Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, JAN. 7, 1896. Painting Africa Red.

Manawatu Herald, 7 January 1896, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, JAN. 7, 1896. Painting Africa Red.

Africa has always bad a fascination for the adventurous, and in, what we may term, the later times, the Portuguese, the English, and the Dutch have made efforts to acquire and retain portions of the Dark Continent. We may just mention that the Portngupse secured settlements in 1450, Elizabeth granted a patent to an African company, formed in England to deal with Guinea, and thn Dutch founded Cape Colony in 1660. From this settlement arises the trouble now ocourring in the Transvaal. During the wars at the commencement of the century the Cape colony was ceded to England, and a number of the Dutch residents left and established themselves in Natal in 1840. Here they set up a Republic which they styled Natalia, but this being displeasing to the British it was put down and the country calmly annexed. The Dutch Boers not to be beaten again took up their beds and walked over the Drakensbergen and Vaal rivers and established themselves in what is now known as the Transvnal — (across the Vaal.) The British Government in 1854 acknowledged the republic as a free and independent State. We now come to the time

when a false move made by any Eu ropean occupier of Southern Africa affected all occupiers, and thus the notion of all States Was freely criti cised. This is understood better in this colony than perhaps in the Old Country as we have had experience in the anxiety of holding one's own against a bravo native race. So in the Transvaal, and in 1872 the Boers only numk-rpd 88,000, and there were other 5000 British settlers as against 770,000 blacks ! In some Way war began between the Boers and Kaffirs in 1876 and the republic was blamed. Ita troops got defeated and an English official was sent from the Cape td mediate. The Boers having got assistance from other tribes of Natives succeeded in "checking the Kaffirs for a time, but tha Dutch general getting klled, anarchy became rampant, so that early in the following year the Transvaal was annexed for the protection to the British dominions. These proceedings read high-handed, until all the conditions are known. The leader of the Kaffirs, for the outbreak of which the republic was blamed, was Cetewayo, who in 1879 gave the British at Isandula, Rorke's Drift and Itombi many reasons to remember him. Therefore the British Government, in the year 1879, declared the Transvaal a Crown colony much to the disgust of the Boers who met. in December 1879 and January 1880 and claimed independence and at the end of 1880 they seized Heidelberg and established what they called the South African Republic with Paul Kruger as President. Fighting naturally took place and the Boers defeated the. British troops at Bronker'a Spruit Again in January 1887 General Colley was defeated at Laing's Nek. ( )n the 26' h February General Colley with 600 men ascended, afc night, Majuba hill overlooking Laing's Nek, intending to surprise the Boers, but the Boers began the attack and outnumbered and defeated the attacking force so that they were routed and fled. General Roberts was then sent to Africa and peace was proclaimed and the Boers dispersed in the following March. Commissioners appointed to carry out the treaty of peace agreed to the convention ceding vir tualJy all the territory annexed by Britain to « The, Transvaal State " subject to the suzerainty of the Queen, and a British residant. Even after all this further troubles with thp natives arose and not till July 18H8 was peace obtained. At the end of 1883 Paul Kruger and othersvisited England and interviewed Lord Derby whptt amended boundary lines Were agreed to and the republic was to be styled the » South African Republic " under British suzerainty. This was the position until disturbed by the extraordinary incursion of Dr Jameson upon a friendly territory a few days ago.