HELPING THE BOERS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 18, 3 May 1900, Page 27

HELPING THE BOERS.

At first it was assiduously asserted that the only British-born subjects fighting on the Boer side were Irishmen. For a long time we heard a great deal about the Irish Brigade, which now turns out to be composed chiefly of American citizens. In a recent issue we quoted a paragraph from the South African News to the effect that among a certain lot of prisoners brought to Capetown about 12 per cent, were British born subjects, principally of Scottish origin. Many of our daily contemporaries who are in the habit of • fossicking ' out every little tit-bit of news regarding Irishmen seemed to have missed this, but we commend it, as well as the following, to their careful attention : — An account of the operations by Buller's army has been sent by Sergeant C. Welsh, of the Ist Batt. South Lancashire Regiment, to his relatives at St. Helena. Writing from Upper Springfield on January 14 he says : 'We have not had n man that has funked during the whole of our hardships, but all stick like tractionengines, waiting for a Bwing on those priceless whiskers of poor old Oom Paul. Their army is full of all nationalities. Of two Boers that were brought in the other day one was named Macdonald — a thorough Scotchman— and the other was named Edward — an Englishman. So you can tell what we have to face — our own kith and kin. But the devils deserved nothing lees than they got— shot. It would be God help them if the troops were allowed to get at them. 1 Sergeant Welsh is, we hope, exaggerating. If not, his letter does not read like an aooount of civilised warfare.