BRITAIN & THE TRANSVAAL.

Taranaki Herald, Volume L, Issue 11933, 5 April 1902, Page 2

BRITAIN & THE TRANSVAAL.

THE EXECUTION. OF AUSTRA- ' LIAN OFFICERS. I MORNING LeliS'o ACCOUNT garbled: • an american notion. United Press Association.— By Electric Telegraph. — Copyright. Received April f , 10.32 p.m. London, April 4.- It is expectted the War Office will publish, a state-> ment, after further details are receiv ed from Lord Kitchener. A war official states that the present information ; does not support the Morning Leader's details, which are for the most part untrue. Lieutenant Witton denys the loot ing and robbery.- He is to be { confined in Lewes Gaol. The TjLmes says that naturally, but quite wrongly, Australians feel that a slur' IS cast on their good rtaine over the shooting 61 officers, but reiterates the necessity for a full and prompt official discl6sure of the affair Tiie Commercial Advertiser, New York, says that Lord Kitchener's) impartial punishment Qf " colonials ought tp check the torrent of Continental abuse.' LONDON NEWSPAPER COMMENTS. Received April 5. 10.43 a.m. London, April 4.— The Press comments on the shooting of officers. The Daily .Mail.' sayjtol the guilt of irregulars cast no stain, on the conduct of the war or the army., The Daily, News says the minimum of facts published shows that Kitchener is a just and fearless commander. The Standard says that misleading) statements have fostered a misunderstanding in Australia. The facts will ultimately show that the guilty were treated with the utmost equity. St. James Gazette, says Kitchener, has vindicated the honor of the army:' Australia should not be held responsible for the misdeed of irregulars. The Pall Mall Gazette says the exemplary punishment will con vince the Boers of the even-handed justice. The New York Mail and Express approve Kitchener's course which prevents' the incident being, charged" against England. A WITNESS AT TRTAL REPEATS HIS EVIDENCE. Received Apr.il 5, 9.5(7 a.m. „. Melbourne, April 5 . — A returned Victorian, an ex-member of the Bush' Veldt Carbineers 1 , basing his statements on information obtained on the spot from reliable sources, says 'that'Alorant and Handcock were in the habit of shooting Boer prisonersi for the sake of loot before the death of.Capt. Hunt.; Subsequently they used Hunt's rdeath as an excuso to shoot eight Boers coming into surrender in the presence of their wives and families ; also other batches' of three and six. He denies that Hunt:s body, was mutilated. He disbelieves; the story that the Boers were Court-martialled before being shot. These and other facts he gave in his, evidence at the trial of the officers. A RETURNED OFFICER'S OPINION. THE BRITISH, TOO CONSIDERATE. The Sydney Herald says :: — In the camp of the .- third battalion" of the Federal Contingent on March- 27th, .1 the:alleged shooting of two Australian officers was the subject of much discussion. In the absence of fuller particulars naturally officers, who had served in i South Africa did not care to express themselves too freely on the matter. One officer said that if the statements as published were true jit, was a greal> shame that such extreme measaires should have been t?akeii, and" that full investigation ishould be made into the circumstances surrounding the alleged executions. . ' - ' ' "I have seen Boers 1 brought- in," he said, who .ought to have been shot on the spot for killing, our men in a .more or less treacherous manner. L have vivid of one instance where I was blamed by^ a brig- f adier-general for undue leniency. WitT few exceptions on every Boer captured you will find soft nosed or •'. .explosive bullets, and yet the British 1 let them off. Under any circumstances the Boers, would shoot our men on sight. All I .can say is that it is a very bad thing to shoot a couple of Australian officers,' even should some oij the facts "be true* f. or. the sake o£ a few Boers. To show you the great consideration the .British, had. for the Boers and the great want . of consideration' they had for our own men I will give you one instance of many which I could recount. When General Clements was on the march from the Orange River to Bloemfontein we, halted 2>jp miles outside a town of about 150(0 inhabitants, and in which were sufficient public buildings to accommodate all the troops. It rained for two days, and although our men were in light marching order, with blankets, they refused to allow us to billet our troops in /the buildings of the town. Not even the officers were allowed to gp in for shelter. Before we 'reached Bloemfontein some .06 the men, had died from, the, effects "of the. two day's needless exposure. It is a universal rule in other annies 1 that you bivouac your troops were you can find buildings to shelter them 1 . ''It must - be -remembered-,'? continued the officer ','- interviewed,* "that when troops find "ttieir' officers and men brutally outraged ..'after death * like Captain Hunt evidently! was, ' they, naturally b'ecdme malignant. In the early part of 1 the ■ watf the Australians hesitated,-' and showed ai great disinclination to , kill Boers ; but when wo found out that they killed our men. wliehever they got a chance, and resorted to all sorts of treachery, that generous feeling gradually disappeared. The Boers throughout havo simply taken advantage of the leniency shown them by the British." • The same paper says that Morant is well-known all over New South Walfcs j as ( ,a bushman f , and »a> daring rider. His feats of horsemanship were so daring- as 1 to border on the dangerous. Those who knew him best will spurn any suggestion that he can possibly have been guilty of shooting anyone in cold blood, and his faults were those of a warmhearted man not of a criminal. " "THE BREiAKERi" So they shot "The Breaker." Morant, a singer, oi Australia, adventurer, horseman, soldier, wanderer wherever the stakes of life were Highest, lies dead like many another on the blood-stained African veldt. But while his comrades- have mostly died a soldier's death, "The Breaker" fell in expiation of his' own deed facing the rifles of his own countrymen. Yet he died not unlike "The Breaker" as we knew him (remarks Christchurch'TTruth). There was" a touch of the Careless, dare-Klevil Morant, even about his going over. The impetuous, daring horseman made an impetuous, daring soldier, and now he is dead wo can find it in our hearts to think that Morant mourned in the morning the impetuous order of Morant at night. It was like him, too, to declare that his 'alone was the 'blame. "The Breaker" would do no loss. Now he, "Brown Harlequin's" rider, shall sing the praises 1 of that paragon of Ktock horses no more. •" 'The Breaker 1 has booked for Uxc South" for good and all. Perhaps the kindly comrade's pen that wrote that warm farewell when Moranfc left Sydnoy years ago, will write his requiem now. A singer like Ogilvie and "The Banjo" of horses) r»nd the droving days, "The Breaker" lacked the fire and the deftness of his better-known contemporaries, but his> work* was rich with the flavour of the gum, nnd ho caupht aright the spirit of tnat great sun-whippeel back-country where most of his wild Australian experiences wore bought 1 .