting i>» the quostion, according to the Tramways Am, is entirely in the handa of the opponents of the scheme, who have to secure •Hiu-lliiril of the total number of votes foi which volets are inscribed on the roll. The tota.l number of voters on tho roll at the recent municipal election »vas slightly over 9UOO, so that that the opponents of the trwmvay concenriim liare to .eccure o\er 300J votes to defeat the scheme.

A BRITISH ARMY CORPS.

HOW IT IS MADE UP.

Ax Army Corps lihb been despatched to South Africa with Sir Redvers Buller. What is an Army Corps? Mr Charles L«we makes answer in the London Graphic : — "An army is composed of several Army Corps. Germany, for example-, has 22, and all as like each other in respect of organisation as a couple of pins, so that to study and comprehend one of these huge tactical units is to understand them all. Not less dclieato ami nicely adjusted is the mechanism of a watch than the organisation of a modern Army C»rps, with its due | proportion of troops of all arms, their relative functions, and their independence of a kind so complete that if one part of the machine fails or is faulty the whole is in danger of coming to grief. Fur less thought and ingenuity have been expended on the development of the steam engine than on the delicate, yet torrible, engine of war called Army Corps, which is the embodiment of the military experience and dcviccfnlncss of centuries, and may without exaggeration be described as the highest liiumph of human organisation. Ready for the field with its necessary complement, or adjunct, of independent cavalry (brigade or division), a British army corps may bo put down in round numbers as 40,000 men, and though this is also about the war-footing strength of most Continental Corps, more or less, there arc some respects in which our miniature armies of this kind differ in organisation from those of the rest of Europe. On the Continent, for oxample, the invariable rule is to have an Army Corps of two infantry divisions, while with us there are three, each consisting of two brigades, composed of four battalions, so that a British Corps thus comprises twenty-four tattalions, each about WOO strong, in addition to a twenty-fifth battalion that serves with a detached body called the "Corps Troops" — to bo^ presently explained. The pack that has to be carried by each infantry soldier, including entrenching and uther tools, varies from Gli to 591bs, or from 4 to 5 stone, including 100 rounds ot ammunition. To each battalion is attached a machine gun, and to each brigade a bearsr company, a field hospital section, and a supply column, furnished by the Army Service Corps. Then come what are called Divisional Troops attached to each infantry division, namely, one squad- , run of cavalry (140 officers andmeu), a brigade division (three batteries, or eighteen guns) of Field Artillery, ft company of Royal Engineurs, a supply column, and ammunition column of 41 vehicles, and ,t field hospital. Here a word about the medical, or rather surgical arrangements. A Bearer company Ivis ten ambulance waggons (four-horse). The regimerilol stretcher parties carry tho wounded to the collecting station, whence i hey are carried by the ambulances of the Bearer Company to the dressing station, about 1600 to 2000 yards in rear of the fighting line. The more serious cases are attended to at the dressing station, whence the wounded are transported to the Field Hospital, which contains 100 beds, and is placed beyond the range of fire. THE CORPS TROOrS. I have referred to the Brigade Division (three batteries, each of six guns) of Field Artillery which is attached to each division of infantry. But apart from this detailed force of guns there is another muss of artillery — six batteries of fitld and two cf horse— which may be said to bear to the Army Corps as a whole a relation somewhat analogous to that of the Cavalry Brigade. This is called the Corps (formerly " Reserve ") Artillery, which ia associated with a body of men called " Corps Troops," consisting of one battalion of infantry (and machine gun), a regiment of cavalry, a miscellaneous force of Engineers, including pontoon, balloon, telegraph, railway and field-park sections (the latter carrying technical equipment, lithographic, printing, and photographic) appliances), fifild hospital, supply column, supply park, field bakery (of 120 ovens), and ammunition park. A Field Company R. E. is accompanied by 2 pontoons, and can construct a bridge 15yds long, for all aims, and 25yds long for infantry, while a Pontoon Troop has 16 pontoon-waggons (6 horse) with 4 trestle waggons (6-horse), and can construct a bridge 105 yds for all arms, and 185 yds for infantry. The " Corps Troops " above referred to are of all arms, and are at the direct disposal of the great general commanding the Army Corps, who thus has it in his power —over the heads, so to speak, of h' s divisional generals — to influence the fortunes of the fight by reinforcing any part of the battlefield. The battalion of the " Corps Troops" would usually be employed on detached duties ; the cavalry regiment ' 8 intended to reinforce, when necessary, the various squadrons of the divisional cavalry ; while the corps artillery is meant to reinforce any part required.'and give the necessary impulse to any desired course of action. Thus it was by the massing of their corps artillery with their divisional guns that the Germans were enable to enclose and crush tho French at Sedan ; and the guiding principle among gunners, initiated by Napoleon — the configuration of the ground being favorable thereto— is to ma9s their concentrated fire so as to produce a moral as well as a material effect which nothing can withstand. It was the omisßion to mass their artillery and concentrate its fire on Plevna which rendered it impossible for tho Russians to carry' by storm this Balkan stronghold of Osman Pasha. At Omdurman the individual machine guns of our battalions did such terrible execution because they were massed in batteries. Imagine the effect producible by the massed artillery of one Army Corps consisting of seventeen batteries or over 100 guns, which would take up a continuous action frontage -of one and a quarter miles ! Other telling figures are those which measure the length of the ammunition colums of an Army Corps, in column of route, three miles ; and supposing that a general action were to last for an entire day, the whole of this ammunition would be exhausted, and recourse would have to be had to the depot in the rear. When a complete Army Corps is advancing by column of route, extending from twenty-seven to thirty miles, the place of the corps' artillery is in rear of the leading division, so as to be ready for action at any moment. If the German army on a war footing were to march thus in column of route, infantry four abreaßt, etc., the rear, according to Von dor Goltz, would be at the Russian frontier when the leading men were stepping across the French border.

j TOE CAVALRY BRIGADE. g Mention has been miule of divisional y cavalry (one squadron), which must be a carefully distinguished from a cavalry! c division, to bo presently explained. The [ former, with us, consists of one squadron t attached to each infantry division, so that 3 one regiment of cavalry which only takes f three sqnadrons into the field— the fourth L - being left as a depot or training coiitre for t recruits— is thus equally distributed among • the infantry division as an auxiliary mounted aim. While a cavalry division | (or brigade) is an independent body, and t may move about on various kinds of mis- , sions ut the will of the general commands ing, it is the primary duly of the divisional . cavalry to stick to'its own infantry, fur- . nisliing il witli orderlies, protecting it on i tho line of march, scouting for it, supportj iiij; it in notion, escorting its guns, ami . keeping up the connection between it and . the rest of the foot-folk in the fighting line ; whereas the bulk of the cavalry— organised p as a brigade, or occasionally as a division— , has for function to lead an independent I kind of existence— pl.inotary, sotospeak — pushing forward to reconnoitre the enemy's position, or hanging a screen on the dispositions of its own side ; acting, in fact, ■ ,is the searching eye or' the impenetrable , screen of tin; corps to which it is attached. Bill, an I huve said, the average cavalt-v foive attached to tin Army Curps is a brigade of threo regiments, each of which, like tho iufaiitiy battalions, has a machine gun ; while it is also attended by n battery (six guns) of U.H.A., two companies of mounted infantry with two machine guns, a mounted company of R.E , a bearer company, a field hospital, a supply column, and Ati ammunition column. It takes 171 officers and men to man a field battery of six guns, and 184 for a horse battery. A company of mounted infantry consists if nbout 150 officers and men, nnd in South Africa, where all the Boers may be said to be of this class of lighting men, the value of sucl* an arm will be obvious. The British army has four Mirviess — mounted infantry, mounted doUi'lunenls of engineers, machine-gun detiuhnu'iils, and signaller ("flag wagging") companies -which have no counterpart in any oilier European army. In another important lespect, too, we differ from the iivcnt military-Powers, notably Germany. The British organisation relies for supplies on iv line of uommunic.uions, which must in turn be secured by a separate force of a strength commensuiato with the length of the line, and pie-sunpo.ses that the Troops will not move more than one day's march from the advanced depot. According!}' carriage is only provided for three an,) .i-half days' (including emergency) lations, while (he Gurmans carry with them food for eight, aud the Russians for twelve days.

It will, therefore, bo seen that the securing of our lino of communicationi) connecting our chain of provision and ammunition depots, like those sprinkled along their route by Arctic travellers, would form at onco the most essential, yet the most difficult, task in a war with the Boors (of the Freo State as well as the Transvaal), necessitating tho employment almost of half as many men as we send forward to lure the enemy into a pitched battle.

There ia no doubt that we live in an uge if worry unrl i-xeilement, and as the struggle for existence is unyihing l'Ut conducive to good digestiou or an nppetite ibut can relish anything, the palate of the average work-a-duy iudividuul has to be tickled and tempted in a variety of ways. We are of'en lectured about the evil tffects of an over-iadulgeisce iv tea or coffee, not to mention intoxicating liquors, until iimiy people are bewildered what to turn to for a beverage, which shall be at onco agreeable to the taste, and aupply the desired nourishing and stimulating qualities. Public attention has been freely drawn to the merits of Dr. Tibbies' Vi-Cticoa, as supplying » long fall waut in this direction. It is not simply a cocon, but a preparation of two or three other ingredients, which give it grout nutritive and invigorating qualities. It/ is, therefore, not merely a pleasant beverngi", but a fnod and a tonic iv the bargain. Its success has certainly been phenomenal, and that is perhaps the best warranty for the claim made i>d its behalf, that Vi-Cocoa " has the refreshing properties of fine tea, the nourishment of the best cocoas, atonic and recuperative force possessed by neither and can be used in all oaseß where tea and coffee are prohibited." Dr. Tibbies' Vi-Cocoa is neither a medicine nor a rr.ere thirst-assuager. It ia a food at the same time that it is a beverage, and thus answers v double purpose in the building up of the human constitution, and must render it highly serviceable to everybody, especially the workers in mills and shops of various kinds among whom tea has hitherto been so excessively drunk; while it has the further advantage apparently of being easily digested and of agreeing with the most delicate stomach. Dr Tibbies' Vi-Cocoa, in SJd packets and Is Id and 2s 2d tins, can be obtained from all Chemists. Gioceis and Stores, or from Dr Tibbies' Vi-Coeon, Limited 269 George Street, Sydoey As a test of its merit, a dainty sumple tin of Dr Tibbies' Vi-Cocoa will be sent free on application to any address, if, when writing (a postcard will do), the reader will name the P B. Herald.

" Errare es( Aumanum " means in plain English that its only human to make mistakes, but you can't go wrong for good value at Hennessy's. I have some very special cheap lines in stock just now. — Ad. ANOTHER CASE OF RHEUMATISM 1 CURED BY CHAMBERLAIN'S PAIN BALM. My son was afflicted with rheumatism, whicli contracted his right limb until he was unable to walk. After using one and a half bottles of Chamberlain's Pain Balm he was able to be about again. I can heartily recommend it to persons suffering from rheumatism.— John Snidek, Freed, Calhoun Co., W. Vu. For sale by E. D. Smith, chemist. — Advt. A CURE FOR CHRONIC DIARRHCEA. I have been a sufferer from chronic diarrhoea ever since the war, and have used all kinds of medicines for it. At last I found one remedy that has been a success as acure, and that is Chamberlain's Colic, Cholera and Diarrhrea Remedy.— P. E. Gbiskam, Gaars Mills, La. For sale by E. D. Smith, chemist. — Advb. A RELIC OF THE WAR. Many old soldiers now feel the effects of the hard service they endured during the war. Mr Geo. S. Anderson, of Rossville, York county, Peun., who saw the hardest kind of service at the front, is now frequently troubled with rheumatism. "I had a severe attack lately," he says, " and procured a bottle of Chamberlain's Pain Balm. It did so much good that I would like to know what you would charge me for one dozen bottles." Mr Anderson wanted it both lor hia own use and to supply it to his friends and neighbors, as every family should have a bottle of it in their home, not only for rheumatism, but lame back, sprains, swellings, cuts, bruises and burns, for which it is unequalled. For sale by E. D. Smith, chemist.— Advt.