South Africa.

Manawatu Herald, 19 July 1900, Page 2

South Africa.

Items from the Cape Times :— MAJOR-GENERAL ; BADEN- -! " / POWELL. The following is a copy of a ielagram despatched by the War Office, London, to the G.0.C., Lines of Communication, Cape Town : May 21. — Clear the line. Please telegraph following message to Mafeking by quickest route to Major* General Baden-Powell, Mafeking : " Well done ! Full of admiration for your noble defence. The army at Home send you and your gallant comrades heartiest congratulations. The Queen has promoted you MajorGeneral. Make this telegram known: — Wolseley." MAFEKING MAKESHIFT'S. BEFORE THE RELIEF. " It is astonishing the amount of local talent that has been thus produced. There are no grand workshops here like at Eimberley, but, all the same, we now manufacture our own shells — respecting which, by tfie ; : way, there hangs a curious tale. ' The shells taken from Dr Jameson's column at Doornkop have been fired into this town, collected, melted down, and charged, and are now being hurled once more at the Boers, which is surely economy personified. As regards the foodstuffs, the task of feeding 9,000 human beings daily (2,000 whites and 7,000 blacks), with the small staff the D.A.A.G,' has here at his disposal, is by no means a light undertaking, and in view of our remaining here for some months longer, we are wisely all on strict and somewhat reduced rations, and even some ingenious methods of making our meal supply last have been resorted to. Oats are ground to mix with the bread-meal, and the rejected husks still do for the horses, and I have my suspicions that our loaves are n0t.... innocent of a little bran. Of meat we are allowed lib daily,.. and of bread 6oz, and never have 1 rea ised before how little this seems to a hungry man, and how closely one can speculate on how much one is eating. Thanks to the fertility of the ground, after the rains we get fresh' vegetables, carrots, tomatoes, French. beans, potatoes, and delicious melon's," while sometimes, as a delicacy, plovers and locust birds, shot oh the veldt, find their way to our table. .'",.' NEWCASTLE. VsT. Many Dutchmen declare they were.; forced by the Boers to take up. Kernel. In one or two instances the Dtitohr men stoutly denied fighting with the - Doers or accepting Mausers or ammunition, but from information received the search generally. / : rft» .^ suited in the finding of Transvaal. rifles and ammunition, mostly buried., in the neighbourhood. One resident of Newcastle during the Boer occupation, on Butter's arrival hoisted the Union Jack ; cm;.. his house, and sported British rosettes on each breast. During the day he was sent for by the authorities to answer a charge connected with rebellion or high treason. ' A Dutch woman of gigantic statue came into Newcastle one morning; her outer garments were red, white, and blue. COMMANDEERING A GIRL. A strange tale of commandeering of a girl by the Boers who told Trie- ' by a Cape Policeman stationed at Barkly West. The family of & Cape Policeman, named Venter, when he was on active service, moved to the - home of some relatives who liveehiiir the district between Douglas and • Smitsdrift. When communication was restored, Venter, who was natur* ally anxious about his family, wrote there, and received a reply from his. wife to the effect that the Boers before leaving visited the farm, -telling ,± his second daughter, aged fifteen, to make haste and dress herself, as she must come with them. They would' give no explanation of their extraordinary conduct, but insisted upon taking the girl, whose mother attributes their act to their knowledge of Venter's acting as a scout for the British column. The girl was known as her father's favourite and pet. MAFEKING YARN. I have collected many incidents which make pretty reading. In Saragraphs they art scattered and Uooantotad. Z writ* thtm m thnr 9

oocur. Mr G, H. Whales, editor of the local Mail, is an exceedingly plucky man, but knows little or nothing about military matters, so when it came to lining the last ditch in the shape of manning the railway workshops, Mr Whales got a gun and went to help the men, but every time it went off it hit him with extreme hardness on the nose. This * caused his nose to bleed furiously, y" and inconvenienced him a good deal ; when everything was over and he returned to the bosom of his family, he had the appearance of as bloody a swashbuckler as ever breathed.