Praise for the First Contingent.

Manawatu Herald, 8 February 1900, Page 3

Praise for the First Contingent.

The most Rev. the Primate (Bishop Cowie) has received the following very interesting letter from Rev. A. T. Wingman, senior chaplain of colonial forces on active service : —

The General gave me a pass in his advanced camp at Arundel, which contained a battery of Royal Horse Artillery, the Carabineers, the Inniskilling Dragoons, a squadron of the ioth Hussars, a battalion of mounted infantry, the New South Wales Lancers and the New Zealand Rifles. A smart skirmish with the Boers took plage whilst I was in camp, and I could follow the enemy's 'movements with a field glass. As a Cape Colonist I was naturally most interested in my brother colonists from Australia and New Zealand. The New Zealand Rifles struck me as being smarter and better horsed than even the famous New South Wales Lancers. I went down their

lines and was struck with the cheery workmanlike look of the 1 men and the admirable and serviceable character of the horses. Their horses were every bit as good as those of the crack cavalry regiments in camp with them. After the morning's skirmish General French returned to his head quarters by train, and 1 travelled in the same carriage with him. The General said that the New Zealanders were the best men he had for the work in hand. He was deeply impressed by their discipline and smartness in doing mounted infantry, work. They were able to fight the' Boers in their own way, and showed admirable coolness and steadiness under fire.