HOW ENGLAND TREATS HER ENEMIES.

Gisborne Times, Volume V, Issue 93, 29 April 1901, Page 4

HOW ENGLAND TREATS HER ENEMIES.

A gentleman well-known in Auckland, writing from Pietermaritzburg under date March 3, to a friend here, says : “ The impression here is that the war will be over within a couple of mouths, but really we know very little indeed of what is going on in the country, as tho military censorship over the press here is very severe ; in fact, it seems to us and everybody else in Natal ridiculously so, and in consequence we look forward to getting tho Auckland and English papers so as to see liow things are going on. “ The wives of the Boer generals, Do Wet, Botha, Smuts, and four others, arc living here, in the best hotel, at 1 our ’ expense. Every month we pay tho hotel proprietor his account for ,£B4 for these seven Boer women, whose husbands arc fighting against us. You will hardly believe that these women complain of having to put up at tho best hotel, and said that they wanted tho authorities to lease a good, furnished private house for them, and, of course, give them servants to look after them, and let them do just what they like, “We have over 4000 Boor refugees in Maritzburg, living in tents supplied to them. Those we arc also keeping in absolute idleness, and they have actually their Kaffir servants to camp with them, besides some two dozen British soldiers to do work in the camp for their comfort. Truly we English are a soft-hearted race—too much so !

“ In a recent local newspaper I saw a statement that we are spending .£4OOO a day (£28,000 a week) on the Boer refugees and prisoners of war in South Africa, whilst not one penny is being spent to assist the poor English refugees who were turned out of their homes in the Transvaal over 18 months ago, and amongst whom the greatest poverty now exists. “ The military authorities seem to have no idea of treating the Boors as they should be treated, or as they would be if left to the tender mercies of the colonials, who so thoroughly understand them. Tho Boers are absolutely incapable of understanding business, and simply laugh at us for what they call our 1 softness ’ and the inducements they say we give them to go on fighting. “In order to save their farms and herds, the Boer families generally send in ono of its members who ‘ voluntarily surrenders to tho British,’ and this declares that ho is the owner of so many head of cattle and so many sheep, and so on. Of course, as a rule, the stock really belongs to perhaps a dozen others as well. The English take charge of all his (?) possessions. and guarantee, at the end of the war, to return him all his stock again, or the value of same at the time of surrendering. Of course the Boers laugh at us for doing so. Thus we arc looking after their women and children, and their flocks and herds, and so they are quite satisfied to go on fighting and footing for some time yet. “We are hearily sick of the whole thing, but I am not going to let myself loose on the subject in this letter, as anything I write will probably be stale nows to you in New Zealand. The unfortunate Uitlanders, and people generally in South Africa, are not at all pleased with the absurdly liberal manner in which the Boer refugees are being treated. “ Durban and Maritzburg are essentially khaki towns.’ The signs of war are seen everywhere—immense stacks of provisions and forage on and near the wharves, hospital ships full of wounded and convalescents, transport vessels in the bay crowded with Boer prisoners, tents and camps everywhere, pickets on duty in the streets, ambulance waggons going to and from from the railway stations, all make up a very interesting and exciting scene. But we have had enough —and more than enough—of it.”—N.Z. Herald,