IN BRITISH EAST AFRICA

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 94, 14 January 1918, Page 2

IN BRITISH EAST AFRICA

AN INTERESTING INTERVIEW

A WOMAN-FARMER AT WORK AND WAR

Chance brings many visitors to New Zealand, isolated though it is • from older and larger countries by the ocean spaces which surround it, and even war time has not altogether stopped these birds of passage from- alighting here for a Uriel rusting time; indeed, in some cases it is the reason' of their arrival. In this latter category must be placed Miss Amy Beasley, who ar. rived in Wellington last week in connection with one of the troopships which brought back to New Zealand a num. ber of wounded soldiers,, and who is at the present time staying with relatives, in this city. Miss Beasley is ,tn Englishwoman, who had been famine since' 1909 in British East Africa, ana who, like many others of her nationality, in whatever part of the world they happened to be living in, felt impelled to do whatever she could to . lessen the suffering and inevitable confusion, caused by this shattering of nations. •With war work in most of its phases most people are more or loss familiar, and like many others whose especial share has led them to cross the seas. Miss Beasley has had several escapes from being torpedoed, some of them being exceedingly thrilling. It was her experiences of life in this comparatively unsettled country of British East Africa that a representative of The Dominion' was most interested in. At the time of her arrival there the country was peopled by about 1200 whits people, all told, and in the particular district to'which she went there were only throe white vomen. Since then, of course, the population has greatly increased, principally by fresh arrivals from Britain and her dependencies. Sheep and cattle farming, poultry fanning, and the growing of coffee and rubber' are the principal pursuits, the climate and natural conditions of the particular part of tho country being the deciding faotors as to which was followed. Miss Boasley hersolf lias had experience-in all- save rubber. Coffee growing she found very interesting, and, as in rubber growing, the longer the plant took to mature the nettei the final product. In throe years' time a coffee plantation would he in the full swing of its. activities, although, it has been done in less time, but with not such successful results. A Now Zealander who started farming in British East Africa would bo amazed at tho care and watchfulness that has to be bestowed noon his animals. Evory night they have to ho brought in and shut up (because of tho lions and leopards that nightly haunt the ranches.in tho hope,of a satisfying meal), and in the morning fed and let out again to pasture. In the long night hours it would seem to a, nowco'iier as though all tho animals of creation wore prowling around, And their cries and presence are terrifying. There was i.o such thing as leaving windows, wide open, as in this country. One night's revelry, and hot an isolated instance cither, was described by Miss Beasley. "I had not been very long in lied on this occasion when I heard outside the whining of a jackal; very shortly a hyena followed suit, and a little later on a hippopotamus in the river that van close to tho house started grunting. That was quite bad enough, but those sounds were simply nothing coinpared to the indescribnbls uproar that started across the river, where three lions commenced to have a battle royal. It was pandemonium let loose, nnd by the time it neared the end olio felt that not even being inside tho house was shelter enough. Then towards morning a troop.of zebra came down to tho river to drink, and smelling that lions had been shout commenced a gteat stampede. It was not by any means a restful night."

To meet a leopard face to at night-time just outside a tent without anything to help save a lighted lantern was not the least of Miss Beasley's adventures, the momentous question being whether she could get the tied-up front of a tent in which she happened to be sleeping thai night undone before the animal made its spring. Luckily Miss Beasley's.nerva stood lior in good stead, and, throwing the I'ght of the lantern full in the animal's face, the knots were undone and she managed to get insido and the tont" closed up ago in before it had recovered itself in time to act. Slight though her refuge seemed, it stood her in good stead, and morning found her quite unharmed, though not unshaken. jAs a matter of fact, leopards are the most disliked of all the wild animals, and their depredations upon stock are more feared than are those of lions. In somo parts of the country it is necessary to keep fires going all night and natives to act as watchmen. Custom no doubt accustoms people to many strange conditions, but to take such midnight marauders as lions and leopards as just part of the day's—or rather night's —proceedings would require some degree of training and much philosophy, cue would imagine. An additional trial stock-owners had to face were the pests indigenous to the country, hut the Government having instituted experimental work-, antidotes were found and have been used with great success. Naturally in British Bast Africa there is no labour problem as we know it in New Zealand, as black boys do the work both inside the house and outside. Miss Beasley described them as being great thieves, and they needed constant watelling. When war broke out tho King of Uganda wanted to raise a native force and fight for the British, but it was feared there would be terrible massacres resulting, no his offer was not accepted. One of the inducements offered by the Germans to the natives to fight for them' was the promise of some hundreds of white women. They only succeeded in rousing the British to such a pitch of fury in their fighting that few prisoners were taken. In British East Africa, continued Miss Beasley, the fear of invasion was for a long time ever present in the minds of the people. Every available man was called up, and the days and nights were filled with anxiety, suspense, and ceaseless watching," with the list of casualties mounting up as it did and has done in every country. As a matter of fact the Germans did break through on more than one occasion, hut with littlo advantage to themselves. The frontier that had to be guarded was a long one, and there were few to hold it in those days. Miss Beasley considered that it was impossible for people outside Africa to realise the magnitude of the difficulties, both natural and man-niadc, that have been faced and overcome by our Forces fighting in that great country. The record cf all they have done, all tliey have achieved, and all they have endured in time to come will told its own with all tho other great deeds that lfavo illumined the darkness and sorrow of this colossal tragedy of the world. But the pages have yet to be written.