THE WAR FUND.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6711, 5 February 1900, Page 3

THE WAR FUND.

The following further contributions, have' been received for the Canterbury War Fund: . — S. S. Btackburne £1 ; amount collected at camp gates on Sunday by Messrs C. Allard and T. 0. Pavitt, £81 12s 3d 5 Rangiora district • (first instalment), £110; collection by ladies in streets on Saturday, £157 89 3d; P. Pope, Halswell, 10s; H. G. W. Gray, £10 ; Andrews and Beaven's employ ses, £5 0s lOd. Ths ladies <who assisted the Mayoress in making tho collection for tho War Fund on Saturday were: — Mes' lames Jennings, H. O. D. Meares, Hurst-Seager and niece and Hume, Misses Graham, S.ury. Stead, Babinglon, Foster, Lcuis3on (2), (.1 ri'ick, Henderson (2), Buntin, ■ Moare-s, Ccteli, Thomas, Marsdeu, Allan, Croxton, Kohn, Recce (2) and Hargreaves. The ladies wish to retSirn . their thanks to Mrs Freeman, Messrs Broadway ard Gill. Further donjons collected by Mkses Stead and B^bbington £l 15s, Miss Graham ss, and Mrs Resoo £5 ss, bring the total collected up to £157 8s 3d. The commitite& also desires to thank t'ho members of the polioe force for, their assistance and courtesy. . , „, \ The following further contritutions oi produce have been received for the Canterbury Trocp : —Mr J. Barker, Loburn, 16501 b Coin-; Mr J. Stalker, Woodend, ten sacks flour; Leech Brcs., Cam Mils, Rantiora. IGO 501 b bags flour ; Mr E. B. Millton, sixty-two bags oatsheaf chaff ; Mr J. G. Stanoon, Woodend, seventy sacks chaff. THE PATRIOTIC FUND. The following further subscriptions have been received for tie Patriotic Fund:— Le Bon's Bay list (per Mr C. Bailey) £10 2s 6d ; Oxford lists, collected by Mr J. R. , Gorton, View Hill, £5 12s ; collected at Road Board Office, £1 10s 6d ; collected at Working Men's Club> £5 15s ; general list, £16 18s 6d; total £29 18s 4d. WAR NOTES. The hew Commander-in-Chief in South ' Africa, if he enjoys the distinction of being the shortest general in the British Army, can lay claim (outside Royalty) to possessing the longest list of degrees. Officially ! " Bobs " is Baron Roberts of Kandahar and Waterford, P.C., K.P., G.C.8., G.C.5.1., G. CLE., V.C., D.C.L., LL.D. He became " Dr Roberts of Dublin" nearly twenty years before Mr Chamberlain." Dr Conan Doyle has frequently described first-class fighting men of various torts in his novels, but, as is well known, he has never been in the Army. He has volunteered, however (says the London "Daily Chronicle") for active servicfe' in South Africa, promising, in the event of being given a commission in a regiment of honse of, cay irregulars or scouts, to provide his own charger, etc. His idea is that it is ,Jiardly fair to ask colonials, who are all, or nearly all, civilians, to volunteer, and to accept their services, when the same principle is not put into effect in the Mother Country itself. He thinks that a man who is a good rider and ehot— as he himself is — would prove a useful addition to tho araiy, and in a letter to the " Times " i suggests that there are many men " of the same stamp who would be only too glad to- volunteer if they thought there was any chance of the acceptance of such an offer." Amongst the good sportsmen who have volunteered for active service with the Yeomanry are the Duke of Marlborough, the Earl of Dudley, the Earl of Lonsdale, the Earl 'of Warwick, the Earl of Haddington (the well-known polo player), Visfcount Valentia, M.F.H., Viscount Galway, M.F.H., Lord Chesham, Lord Harris, Lord Annaly, Lord Arthur Grosvenor, Lord Kenyon^ Sir Elliot Lees, M.P., M.F.H. (winner of the House of Commons Point-to-Point Race in 1888 and 1890), Sir John Dickson-Poynder, M.P., Hon E. S. Douglas-Pennant, M.P. (eldest son of Lord R/enrhyn), Mr HermonHodge, M.P., and Sir James Miller, M.F.H., a well-known patron of the turf, who early in his racing career won the Derby with Sanfoin, and more recently secured the Oaks twith La Sagesse. . Among the Englishmen who have recently arrived at Durban* from - the Transvaal is Mr Hess, of the " Critic" who was expelled the Rand. He says (according to a "Standard" telegram) that there are no burghers left in Johannesburg ; they have all gonb to the front. Nor are there any horses remaining, all having been taken on service without shoes. .The Frenoh guns, which have been so prominent in the recent fighting, are running short of ammunition, and the Government is manufacturing shells for tie artillery captured from the British. The Berlin correspondent of the London " Daily Mail " telegraphed to that journal on Dec. 20 : — A newspaper published at Essen says that the Krupp foundries there are working feverishly day and night, turning out 25,000 six and seven-inch eteel shrapnel shells, ordered during the second half | of November by the British War Office. A young Yorkshiretoan who was driven from Johannesburg at the declaration of the war, and who, after failing to get into the Imperial or Kaffrarian Light Horse, sailed for England until the war trouble is over, says :— "There is no doubt the Cape House of Assembly has been helping the Boers se- ! cretly. Thousands of young , men in Cape Colony were anxious to enlist in order to repel the invasion of the colony by the Boers, but the Government refused to enlist a single man until a few days before he sailed. When he reached England he was aghast to find tliat the British thought there were only 25,000 armed Boera. Everybody in Johannesburg knew that 70,000 Boers could be put into the field, and that there were sufficient arms in the Transvaal to equip 200,000 men. He adds that we have been shamefully betrayed both in our South African colonies and our Intelligence Department abroad."