The Daily News. SATURDAY, MAY 26, 1900. REGULAR OFFICERS AND IRREGULAR CORPS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXII, Issue 98, 26 May 1900, Page 2

The Daily News. SATURDAY, MAY 26 , 1900. REGULAR OFFICERS AND IRREGULAR CORPS.

That such an experienced and wideawake corps as Bethune's Horse si i on Id furnish the victims for a Boer ambush seems almost impossible; yet the news of the Vryheid disaster .shows that out of a squadron of 71 troopers 27 were killed, 25 wounded, and J ! captured. Had it been a troop oi regulars the all'air would at once have been put down to inexperience, and the Man in the ■-': reet would have enlarged upon the absolute necessity of employing only colonial troops for such work. Ordinarily speaking, ho would have grounds for so doing, as the colonials, when led by their own oiiicers have proved how wtil they are adapted for scouting expeditions and other work requiring them to act " on their own." Bethune's Horse, however, is a colonial coips, raised in South Africa, and comprising men all thoroughly familiar with the country, and most of whom have served in previous wars there. How is it then that these men have blundered and suffered in such a manner? Some light is thrown upon fc'ie question by a correspondent of the I London I hues, who writes from South \frica as follows :— ; " As a South African resident of ten years' standing, who has Leon for the past three months serving at the front as a trooper iu one of the regiments of inegular horse, I venture to oiler a few remark-: on the above subject. When these corps, which I think it'will lie readily admitted lave proved of great service in the present war, were originally foimu.i, h was dist.ncl.ly understood fh-U, t!n v vom to Ik-, , s far as possible, oik-ccd by men of colonial experience, ;;'!h,ji: Ji (!>;. Imperial atithorilie.-j wen; "<) -.|.|i.-)iiii, each colonel iiiid adj oanfc. .ii;v\a& on the strength of this under:: : -Uii:': -rinl Him majority 'of the men (-'nroilu.... ■■ur!, had the mildiiions IICOU olli-".. : ; :, ■ U.A ;;um iiia'i

Inot one-third of the uujub.i would have offered themselves, 'iiiey now I find that the places of those who !u : .'o so gallantly fallen in defence of the Empire are being filled, not by

promotion of their comrades (who, hav- ' ing borne the dangers and privations |of this and possibly many other camjpaigns, have presumably profited by [their experience), but by Kegular officers, many of them mere beardless youths fresh from Sandhurst. These youngsters arrive in South Africa imbued with ideas of their own absolute infallibility and a profound contempt for everything and everybody colonial. That a mere inhabitant of this country should dare to otter advice to one fresh from the study of military lore, even chough that advice may have reference to something peculiarly South African, is deemed the height of impertinence, and the luckless adviser is promptly snubbed for his pains. What is the result ? Men are becoming every day more chary of giving the new-comer the benefit of their experience, and content themselves with laughing at

I the results of his blunders." The leader of the ambushed squadron | was a certain Captain VV. E. 1). Goit', an officer of the 3rd (Prince of Wales,, Dragoon Guards, who was appointed to a captaincy in that regiment on April Ist, 1899. On the face of it, the explanation of the affair is that the brave and experienced irregulars were led into a death trap by a regular officer only just out from the Old Country. This assumption is not a charitable one, but it affords the only explanation that particulars so far to hand allow of.