WHAT THE FRENCH AtfD; GERMAN OFFICERS ARE PAID.

Manawatu Herald, 10 March 1900, Page 2

WHAT THE FRENCH AtfD; GERMAN OFFICERS ARE PAID.

The French and Gerroan soldiers of fortune wbo bave entered the inks of tbe Boers ara apparently \.ping a rich harvest for the ervices tbey render. There is jta nteresting letter in "To-Day," written by a German office who was lately a major of the 22nd Infantry of the Kaiser's Army, and L? now a ■olonel on the general staff of the 3oers outside Ladysmith, Of oor generals he has but a poor opinion. He tells of the ease with which he and Col. Eohner, late of the 14th Field Artillerie, were able to get information in Natal as to the sending of British reinforcements. They remained until a week after the issuo of the ultimatum, and "al* (,hough we lived nearly three months in Ladysmith, Pietermaritzburg, and Durban, we, strange as it does liow seem, were never recognised, nor any suspicion raised as to tbe real nature of our business. Major C — -, formerly of the French F6reign Legipn, was sent upon a similar mission to Capetown. Being an __&&- man, lie escaped attracting the slightest inconvenient notice. Truly, the English are the most unsuspicious of people under the sun. We are/ continues the writer, " A cosmopolitan band of good brothers-in-arms here around Ladysmith. There is first in rank General Count Georges Tillehoi. de Maureuil, who was lately colonel commanding the first regiment of the far famed Foreign Legion of the French African Army. He treats us Germans with marked courtesy, as, indeed, do all of his

confreres, numbering 87. Of retired officers of the French active army there are at present on the pay rolls 14 ; eight are with old Mr „'_„_. ort, three with our friend • lkcclii, vrho is keeping Baron Methuen "amused, and the others are in charge of the ammunition supplies — a duty which cannot be entrusted to Boer officers, in consequence of their utter want of method. Von Rosenfeldt and Fried Muller came by the last steamer. The former has been sent to join Albrecht, and the other has been made a colonel of the .lege train," As to the pay they received, he says :— " The • colonels in the Biege batteries are paid £150 (Transvaal sovereigns) a month. I am remitting homo £120 every month, and, as we expect the war to last for. six months yet; I may look forward to having something considerable awaiting me at Hanover. We understand that the French general receives £250 per month. Our friend Albrecht had the ground in front of each successive position occupied by the Boer commander Cronje accurately measured, and boulders at the various distances marked by whitewashed figures upon the boulders that are everywhere scattered about in South Africa. Then, through his field-glasses, he was able to determine with precision the distance that the Baron . Methuen's troops were from his batteries, Mr Cronje has now with him quite 12,-----000 men, and 22 field and machine guns." ;,;:■ .' .