LETTER FROM THE FRONT.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4853, 4 May 1901, Page 3

LETTER FROM THE FRONT.

The following letter has been received from Trooper Thomas Hynes, one of the Waipori members of the Sixth Contingent : — Pretoria, December, 1901. Just a few lines to let you know how I am getting on. lam in the very best of health. We are in camp at Sunnyside, a place about two miles from Pretoria. It is terribly hot here and a lot of our men are in the hospital. We had a good passage across. We only lost 16 horses out of 600. We had one or two bad nights and had to hold the horses all night. We were not allowed to land at Capetown on account of the plague, so we came on to East London and then right up here in the train. It is a grand country. I brgged for a piece of paper and a pencil to write this. lam writing this on the stock of my rifle. We have all our things packed for a 150 miles' march to start in the morning. We are going to Petersburg. It is said to be a devil of a place and it is called the " white man's grave." It is occupied by Boers and we and the Australians have to take it. They say it will be a wholesale slaughter. I will give you particulars in a week or two ; that is if they don't shoot me. We will yery likely go home to the Old Country after the war. 4f my health keeps good I don't intend to go «back to New Zealand for a year or two.