THE NEW ZEALAND CONTINGENTS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXII, Issue 98, 22 May 1900, Page 2

THE NEW ZEALAND CONTINGENTS.

I Wellington, May 21. The Defence Department has issued a notice that letters to members of the contingonts should be addressed with the number of the company, New Zealand Contingent, General Hutton's Brigade, or .Rhodesia, as the case may be. The first six companies which form contingents 1, 2, and 3 are in General Hutton's Brigade, and companies 7 to 15 are in Ehodesia. Tho reset vo men intended to be attached to Major Robin's command were taken on to Beira wich Colonel Newall. Particulars af numbers, rank, etc., can be obtained trom the Post Oilico rolls. " THE BEST BEHAVED ARMY IN THE WOULD." Bloejifontjhn, April 4. At a meeting of the Army Teinperxnce Association on Monday, Lord Roberts pointed out to the soldiers the ulvautages of joining it, .livery niemier was known to the commanding jJlieyi'j and for iiunouuufc fost* )"«n

were often chosen because of their membership. The soldier hearers dwelt on every word that fell from the lips of the man they loved. When be spoke of " the army I now have the honour of commanding," Lord Roberts betrayed ft i depth of feeling in his voice. He was proud to be the leader of ["the best-behaved army in the world." They had fought splendidly, marched umcomplainingly, and endured all the hardships of the campaign. How well they had fought! The Field-Marshal added, half jocularly, " The whole army have been members of Association. Modder water was all they had to drink, and sometimes little of that." MAFEKING. It isn't the pride of Empire, it isn't the lost of gold, For the soldier's share is little, and he doea just what he's told; He lights for his Queen and country—that's pretty well all he knows. Whererer the Empire calls him, Tommy makes no fuss and goes. We can sit at home and c&Til over * and t'other thing, But the right and wrong of the matter weren't argued at Mafeking. When living on hide and locusts philosophy*! " out of play"; This question they answered nobly, •• How struggle through one more day V Only a handful of Britons, not a thousand fighting men; Compared to the force thatsieged them, they numbered as one to ten. But in the heart of each amongst 'em, Colonel 1 and rank-and-file, i This thought was set, determined i M We must last for a little while." • J For never as yet has England forgotten her sons in toil; Once her word is passed 'tis binding on ev*n son of the soil. , She liad sworn that she would saye th«m | so by her word was boundOn the very day she had promised they hand the bugle sound 1 " They come, they come," the outposts cried* " we see the infesting lines Are broken, and the morning son 'pon many a rider shines, Upon the ranks of horse and men whom Lord Roberts swore to send. Oh 1 thank the God of Battles, to-day the siego has reached its end," Then strong men wept like children, and little children laughed aloud, And from shelters crept the wounded men to join the cheering crowd, And mothers who were mourning their beat lov'd fallen in the fight Blessed the happy ones who scatheless had come through dark to light In all English-speaking nations Englishmen rejoice to-day, And the Motherland and Colonies are proud to Bee the way In which their soldier brothers did bear the burden of the fight, When bravo B.P. and his fighting men defied the Boers' might. And in years to come our children's sons shall tell the tale, with pride, Of thoso who hold the 'lcaguered town, and those who bravely rido To keop a small engagement the which oar little " Bobs " had mado, And which " Tommy " kept as " reg'lar"aa in peace he does parado. May, lEOO. Edcah M. Dull.

SICKNESS AND DEATH. The war correspondent of the NJE, I'imea in the course of his notes frtfm the fronts refer as follows to the sickness and death that have been rife amongst our troops:—Enteric and rheumatism ' had boon busily at work during the march, and almost simultaneously with the hoisting of the Union Jack the "don't shoot" flag of the ambulance Corps was hoisted on at least a dozen buildings in the town, and besides these being well filled, there were at least three field hospitals pitched on the outskirts of the town. In all about 890 patients -wounded and sick—were in these hospitals, or "docks," as Tommy calls them, the day after marching into Bloemfontein. Many of the cases, of course, were not dangerous, but still the death-rate was fully 25 per day. At sunrise and sunset—the only times at which funerals take place the cump seemod to be a huge [>uiido of funerals. We were not free from sickness in our lines, and several of the men had to be sent into hospital. Our men are now scattered all over South Africa in the various military hospitals, and we are now nearly forty short in our roll-call from this cause* Here we hoard of Trooper Patterson's death, which occurred in one of the down-country hospitak Poor "Old Patterson," as he was called, hail nothing but bad health from the tiune he left the ship, and never bail a chance of getting into the firing line to avenge the death of his two brothers at Majuba Hill One da£ I said to Patterson, " You must be a long way over forty ! How did you get past the doctor in New Zealand ?" "Oh 1" he .said, " 1 wiid I was thirty-eight. I didn't tell him I am fifty-eight.