THE BOER WAR.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVII, Issue 38, 20 September 1900, Page 15

THE BOER WAR.

NOTES AND POINTS OF INTEREST TO CATHOLIC READERS.

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PICTURE.

In the course of an interesting letter to a friend in Paeroa Trooper Claude Jewell, of the First Contingent, gives us an insight into what the soldier has to put up with in South Africa. He says, ' All the starchy stiffness so associated with Tommy Atkina at home i-- v.^t hor» • Yip does everything in his own free and easy -way. Lord Roberta rides round just as if he were a mere human being , he rirc u H"» n« plflinly. but is less dirty than a common soldier ; his smile, which is the eoul of kindness, captivates us. Kitchener does not smile — he grins — and lesser generals are too dignified to do either. 1 was captured a second time lately by General Erasmus, and spent a night with the Boers. I was only disarmed, and treated with the greatest courtesy by Veldt Cornet de Lange and the general's secretary, who gave me a pass back to our lines. Yon people in New Zealand must not run away with the idea that th« British soldier is chock full of all sorts of virtues and magnanimity ; he distinctly isn't ; I have seen him in his natural condition at his worst, and it is only the strict discipline of the army that keeps T.A. from worse atrocities than the much-maligned Dutch farmer. However, I will be mistaken for a pro-Boer if I go on in this strain— I must desist. ' The New Zealanders are a power in the land. You see them everywhere — stationmasters, clerks, police warders, railway men— and there are even Borne like myßelf — in the fighting line. We are atill suffering from swelled head. ' I am sick of mules and dust and bullocks and horses and bullets and shells and Boers, and all I want is a quiet squat down on a chair — a real chair — in New Zealand, with just an ordinary civilian — a mere human being, and a talk about something elso than Boer and gore. For heaven's sake, if you hear any talk of a seventh,or eighth, or ninth contingent, tell them in that persuasive way of yours not to come ; tell them there are enough foola here to finish the job, and it's going to be finished for ever, Hurroo I for home and country, for the quiet glades and sylvan glens and ferny nooks of New Zealand, for the girls of our hearts and of our youth, for the pavement instead of the veldt, for the peaceful gamp instead of the rifle, for the billet instead of the bullet, for the kernal of life in place of the shell of death. SIB WILLIAM BUTLER'S APPOINTMENT. Regarding Sir William Butler's appointment to the command at Aldershot Major Kennedy, the military critic of the Otago Daily Times, writes as follows : — Outside the Transvaal the cables lately reported promotion, or more properly speakiDg, the transfer of Lieutenant-Generai Sir W. F. Butler from the command of the troops in the western districts, with headquarters at Devonport, to the command of the Aldershot district. This appointment comes as a surprise, and will be generally considered to be some slight recognition of the soundness of the advice given by General Butler to the Imperial Government before the outbreak of the Boer war, wherein that distinguished officer recommended the sending of at least 1 30,000 reinforcements to South Africa at the immediate commencement of hostilities instead of waiting until the Boera were ready to take the field. General Butler had been appointed to command the troops in South Africa in 181)8, and was ordered Home last year owing to a disagreement with the Imperial authorities about the stepa to protect the British colonies from attack, and the general want of ordinary military precautions in view of the impending danger of invasion. Lieutenant-Generai Forrestier* Walker was appointed to the command at the Cape, and General Butler, shortly after his arrival Home, was ordered to take command of the position made vacant by the transfer of General Walker. Events soon convinced the authorities, both civil and military, that General Butler's advice was based upon accurate information, and that if the measures he advocated had been taken the Boers would have been confined to their own territory, and the war would have been quickly ended. General Butler's appointment to the Aldershot command is a decidedly advantageous one, as the pay attached to that position amounts to £2007 per annum. Great Britain is divided into 11 military districts, one of these being the Scottish, while Ireland is divided into four districts. The pay attached to these districts is as follows : — Alderahot and Southern, £2007 each per annum ; the Eastern, the same ; North-eastern, North-western, Scottish, South-eastern, Thames, Western, and Woolwich, each £10'J.> per annum. The Irish commands are divided into two classes also. The generals commanding Dublin and Cork districts are paid £1097 each, while the commands at the Curragh and Belfast are given to officers, who are paid £913 each per annum. It will be seen by the figures quoted that General Butler has been fairly well compensated for the slight cast upon him by his recall from the Cape about a year ago, and it may be taken for granted that in regarding General Butler at this time the Imperial authorities, civil and military, wish to make some atonement to the gallant general ere the opening up of an inquiry into all the questions leading up to the war, and the reasons wby adequate provision was not made to meet the storm that was brewing. Ido not think that the appointment of General Butler to tile command at Aldershot will influence his testimony before a commission of inquiry, but it will tend to soften the feeling of resentment which must have stirred the grand old soldier to the core. General Butler is now 62 years of age, and has seen a good deal of active service. He comes of a good old fighting family from the County of Wexford, Ireland.