THE BOER WAR.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 8 November 1901, Page 4

THE BOER WAR.

(per press association —copyright).

London, Nov 7. The occasion of presenting a sword to Baden-Powell produced a' remarkable outburst of popular enthusiasm. A large colonial company and the Agents General were present, Mr Chamberlain presiding. He said that the tribute was a new proof of the solidarity of the Anglo-Saxon race. The great colonies had now become powerful states, and some of the great nitions shared our hopes, objects, and sacrifices with a prescience that he wished everybody in Great Britain had shared. They foresaw at the outset the greatness of the issue, realising that it was a struggle which menaced the Imperial existence of the race's supremacy. Had Britain dallied, not listening to the appeal of fellow subjects, they would have lost South Africa and forfeited the respect of nations whose goodwill was esteemed. The main object of statesmanship was to maintain and strengthen their power. We were not entitled to nor wished to make a settlement renderi ig futile the sacrifices and sympathies o: kinsfolk and not securing to the fullest degree the object both had in entering the struggle. Baden-Powell, in responding, modestly but warmly accepted the honcr which was shared equally with his brave companions. The numbering, according to nationalities under martial law at the Cape, shows fc'iat thousands of continentals were a nongst the. recent arrivals, apparently mercenaries bound north. Persistent reports ar? circulated that De Wet iff collecting mercenaries, straggling Boers in Damaraland and Bushmansland,

Sir A. Milner visited the refuge camps at Harrismith. The Hon, Mr Broderick, in a letter to the Bishop of Rochester, reviews the strenuous measures taken to ameliorate the condition of the camps. _ If_ the doctors at the termination of winter recommend their transfer to the seaside, the expense will not impede such a course. He reminds the critics that binds of desperadoes are striving to render the country inhabitable. The mortality in the camps is largely duo to the weakening effect of privations prior to admission. Hardships of Oatpast Duty.

A New Zsalandar'fl Punishment

A cablegram on Fridav stated that acceding to a petition, by Mr B. G. Jellicoe, the K'ng had ordered the release on 11 tb January of Privats Tasker, a New Zsalander, who in July wa3 sentenced to three years' imprisonment for sleeping at his post. The case of Trooper Tasker, says the Wellington "Post," appears tj have been oie of peculiar hardship. The circumstances of the case are, we believe, as follows:—Oa the 9sh July, Tasker was u j at 4 a.m., did fatigue until 6 am., at that hour want to relieve an outpost, and was on observation post until 1.80 p.m , then joined, his column, and marched with it until arriving at camp at 5 p.m. He was then pi iced on an ou - po3t; was relieved for a tim*, and agxin put on post from 9 p.m. to 10 30 p.m. At 1.30 am. (10th July) ha w<i3 aroused to go on post agiin until 3 a.m. It was during this post he is supposed to have gone 'o sleep. The night was bitterly cold. Th - Corporal of the Guard, who wa3 sleeping bihind Tasker, awoke and asked him tht time. He answered twanty minues to ttfo. The next thing he was cognisant of wis the orderly officer standing besidt hm. He looked at his watch and found it was eleven minutes to two, thus nine minutes only had elapsed since he spokt to the Corporal. According to the trooper's statemont he was more numbed with tho cold than d:zinsr, and thoroughly worn out and fatiguad. A. court martial followed, bus the tooper wa3 not informed of the finding. Oo tho contrary, he was not only put back in the fighting Hn9, bat was under fire on sbveral occasions. It was not until six week 3 after the court-martial that Taskoi learned that he had been sentenced to three years' imprisonment (two years of which were remitted by Lord Xitchenor), aid he was then arrested and taken to Capetown, and thence to the United Kingdom, there to uidergo the term of his imprisonment. The trooper, as we now learn, will be released on 11th January next, but his experiences are not likely to stimulate his fellow country men to fur ther military service fir the cause of the Empire in South Africa.