FROM THE BOER SIDE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6727, 23 February 1900, Page 2

FROM THE BOER SIDE.

■■ ,; : , - — > — I INTERVIEW WITH OLIVE SCHREINER. ! (By;A; B. PATTERSON, in the "Sydney , .fcjC ,-, Morning Herald.'') •^Our friend the enemy !" For six weeks the New South Wales Lancers (with whem the present scribe is associated as war correspondent) had been in daily touch with the -Boers. Six weeks of blazing hot days and freezing cold nights, spent in tents where the dust storms coated everything with a dull-red powder, out on picket duty lying Lowe' IS.? ? Un amon S the r °<*s of a £ wett If T y - vi } honb beiß « shot; dead ; nShlm/rl Un J ledmovemeuts - of mid ' of nias ff " and u ra P id liftings of camp, veldt g wi s \™s*-?nt in the" cold of the Ifon^S sh , lve ™g horses standing ill tl and - aI - 1 f ith the ob J<-ct of kill+^^l ICa Iy , uns£en enei «y that clung so tenaciously to his heaven-built fortresf of on aLSA^ Wh ° ™ S so ™^ shoot „n X?«v g -^ P™***^". We had given' up thinking what the Boers were like or of S^r-nr,^ 1 * 7 so much enemy-™ }?ffrtlw a Y h V Maxim « uns and the rifles lewSSSt- " b ° oks ' and Poetically no newspaper. The wor d was narrowed down w^ifl yes 7 h ' 1 ?i* "£«**• A]l °«r *iS L In f C -. ( ; Upie 1 d in fi S htin g> «n"3 we gave no thought to the question of the fighting was^bout. It was a great chance i Si? f^*7™*nCWtowg to call Tn I Olive Schreiner, a fetter opponent of the I - wan-i- and to lifear the Bosr side of the ques- < tion. • j Tha Authoress of "The Story of ■ an ■ African Farm" needs no introduction to Australians. Born in South Africa and reared among the farmers, she is an Afrikander of the^Afrikanders ; and while her •brother (the Premier of the Cape Colony) has*, beeir. Tery -'reserved in expressing opinions, Olive Schreiner bas been mcst outspoken m denouncing thie Avar and those who, in her onjnibn, are responsible for it Sh«rlives*arN^wla;n(.s; a suburb of Capq- • town,; and «3; Australian city has . such a suburb- . On -Raying the train one walks down *n*;avenue overhung -with splendid , trees-r'aild; more -like a 'private carriage way. thafe-tf.pnblite road ; ifc i s to .b" c . •lieve^hat* 6tte is' apt trespassing on sonie.bodys private garden! There is *jo sido--walk^-Jusfc the red-earth avenue between the trees. .The flowers, and trees grow- inogb luxuriantly-, -SunflowerJi; box-hedges, roses, -and All manner of grasses flourisliW every--where^ari*- inexpressible relief. *fter the miles -Of sUfito_tnt'karoo depert we have been staring over lately. The houses that' front on the avenue all stand back in their own garden^;but instead 'of having »■• forbid'dino-six-foot paling fence' round each property there is;u*fually. a. low iron*stan.dard fence or a.bOxrhedge as boundary, and the pasger'bjr. secgi -into these beautiful gardens as he crocs along. If a few residences were erected m Sydbevp* Botanic Gardens that would be like- Ne-fc-Jands.* 'The trees are just as beautiful a_)d luxuriant. * In these surroundings lives-, the "womarh Nfrhti made her name famous by the " Story of an African Farm." She is married now; but still prefers to be known as Olive Sfchreiner. -She is a little •woman, strall in stature,. but of very strong physique, broad nnd powerful; her face olive-eomplexioned. with bright, restless eye^aijdaquiek-mftbile -mouth. j "WflY HAVE, YOU OOME." She talks fluently, and with tremendous energy, apd. one is not, long in arriving at I the conclusion that she is ~ thoroughly in earnest — deadly earnest — over this question of the Boer war, It may be news to many Australians to hear thfit ih tie Cape Colony there are more people against the war than i for it, nob necessarily Boer sympathisers, i but people who think that the wax* Bhould never have been entered upon. When bur i troops landed from Australia we were as- ! tonished to find that the Cape Colony was so much against the war. The local papers that' irverfe* for the war 'were all clamouring % -■*-•*•* arre-gt or, .dismissal of Schreincr, the Premier, but when .the House went to a division Schreiner had r. ma j: rity behind him, and Schreiner has always declared that England is hot justified in .this war. Olive Schreiner was hbt long in statins* her views to the present writer. She takks rapidly and energetically, emphasising her remarks with uplif ted finger, ..*' You. Australians and New Ze-damlers a-rid Canadians." she eaid, " I -.cannot understand it at .all, why you come here light heartedly to shoot 'down other colonists of Avhom you know nothing— i-M* terrible. Such fine men, too— fine fellows.? I Tfent to Green Point,. and saw your men in -camp; bh,^- they wei'e "fine m^n— (TheSß ' were.: Colonel WillisTOs's A.M.C. WoJ»s)^ -and to think that they are goriig out to ki}l aiid b? "k'lT.e'd, jtist to please the ctpitalists ! Thi?rie, was one officer-*. _■_> -. a fine matt, &o like a Boer j he might have been a Boet* "c'ptnmandatit. it is terrible— such iu(_n to come' and fight against those fiphtipg for their liberty and their country.^ The English Tonuny Atkins goes where he is sent— he fights because" he is ordered; but .tou l>eople--^ybu are all volunteers! Why havo you .cdnis? . .:,. , You say that England ttos >at war, and yoii wished to show the' world that when the Mother •Colhitrj* got into a' war the colonies were prepaid; to ( take t^eir place beside "her! 'M es ' h^ '^oOught. to .ask, ."you ought to .inqjiir^.s v before you. come over. You A^r^i'a-hs-.db not understand. This is a cap;ta_hts war! They want to pet control ofthe; Rand ahd the ri_!nes. You hare rio-*tTr-*p& like it in your country. You br.ve a wterking* class ( that voks and" that 'cannot be boirght.to vote against .its own interests; bnt -in the Transvaal there ai-e iust, a hai'dful •of Boer farmers, a small but criormouxiv ■weAlth}'- mine-owning class .apd thejr ' dc-pro-fos^bfial men', snopkeeo'ers, and so on, aiid the rest ate. all'kaflirs." " -, 'fv ;; v ,the j;iANc^isE. . 'K^y didn't -the Boers grant the franchise. ' "It was ftot really wanted. I wa3 in .Johannesburg few . months , befare the war broke But,^*hd hundreds of men thore said that they would not forego their British nationality for the sake of voting as a Boer. They are aH nomfe-tiir, • wai.d*e.-«ts, over the>e to. make money, and if Oom Paul had gone on his .knees .and asked them to accept the franchise they would not have acc.ptid it Th*y would not relinqukh bsing British subject*. But the capitalists insist On gettili* hold, of the mdnesv and all the white people ar^ co - -concerned with th«m, their ihteix'sits co dspend on the min e-o^vnel•s, that they must go along with them, and now they want the franchise- to take control of the mines frpnv the Botrs. It is a moristrous war, a*d EZfcgknd Will i-egr.t it; ie is iugfc to, taka the c<?xuitiiy from the Boers for the b6neJf.trof7t._s sp.s«tila"tors. For years this •was has been worked up— all sorts of stories ha.*ce. pbeiej-t-printed of the •* i ßoer_- and' their ■^Qcrance and their savagery. -They are all lies. I was a- -governess .among the Bweis iot years, and ho kinder iiecple exist • They W-clever too. Young Boers go to England aiid succeed h% tmißiiveMties •' '•the^'TSh' come doctors, and lawyer and politicians' Itis-much.iika Austftilia 'from- what I-have r^i >■?. "?•?" * r o: _?weh hospitab}«<.peopleAl P^^ibi^l^ll^ v 77'*^i, , thiß,*^r : i6^4fi^.l.ie tiling 5 it will m&y%°* .extommaiiipn. Wh afc do y<iu think will be the fend of.it? There will be -ao «iA • Tho Boe-rsp^ are' fighting for life"' or death, and they have no idea of giving in. If they arebea^mback jjntp the Free State anoVWi^cansyaal.th^is. just the time Uiey flr-ll b-e most dangerpiis. When the English get to Pretoria with their army tbey will iihon bo^in a worse -position thaji they are fe?,y«j hundreds and huji- 1 dre4*-3.0f miles of rfihyay ; line to defend, and ' e^en .. the. Boe'*fe a re scattered and beaten . they -will still fight. The Boer women now aro.Jfeatt.and §oul.for thenar. The Boer fawner is a fcuriious man. Ho marries e^irlyj u^Uftily about eighteen or, nineteen, and there i^iiob one man in. the army against but li.fjs his. wife and child eomcwh.ere.\. And thosO-^viyfes and children are reading " the crops arid woridhg the farms, sOi thaAlroir - husbands can go to the war-.: After .Elands- : lOiagfc?;. avhere the Boers were dfefeated, cue Ujaer.went.home. .. His wife said,J What has

happened; arc you wounded?' 'No.' 'Is the enemy fled. 'No.' 'Well, back you go to the laager, and figlib with the rest-' Another old man, of seventy-five, when he heard of the defeat, rose up and took big rifle. 'I am going to the front,' he said. 'Why, you cannot see,' said his grandchildren. ' I cannot see at 1000 yards,' ho said, 'but I can see well enough at 100;' and off he went in a Cape cart as he was too old to ride. The small boys at school at the Capetown schools havo all been brought back to the farms to fight— boys of fourteen and fifteen are in the ranks. And all of these peoplo have ,their relatives all through Cape Colony; and they are to ba butchered, aud the English soldiers are to be butchered, to suit a few capitalists. Itwill benefit no one else. The effect of this war on South Africa will, be everlasting; we hkve such a large population here who feci that the war is unjust, and they will never forgive the English people for forcing v?i\ , Perha P« *he memory of Ma.ji.ba nill. had a good deal to :<lo with it? I.cannot think so—the English are not so narrow as to treasure tip memories of a small thing like that. But now it is a long, terrible war that is before us, and the Boers will be more dangerous after a few • reverses.. A few defeats will not crush them ! When the English get to Pretoria then there will begin the trouble." - b Whatever may be the correct nes_i of Olive Schreiner s views, there is no doubt of her sincerity. She says openly what most, or, at any rate, verj*- many, South Africans think, and it is always well to hear 'both sides, so I have put down without comment exactly what her views were. OLIVE SCHREIN-GR'S WRITINGS. Talking on literary matters, Olive Schreiner eaid that though she was constantly writing she did not publish much, lhe cares of household life interfered much with worlt. Whena governess in the Transvaal, after the day's work was done, she would sit in her room and work with a "Vnd^free from care. It was" then that The African Farm " Nowadays she^hasvtoo'much.-to? -think; about— househcia worries, and so' on. -She was asked to act' as war "correspondent for a New^York paper," but the authorities would not hear of her going— ;'n which, by the •vray> they were quits right. The. front ft; no place for a woman. . WHAT* WILT, THE -BOERS DO '! It seems a pfity that this woman, who is no doubt a.' great literary genius, should be wasting her time and wearing out her energies.over this Boer war question, irstead of giving us another boole as good ns her first one; but- after an interview with her one comes -away with a much more lively and human- interest in "our friends. the enVmv." If things are as she says, if the Boers are going to make it a, war to the hitter end, then England ins &, sorry task, before her. If the Boers scatter and break to the mountains tb^vwHl be practically uh reachable, and the English people "are- too huma-ne to care about lewing reprisals by destroying their homesteads and leavip-r their wives and children, without shelter. The result will'b? that even after the wntf is over a larre 'force will have to be kept in the country to maintain ord*r.* and -with the Cane disaffected there will be serious trouble for politicians after the soldiers have got through with their work. .One js more ineb'ned to bnbe that after n defeat t two the, Boer, sensible man that he is, will come in under English rule and rely on the .orbjnrance of that Pow;er- rath<?r than-' mair-tain a hopeless stragglina: flsrhf. which will only prolong the j misery of the present war." .