WAR ITEMS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXII, Issue 78, 29 March 1900, Page 4

WAR ITEMS.

The passing of polite notes between the commanders of opposing forces is by no means a new thing, as one might suppose on reading Methuen's note of thanks to Cronje, and Joubert's request to Sir George "White for medicines. The Duke of Marlborough, for instance, once found it necessary to retreat, and he sent an apology to his enemy, Marshall Yillars, saying, " Do me the justice to believe that my retreat is entirely owing to the failure of the Prince of Baden, but that my esteem for you is still greater than my resentment of his conduct." The Boers, and the British Tommies too, are quite friendly and talkative when they meet on common ground under the shadow of the Eed Cross. A sergeant in the first Canadian corps writes home to his brother at Stockport, England, that seventy per cent, of the regiment are English born, though all, of course, are living in Canada. The sergeant, whose name is Herbert H. Walker, was himself born in Stockport, and bo says that some of them have travelled 11,000 miles to fight for the Queen. Patriotism that will travel so far is patriotism indeed ! It is only a decade ago that Canada herself, without any help from England, crashed a rebellion of French half-breeds and Indians in her own great territory. The Boers are beginning to understand the significance of the Red Cross emblem. It is said that at first they thought it to be the British flag! Henry Durant, the founder of the Geneva Convention, is now an old man of seventy-one, living in Switzerland in genteel poveity. Only the generosity of the Empress-Dowager of Russia, who gives him a monthly pension out of her own pocket, keeps him from absolute starvation. Yet M. Durant spent all his money and energy in the cause of the scheme which is now so beneficial to mankind. Mr. W. 1\ Stead's " Review of Reviews" intimates that President Kruger's plan to make England pay a price that will stagger humanity for her victory over the Transvaal, is to fill the trenches with women. Such a step would be thrilling evidence of the unflinching determination of the Boers to maintain their liberty at no matter what cost of blood, and it would have a tremendous effect, not only upon British soldiers themselves, but upon all the nations of the world. The Boer women handle the rifle with a skill but little if any inferior to that of the men, but if British troops fired on women, no matter what the circumstances, it is believed that such a storm of indignation aud comment would sweep around the world that the Poweis would join in a protest that would check England, and result in petce on honourable terms.

Nowhere have the incidents of the campaign been fo'lowed with more breathless interest than in the beau'i[ful valley of the Braid, in Antrim i(says M.A.P.), where is situated Sir i George's ancestral home, "Whitehall." It lies about half .a mile from a litt'e village rejoicing in the typically Irish name of Broughshane. The house is surrounded by magnificent old trees, and possesses! an old fashioned garden. Very few people are aware that the day of Sir George White's misfortune, largely consequent on the stampede of the mu'es at Nicholson's Nek was also that of his silver wedding. Such, however, is the case, and though afterwards he telegraphfd to Lady White that he " hadn't forgot the day," he said he was "very sad." A small Dulwich schoolboy, by the way, recently posted Sir George a briar pipe, ac<ompanied by the blotted inscription ; " For the Hero of Ladysmith." The most costly personage for whom the War Office finds clothing is the stnft'-sergeant of the Foot Guards, for whose scarlet tunic, ornamented with gold lace, crimson sash, and other splendid raiment, a sum of no less than i.'4'l 4s 2d is annually granted. Fielderis Magazine makes the remarkable statement, that " representative American and German firms, with the sagacity, foresight, and push which characterise their comercial dealings, have at the present moment a number of agents in the Transvaal absolutely measuring up all damage being done to bridges, railways, towns etc., and are .actually now making the missing or damaged parts for delivery on the spot as soon as the war is over. We must 'take," urges our contemporary, "time | by the forelock, and not allow ourselves | to be led into the error that the vastly increasing trade of the Transvaal will i come to us as a matter of course on the

termination of this war. The most strenuous and sagacious efforts on the part of our manufacturers and traders are required to retain and expand it.' The war (says the Daily News) certainly goes to the root of the social fabric. The other day the Old Bailey was startled out of its propriety to see in the witness-box a Cameron Highlander in full war paint. And what was he there for? Why, he was a policeman reservist off to the front in ian hour's time, who had just dropped in to run his last job in for twenty' months. Even the Common Sergeant let his emotions get the better of him, raised his wig in the air, and called for three cheers, in which the jurymen,' the bar, and the press joined with fervor. It sounds like comic opera.