NUMBERING THE BOERS.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 10 August 1901, Page 4

NUMBERING THE BOERS.

Soma Definite Details. Capetown, May 21. After months of hard work, careful enquiry among the Government archives of Pretoria and Bloemfontein, to sayjnotbing of secondary centres such as Kroonstad, Johannesburg, Standerton, and the lately-captured Pictcrsburg, our Intelligence Department here at last got at the number of men wbo, from first to last, have fought for Krugciism in this war. The papers have been scut to the War Office, and will doubtless soon be available for the first inquisitive M.P. who wished to make public the solution of what has for so long proved a puzzling problem. It is certain that even the Boers leaders themselves never knew within 10,000 men how many they actually had in the field. Authentic records of such commandoes as those of Pretoria, Standerton and Heidelberg have been found to vary as much as 15 per cent, while the identification cards, which it was resolved that all Boers should carry, have been issued with such a disregard for accuracy and method that in compiling the estimate this means of getting at the numbers was long ago discarded. During the tenure of Earl Roberts as Com-mandcr-in-Chief, a rough estimate was prepared of the Boer forces, which showed 72,000 as the maximum number of fighting men, but since then more accurate information has been obtained, and, as a result, the number is now put down at 05,000 of ail ranks. Riflemen cr Red Cros3 ? If anything, this total is above the mark, and in finally estimating it the responsible officers have added aj'oot-uoto to the effect that this number represents the maximum force of the enemy from the outbreak of Hostilities until the 28th February, 1901. No account is taken of the mcu lcft behind to police the towns, because frequently, as in the case of Johannesburg, the guardians of law and order were often Britishers and foreigners who refused to actually take their place in the living-line. The employees of the Z.S.M. (the Nellie ,lands Railway Company) are for the most part placed under the head of “ foreign assistants,” but no account is taken of ambulance parties, local or foreign, although, says the report, “there is good reason to believe that the major portion of the Red Cross Brigade with the Boers, especially the American and Russian corps, more frequently carried arms than stretchers and bandages.” It will surprise most people to know that the names of some 17(50 men and 350 women are in the possession of our Intelligence Department who, at one time or other, formed the Boer Red Cross Brigade. That the numbci largely exceeded this there is no room for doubt, and among them arc British, or colonial British, who were former residents of Johannesburg. One Cape member of Parliament, Dr Hoffman, is among the list, but in justice to him it is stated that careful enquiry has failed to show that lie ever carried an offensive weapon. In solid and dry figures the forces of ho Boers are set down as follows : Transvaalers 28,000 Free Staters 22,000 Foreigners (including those made burghers just prior to or just after the outbreak of hostilities) ... ••• 7,000 Cape Colony and Natal rebels ... ... 8,000 Total ... ... 65,000 Numbsrg nov? in tha Field At the end of February it was estimated that 11,000 of this force had been 'slain or d'ed of di-ease, 16,000 were prisoners in our hands, 4000 rebels wore awaiting tual in Cape Colony and Natal, 5,400 men were on parole or had taken tnc oath of allowance (mostly in the Free State), 2,500 foreigners had been sent out of the country at the expense of the British Government. 500 foreigners escaped, and certainly 5000 were in hiding as incapaeiated or wounded men unfit for further fighting. This left at the date mentioned 44,400 of the 65,000 Boors accounted for. and the report ends by estimating the total Boer forces still in the field at 20,600, Now lot us sec what lias occurred during the three months which have elapsed since 2Sth February. Our prisoners now according to the Capo colonial official report issued yesterday, number just cn 21,000, or 5003 more than on the date when the Intelligence Department's document ended. Official reports record (lie Boor casualties at 11*20 For the periodsay 1000—but (lie probability is that it is much nearer 2000, as only the dead and wounded picked up by our innumerable columns have been included. Surrenders under the allegiance oath, which does not carry deportation, account for another 2-500, so that to-day there cannot be more than 12,400 men carrying arms against us nor.lt of the Orange River.

Of course, since February many rebels in Cape Colony have taken up arms, but General Brabant thinks that no more than 750 have rebelled since the invasion of December last, and estimating them at double that number ic follows that the total number still in tho field and scattered over 500,000 miles of territory cannot bo m >rc than 14,000 at the highest computation. Native Labour. It must not be forgotten, in considering the foregoing figures, that during the war the Boers have had the services of certainly 100.000 aboriginals, who have performed the laborious work, such as the digging of trencho*, tho handling of transport, and care of horses and cattle. While not 25 per cent of the British Army were actually combatants, it can safely be said that 80 per cent of the Boer forces have always been available for the firing-line. They have no lines of communication to guard, no garrisons, no

Array Service Corps, and as they are now living by plundering their own countrymen. The task of killing or capturing the 14,000 still at large is no light one.—■ G. H. Kingswoll in the Daily Express.