THE BOER WAR,

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 37, 13 September 1900, Page 4

THE BOER WAR,

NOTES AND POINTS OF INTEREST TO CATHOLIC 1 READERS.

DEATH OP A CATHOLIC CHAPLAIN.

The death of the Rev. John Moloney, chaplain to the South Afnoan forces, is announced. He died at Springfontein of enterio fever caught in the discharge of his duties in the local hospital He was in his 27th year. F '

THE HOSPITAL ENQUIRY COMMISSION.

The Hospital Enquiry Commission consists of Lord Justice Komer, Dr. Church, Professor Cunningham, Sir David Richmond (e^" J?JS r0 M oßt of Gla8 £° w )> and Mr. Harrison, manager of the L. and N.W. Railway Co.

A bAD CASE,

The case of a man who. at the outbreak of the South African war, became insane through excitement, and had to be removed to tn« asylum, was mentioned (says the i\, a- Zealand Timct) at a meeting of the Wellington Benevolent Trustee* the other day He had been discharged from the asylum lately, but it was stated that he still entertained a lurking suspicion that all fear of a Boer invasion of New Zealand was not yet at an end. Any night he considers a raiding commando might take it into its head to pillasre his humble home. In consequence of the indifference of the police, he keeps an axe handy by his bedside at night, for he is determined to give De Wet a warm reception should he seek to effect an entrance

WORTin OF THE VICTORIA CKU^n

It may be remembered that at tho battle of Pieter's Hill only three officers of the Royal Inniskillings came out unscathed Where so few remained to tell the tale, certain details have been slow in coming to hand. One incident, recorded in a private letter by a surviving officer, demands a record. Colonel Thackeray was shot down, but not killed, within SO yards of the Boer trenches. Nearly 40 hours elapsed before the ambulance advanced to where the wounded lay. Seeing the Colonel < ph u ht, and fearing he must die of thirst, two privates of the regiment wont to his succor bearing him water. Both these heroes, as tlu-y bent over their colonel were shot, and he himself, who might otherwise have mirwved was suffocated beneath the superincumbent wiight of thur dead bodies

loud Kiicur.xi it.

Mr. Julian Ralph, the correspondent „f the Ihiilii M,i,:, notices since his return home, that he is more oft j. asked about Lord Kitchener than about any other general, (\i-ept the Field M.ir-hal. There is little need to dv.visa Lord Kitchener as cither an independent actor or a lieutenant of Lord Roberts. 31 r. lU'p i Kiys in neither capacity has he counted for much in the war or menaced his prestige as a strategist. lie made a m-teoric appearance dm ing the puisuit and hubsiquent surrounding of Croi.jes amiy but it was not the common opinion that he pleased the Field Marxh.tl by his military methods. They appeared too much like an exaggeration of the worst of Lord Methuen's mistakes. The fact that Lord Kitchener was summarily sent away as soon as Lord Roberts came up with the besieging force, and that the cx-Shdar's orders were to put down a petty rebellion of 100 farmer- at Prie«ka. carried with it a suggestion which had but one interpretation. Still bus South African failure notwithstanding, Mr. Ralph has a high opinion of Kitchener as the greatest organiser of his time.

HONORS Ol\ IDED.

During the siege of Mafeking the Mayor was an Englishman. named Frank Whitely, who hails from Yorkshire • the mayor nf Ladysmith during the siege was Mr. Jct-eph Farqiihar, who was born in Aberdeeni-hire, Scotland ; and the head of municipal affairs in Kimberley was an Irishman, Mr. Robert Ilugn Henderson who is a native of County Armagh.

Dj;riNiTio\ or wouxns,

The cables frequently state that certain soldiers bavo received a 'slight' or 'severe' or 'dangerous' wound, but as no definition of those terms has yet been published, the following will be of interest :— -Slight ' means n wound likely to heal rapidly ; no-: impairing the use of limb or organ ; not even entailing admission into hospital. 'Severe' signifies a wound requiring care tul treatment in hospital, but not necessarily dangerous ; often involving fracture of bone, and sometimes thy permanent impairment of a limb. ' Dangerous ' means a wound such as might occur from the penetration of the head, chest, jibdumen, or any vital organ 1 Mortal ' means no hope of recovery ; certain death.

THE NATIONAL ANTHEM OF THE ROERS.

The national anthem of the Boers was written by an old lady who is at present living a peaceful, obscure life in Holland. She is /uTphSto'i'Xl Fe 'T a - VaU Ree ?' and Wa ' S born in Holland.^ i * I* M* n excellent musician and in her youth she composed several operettas, which were performed by the Choral Society, 1_ trecht. At one of these performances b he made the acquaintance of Mr. Burgers, a membVr of the society, who wasatthat time studying theology in ,he University of Utrecht In 15 ( .,n.,r« W « who ir, tbp mPantirrohi.l l>o»n P^Hent of the South African Republic, went buck to Europe and renewed the »-in»i n rß r enf his old friend M:« van R WS . One day he bc-ed her to write a national hymn for the Transvaal, and within a7ew hours she wrote both the words and nfusic for what is now the Boers national hymn. The burghers were so pleased with the woTandT^V^ 6 V °i kSraad ° f Pretoria offlci W acce P«d the Th« hvm • * 188 Vai ! ReC9 a letter of thanks and congratulations Sf« ?m" ver y P°P u ' ar f mon Z the B( >er« and it is said that the &nor BSn?an8 Sn?and S S t fe f ir "8 ° oft « th « »"* ° f