An Officer's Letter.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 25 May 1915, Page 2

An Officer's Letter.

FROM SOUTH AFRICA. Tlie Chronicle m indebted to Dv Davies Tor permission to print extracts from an interesting letter written by his brother (now in South Africa) to a brother in lingland. The letter gives ii good illustration of the spirit of pride in race and .traditions that stirs and actuates Britons all over the Empire nt .the present moment. ~S\r Da vies, who is an officer in the South African forces, writes under date Bth March : -''I hope we shall get a move on very shortly : already there hns been a move made forward to the first water in t'e desert and they are busy with boreholes so a« to get a sufficient supply of water lor the whole force. When they have got this the mounted men will go forward. Our horses take so much water that a big supply is necessary ; this water supply will be within striking distance of the first Herman po'tion on the edge of the plateau on the far side of the desert, and it is here that we shall meet with the first opposition. There is a good deal of doubt as to what sort of fight the Germans intend to put up. some holding the view that they will make a show of fighting t<l save their faces, and others that we shall have a tough nut to crack. My own viow is the latter, though in favour of the former is that we know they were depending very much on ;> successful rebellion in the Union, and this may make all the difference. Of course we we-re tremendously pleased with the North Sea fight, and it is good to read of the way in which some of our merchantmen are disposing cf submarines. T hope the stories are true. Yesterday we got rows of three having been sunk. Then the bombardment of the Dardanelles and the hope of their shelling Constantinople is very pleasing. Soon, 1 fancy, we will bo hearing ol activity in Flanders, for by the time this reaches you better weather will have come, and the new army will Ijc on the move. Then we shall see things. Good luck to them. One cannot express in languige his admiration for the pluck and endurance of these poor chaps in the trenches; it is the heroism of the best, not eiidi as you got in the excitement of battle when the I'liiod is up. bin the cold-blooded, dogged endurance of constant misery. How human beings can go through with it and cheerfulness too. beats me. 1 can't think why there is such a crying out for news. Of course, we like to have news, but to know how these chaps are suffering and enduring is enough to sliuit my teeth and go ahead with patience and one firm resolve not to stop until- it is done with. Anyone who can grouse at anything while these men are up to their knees and waists in mud and water ought to he put on hard labour and bread and water. 1 note you say that the Navy wants a free hand. I uon't know, but seeing from th« distance and perhaps in better perspective than you at Home can do. it seems to me that nothing could do better than what they are doing. Within six months they have cleared the world of aU the enemy's ships, except two cruisers, and they have bottled up the enemy fleet for all practical purn"o es. Raids are nothing -Germany is blockaded from the sea and English: commerce is as safe as ever it was. It is a glorious record. The only improvement that I can see is that nothing or any sort should be allowed into Germany by sea fh rough neutral countries, and that looks a<s if it were coming. What an .Empire! It is worth belonging to, isn't it? Thank God lam not a German! iam very glad you did n it go in for mine-sweep-ing. That Ido think you would not have been right to do, but 1 am sorry you were not able to get into tho Naval Volunteer Reserves you wished. I am glad you lmve joined the Defence Force. Von, rill be doing your bit, and everybody can't be doing the same bit. I am ghiil to get good news of :.>.!! at home, and I hope they are not worrying more than is needful. We must all worry a little about our belongings : it would not Ue natural not to. But when worry and anxiety gettoo great our pride of rat* has got to vjine in and things feed much better. The regiment is going strong; men and horses fit and well and quite ready for wock. Clothing is not our strong point. We went for a route march a little tiiiio ago and took with us a guide who had seen many irregular regiments in various parts of the counti-y. I wa.s told afterwards that ne said to a chum of his: 'Well, there may be regiments hotter dressed, bjit if I havo to go out with any give me the Second j Light Horse.' -which was quite satie- i factory to me. Don't let reverses . •attle you : we are going to win." j