THE COLLISION WITH A TRANSPORT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXII, Issue 90, 20 April 1900, Page 2

THE COLLISION WITH A TRANSPORT.

DRUNKENNESS AMONGST THE CHEWS. lteccived 19, 7.6 p.m. Capetown, April 18. The enquiry into the lo*B of the Mexican afrw being in collision with i he t.ransp .rt Winkfield elicited serious i charges of drunkenness and lack of discipline amongst the crews of the < vessels, 1 . I COLONIAL COMMISSIONS. I Wellington, April 10. : The Governor has received the fcl- . lowing from the Adjutant-General of ' the War Oilice, dated London, 18'.h April:—" Messrs. Wood, Woldorness, and Russell, of the Now Zealand local forces, have been Appointed second c lieutenants of tho Ist King's Liverpool a Kogiment, 2ad Essex Regiment:, and v Ist Northampton lljgiratnt respec- a lively. Thoy should proceed at onco to " South Africa, Bunnab, und Bengal a respectively." ', CABLE FROM MAJOR ROBIN. 1 Wellington, April 1!), Tho Premier has received a cablu from Major .Robin, JJloeiufouteiu, that

Saddler Aitken, who was wounded in the leg, has recovered aud ig now at Capetown. A native who lias escaped from the Boers reports that 18 of our men who were captured are well. The Second Contingent is expected to ' join Major Robin this week. Lieut. Chaytor, of Blenheim, is ill of fever. Lieut. Lindsay has obtained a commit-_ siou in the 7th Dragoon Guards. \ GENEROSITY OF A WELLINGTON CITIZEN. Wellington, April 19, Mr. John Plimmer, senior, has donated £lO5 to the Fifth Contingent Committee, raising his total contributions to the patriotic funds to £556. THE BOERS AND ODB WOUNDED. The Lancet publishes some further interesting notes from Sir William MacCormac, who is out with General Buller in Natal. He describes how Corporal Thomas, of the Worcester Regiment (Mounted Infantry), was wounded at Arundel on November 23 1899, whilst with a party reconnoitring the hills at Arundel, lie was leading his pony up a hill when a Boer about 400 yards distant fired at him and hit him four times. All the bullets came from the same rifle; he saw the Boer standing up co fire at him. The first two bullets wounded him in the hands. r The third bullet entered at the inferior angle of the left scapula, passing directly from behind forwards. (He had turned round after being struck a second time.) The track of the bullet must have been in immediate """ proximity to the heart, the-pericanUom, 1 and the large blood-vessels. The fourth bullet entered behind on the > left side in the tenth intercostal space, 1 4in. from the middle line, passing - through the lower part of the chest and the upper part of the abdomen. There were no symptoms of internal injury to either the chest or the abdomen. The patient had a slight rise of temperature for three days. Sir William saw him sitting up in the *■ train a few days afterwards regretting his transfer down country, his chief trouble being stiffness of his right little linger joint. Major Hathaway, R. \.M.C, on discovering Thomas's absence, returned to the hill and told Assistant Commandant Grobelaar that he had come for a wounded man, and asked whether he might take him away. The answer was, " Certainly, but there is another h man wounded over there and another , in another direction," pointing to the hills. Major Hathaway thanked As-sistant-Commandant Grobelaar for his . Kindness to Corporal Thomas in having * him removed from the hillside to the station, but asked, if there were more wounded, why they were not brought down too, well knowing that there were no more, as the roll had been ailed at Tweeddale. He said tliat he •should take Corporal Thomas to the h train, wait for half an hour whilst he dressed his wounds, and then if more wounded did not arrive should conclude that there were none. Needless 1 to say that no more came, but the anxiety of the Boers to exaggerate our losses and mifeimise their own was very usual. The Boer who hit Corporal Thomas carried him down hill to the station in his own blanket, < £ , and said he would give auything not . to have shot him, because lie thought , he was going to die. Some interesting details of the Boer medical arrangements wore gathered by Major North, U.A.M.C., who is in command of tho bearer company stationed at Miider's Farm, on our left flank. On that occasion about 30 of the Suflblks wero killed, aud the major and his men were compelled to bury i.liem. W hen the flag of truce embled the wounded and dead of both sides (o !>o taken charge of, the Boers would not allow any of the soldiers to visit tho spot, but said that they themselves would assist Major North and his men of the Royal Army Medical Corps to bury our dead, which they did. Major North saw seven ambulance waggons unong tho small Boer force, and inside these were placed mattresses in a very comfortable way. The Boers would I not allow him to look into any of the I wagons, but they asked him if he thought our wagons were better. He replied that they were. He also , learned that the enemy have two very good hospitals in the town of Coles-berg-the railway station and the Keformed Church—and he could see the large Geneva Cross flags flying from the roofs of these buildings, ile found that one of the two surgeons he met on the field among the Boevs was a graduate of Edinburgh University, practising in time of peace in the Orange Free State. The surgeon said that he preferred doctoring the enemy to losing his practice and house. Major North x'ead tho Burial .Service over the graves, and this w.is followed by prayer and hymu-sing-ing by tho BoeiD, after which all parted amicably.

A BRITISH DOCTOR LASHED BY THK BOERS. The Boer commanders recently summoned Dr. Dunlop, a Scotsman, from Liehtenbiug. ])r. Dunlop began to make tliilerent ambulance rule*, which the Boers did not like, and tho sreond day after ho came an occurrence happened which (says Dr. Maaitin) bad terrible eli'ects upon him. A Boer came into camp over-heated, worn-out, and suffering from mn.stroke. The Boer in his frenzy poured cold water over his own head, with tho result that ho died suddenly. Dr. Dunlop was blamed for this by the other Roois, and ho received twenty-five lashes from 1 -heir brutal hands. " I saw it invself,"

says Dr. Maartin, " and I was so afraid of similar treatment that I tried to run away, but two bullets came whistling about my head, and I was caught by the pickets and brought back to camp." He was tied to the shaft of a waggon, and kept there in the terrible heat r~ until the commandant came, but they refrained from sending him to Pretoria as a prisoner on his undertaking to do what he could for them, they being short of doctors. Once more he began to think of escape, but the chances were hopeless.