THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume 23, Issue 47, 23 November 1899, Page 4

THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA.

THE VICARIATE OF NATAL Twenty-five years ago (says the Missionary Record of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate) there were six priests in all the vast territory of the old Vicariate of Natal entrusted to the Oblate Fathers ; to-day there are 114. Then there were three religious Brothers ; now there are 284. Then there were tight nuns, and at the present time there are 867. The churches in that vast territory — which was half as large as all Europe — numbered five ; at the present day the churches in which Mass is faid totil 81. The churches and chapels built during those 25 years were 92 ; the convents built for works of mercy —such as orphanages and sanatoria — might be numbered as 14. Twenty-five years a^o theri was not a Catholic buardingechool in the Vicariate of Natal ; now there are 46 b3ardin»--echcols. A COSMOPOLITAN TOWN. Johannesburg was, prior to the outbreak of the war, perhaps the most cosmopolitan town in the world considering its population. At the High Mass on any Sunday at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, in the Gold Reef city, the following nationalities were represented : English, Irish, Scotch, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Malay, Chinese, Indian, Zulu, BasutOj Afrikander. OUTLANDBRS IN THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. A 'Channel Islander,' writing to a Home exchange, points out that French persons resident in Jerst y do not enjoy the privileges

that are being 1 demanded for the Outlandera. Shortly stated, they have no rights whatsoever, can give no vote, fill no office, and hold cr convey no real estate. Thin (exclaims the writer) ia Eaglish liberty and fair play to the Jersey Outlanders — two hours' steam away from Southampton ! GENERAL BULLERS RECORD IN IBELAND. It is not generally known that General Redvers Buller, who is now in chief command in South Africa, held a civil position in Ireland during the stirring times of the I/md League. It was after Parnell made the compact with Lord Carnarvon, the Irish Viceroy (says a well-informed correspondent), the latter promised to grant Ireland a Parliament in Dublin, with power to frame a Customs law, with the view of promoting Irish industries. At the next general election, acting on the advice of Parnell, the Irish electors in England voted for the Tories, with the result that they had a majority over Gladstone. The Tory Government, however, did not keep faith with Parnell. as the extreme Orange representatives in the North of I' eland threatened to break away from the ranks. These extremists could not tolerate the idea of Lord Salisbury coquetting with Parnell and Home Rule. This led to a rupture between Lord Carnarvon and Famuli, and the latter disclosed the compact entered into, to the amazement of the Liberal party. In the disturbed districts of Kerry the evictors were at this time carrying on their fell work ; people were evicted wholesale, and their homesteads in many instances were either n>zed to the ground or burnt by the landlords. In order to placate the Irish party, General Sir Redvers Buller was sent to Killarney to find out the irue state of affairs as existing between landlord and tenant. Buller found in most cases t^e tenants willing to pay, but unable owing to adverse seasons and the low price of produce, and where the landlords in these cases applied for the assistance of the police and military to evict, General Buller declined to accede tolthe request. Without the aid of the military and police, of course, there could be no eviction". The landlord garrison in the House of Commons stormed and threatened, but Lord Randolph Churchill, at the time one of the Cabinet Ministers, who backed up General Buller's action, stated he was merely 'bringing pressure on the landlords within the law.' A PECULIAR CABLE MESSAGE. A peculiar cable message was received in New Zealand on Thursday of last week. It ran thus :: — • A Renter's telegram states that the Rev. Father Matthews was made a prisoner at the same time as the Royal Irish Fusiliers after the battle of Nicholson's Nek. On his arrival at Pretoria he was released by the Boers, and left for Delagoa Bay, where he now is. Upon being interviewed, the rev. gentleman declared that after the mules stampeded the British troops were left entirely unsupported by any artillery, and were in consequence very hard pressed. The men, although they did not become insubordinate, impulsively hoisted a flag of truce.' The latter part of the message showed the absurdity of the whole. Had the men done as was imputed to them they would have been guilty of mutiny. It was evident to the lay mind that Father Matthews must have made a mistake or that the cable man had bungled his words. It was not likely that Father Matthews, who is an old army chap'ain, and who had been stationed at Alexandria as Catholic chaplain, prior to his departure for South Africa, would have made puch a statement. On the following day a correction of what was purported to be Father Matthews's remarks was received here. It wa9 as follows :— ' It now transpires thit the Rev. Father Matthews merely repeated, in his interview, the rumour current at the moment of the surrender of the troops to the Boers at Nicholson's Nek. This rumour was to the effect that a young officer, thinking bis ten men were the sole survivors, raised a white flag. The Irish Fusiliers were furious, and freely alleged that the officer's action was a huge blunder.' It is apparent that Reuter's agent bad blundered also. AN ESTIMATE OF MR. RHODES. I might burden my letter (writes a Transvaal correspondent) with many more instances of like pestilent maladministration, but the interest is not sufficient for those who may read it in print-, except as throwing a light on the reason why Cecil Rhodes's name now rouses most thinking men here, as did Dan O'Connell's in Ireland when I was very young. When I came out here most surely I was not prepared to say one good word for him, unless under unavoidable compulsion After pix months' residence, and without the magnetiem such a personality often exerts on one (for I have never seeu him but in England long ago), the compulsion is put on me to say not one but more good words for him than my space permits. While other politicians have been scheming small schemes and jockeying each other at the colonists 1 expense, he has pierced Rhodesia with a railway. In a little time he will be at Laka Tanganika, and the spirit which enables him to effect these things is so uncommon, so wanted, and so entirely wanting here that nolens volens the eyes of every energetic, pushful young man turns to Rhodes from the tricksters or noodles who at present rule and so manage their departments that the conveyance of a family mail-bag, such as I intended to use for the carrying of this to Graff- Rtinet, cannot be relied on for even six miles by train. WHAT MR. CHAMBERLAIN SAID IN 1883. PoMticians have short memories all the world over. __ Some candid friends now and again make public some of their past utterances, Vi hich are not aiways consonant with their latter-day political principles. Mr. Chamberlain has turned his coat so completely of recmt years that the following extract from a speech delivered by him ia birmingham in March, 1883, does Dot come aa a surprise to those who know him best :— ' If the Orange F/ee State, as most probably would have been the case, had joined with the Transvaal Boers, no doubt Lord Salisbury would have declared war on it too. And if then, what was not at at all unlikely, the whole Dutch population of the Cape had risen, Lord Salisbury, with a

light heart, would have led this country into a war more serious in its consequences, more certain to be fruitless of good results, than any war in which we have been engaged since we tried to compel the allegiance of the American colonies.'