SOUTH AFRICAN WAR

Waipa Post, Volume 48, Issue 3479, 14 June 1934, Page 2

SOUTH AFRICAN WAR

ANNIVERSARY OF SIGNING OF VEREENIGING TREATY. COMMEMORATION YESTERDAY. Yesterday was the thirty-second anniversary of the signing at Pretoria of the Treaty of Vereeniging, which marked the conclusion of the South African War. The South African War came about after many years of grievance on the part of the Boers who made the Great Trek in the early years of last century, making their homes over the Vaal Hiver. After years of antagonism and recrimination, Transvaal and Orange Free State became independent States under Boer rule, but there was always a strong desire among the Boers to remove British power and influence entirely from South Africa. Discovery of Gold. In 1886 gold was discovered in almost unbelievable quantities on the Witwatersrand, whereupon Englishmen with Frenchmen, Germans, Jews, and others, went flocking into the Transvaal to exploit the Eldorado. Though Paul Kruger, the President, could not prevent the influx, he at least made it as uncomfortable as he could for the invaders. In spite of the fact that the population of the Rand, almost all foreigners and mostly English, numbered some 80,000, four times as great as that of the Boer citizens, and that it contributed nitieteen-twentieths of the public revenue, it was not allowed any voice in the affairs of the State, or even in the municipal affairs of Johannesburg itself. It was such an intolerable state of affairs that led to the famous Jameson Raid, a move engineered by Cecil Rhodes to encourage and finance a revolution in Johannesburg. The raid was effected with the Chartered Company's troopers under the command of Dr. Jameson, a great- friend of Rhodes, but the raiders were given no help from the Johannesburgers. and they surrendered to the Boer commandoes sent to repel them.

Grievances Unredressed.

After the raid, Rhodes had to resign his office as Prime Minister of Cape Colony, and was condemned for his part in it by committees of the Cape and by the Imperial Parliament. But the grievances of the "uitlanders," the "foreigners" who had invaded the Transvaal, remained unredressed, and were the occasion for a controversy conducted with growing exasperation on both sides. President Kruger refused to give an effective franchise, and the South African War broke out following an ultimatum by Krugers' Government. The war dragged on through three long years, its first important period being the early Boer invasion, terminating with the relief of Ladysmith on February 28, 1900, its second ending in the following October with the flight of President Kruger, and the third and last period consisting of guerilla warfare on the part of the Boers, met by the blockhouses and punitive columns of the British, which were in force until May 31, 1902. when peace was ratified at Pretoria. By the Treaty of Vereeniging, Boer delegates from the two Republics of Transvaal and Orange Free State agreed to give up their independence; they were promised cash and a loan to repair the ravages of war, and full responsible government, at any rate before the franchise was given to the natives. Full responsible government was granted, the two colonies in 1907, and~two years later they joined together with Cape Colony and Natal in forming the Union of South Africa, which was established on May 31, 1910.

The position of two young men pleading not guilty to having assaulted one another, but yet frankly admitting that they had fought, occurred in the Magistrate's Court at "Wanganui recently. Mr. J. H. Salmon, S.M., asked Senior Sergeant L. Capp whether, under the circumstances of the two agreeing to fight, they could be charged with assault. The senior sergeant understood that such a charge could be laid. "Supposing that they had challenged each other to a prize fight, could they afterwards be charged with assault?" asked Mr. Salmon. Senior Sergeant Capp: "I understand that the charge would be correct." For the next two years the Nelson Education Board will have a unique school—one conducted in a tent. This facility has been provided for the children of the men employed at Rakopi on road construction work between Wairoa and Mangarakau, West Wanganui Inlet. This is the first occasion that a school has been conducted under canvas in this district. The secretary reported at the monthly meeting of the Board that it was anticipated the school would be required for two years, and the accommodation had been made quite comfortable, with boarded floors and walls and a fireplace. The teacher will live in another tent alongside the school. "It has always appeared strange to me that if a person is injured at work his claim for medical and hospital expenses is limited to the sum of £l," said Mr. O. C. Mazengarb in an address to the members of the Wellington Insurance Institute and Officers Guild. "Such a state of law is unjust to the medical practitioners. The hospitals and doctors are expected to treat a sufferer with skill so that he may soon return to work, suffering as little permanent injury as possible. The more skilful the treatment, the less compensation the insurance companies have to pay, but the reward of the medical profession may be restricted to a pound note." , Remains of that interesting animal. the Maori dog, which is now extinct, were found recently by Messrs. J. R. Wilson and Andrew Sharpe, of Tawanui. ? While exploring the small island adjacent to that township they came on a Maori midden, and excavations in this brought to light a collection of bones. These were sent to Dr. Benham, Curator of the Otago University Museum, by whom they were identified as being seal bones, moa bones, and the top portion of the skull of a Maori dog. The Maori dog, specimens of which have at various times been found, was a' small animal, with' sharp features, and of attractive and intelligent appearance.