OUR SOLDIERS.

Gisborne Times, Volume V, Issue 61, 13 March 1901, Page 2

OUR SOLDIERS.

RELIEVING THE CONTINGENTS

NOW IN FIELD.

SIXTH AND SEVENTH TO REPLACE EARLIER CONTINGENTS.

[By Telegraph—Press Association.] Wellington, last night. Government have made arrangements for the immediate return of the members of the first five contingents now in South Africa, as soon as the men of 6th and 7tli are able to take their places. The Sixth Contingent may bo reported as having arrived at any hour, and the Seventh will be due at the Cape at the end of April. Though the men signed on for a year, or until the termination of war, the Minister for Defence has arranged that the term of the agreement shall expire at the end of a year’s service, and this limit has expired as to first three contingents, and as to the fourth and fifth will be reached in the course of a few weeks. The Sixth Contingent, now due at Capetown, will commence the work of relief, and will replace remainder of the first three and parts of the Fourth Contingent, while the Seventh, now in camp here, will relievo the balanco of the Fourth and Fifth. A month ago a careful computation was made of the number of our men then in South Africa, or on the way home, with the following results: First (officers and men in each case), 17; second, 177 ; third, 201; fourth, 425 ; fifth, 561; total, 1381. This number wlil be diminished by a further draft invalided home, so that the total strength of the Sixth and Seventh, say 1100 men, will probably suffice for all purposes of relief.