The War.

Manawatu Herald, 28 January 1902, Page 2

The War.

■ " ■' ! 1 v . Notes and observations on the African Campaign by Tom. R, Porter* Staff-Sgt. Major, 7th Intelligence Dept., General Garrett's column, for the Manawato Herald.-

1 New Zsalanders without a doubt have done remarkably well in this, her first and only Campaign in foreign countries. The very name of New Zealanders is a household word, throughout the Atrican Colonies; and for the information of those that are ignorant of the war in its-' intricacies I wil) volunteer a few details a* seen by ;* my own search-lights. The; war may probably end to f wo or three. ■ months, but I am rather inclibed to think it. • won’t end for, another two or:-three years, and if it ends in two or three''. months, I shall simply put it down as ended by the patriotism of New Zealand people in allowing their sons to go. The Bth and 9th , Contingents must surely be a thorn in the Pro-Boer Governing bodies, who are, I believe, paying foreigner* to keep the war going, for every engagement w« have had with the Boers, we have taken as,; prisoners of—war tea foreigners to every. twelve we haVT'"' caught,—Russians, Germans, Spainards, Portugese, Irish Americans, - Hollanders, &c. There are a very few Dutch Burghers, in the field at the present time, the leaders are property' owners, and if only L. Botha and De La Rey could be caught the war would , be over We never hear anything of De Wet, in Africa, the men that are fighting under him think him (Do Wet) mad, no doubt ;he is for he is very cowardly in bis tactics, such as blowing up trains &c., to no purpose < whatever, but Kitchener has spoiled his little game by erecting Blockhouses on the lines of communications and just . lately the trains are able to travel night and day, without pilots in some places. A. few months ago this could not be’ done the trains simply ran all day and rested at night, making ’an early start at daylight, and every train is required,' - by martial law to carry an open truck or . two, of armed soldiers who are detailed off for this sole purpose. The man that are retained by blockhouses is aom.e-' thing enormous, which L will explain here. From Capetown to Pretoria is a * distance of 1,200 miles and it is re- - quired to have a blockhouse at intervals’ • of a mile along this line, some a little closer, half a mile probably, and every- - blockhouse has from ten to twenty men, that is to say 12,000 men, just on the - one line; and there is the linefrom, Durban to Elandsfontein about the'” same distance, anotheri2,ooo, tad from Port Elizabeth to De Arr, and from Da Arr running up towards Uashonland through Kimberly, Mafeking,Grocodile Pools, &c., say about 80,000 employed in this tedious and monotonous work, and there are the towns to be considered along the lines of .communication, they are all garrisoned, say xoo,000, and if I were to go into figures I can make the standing army of South Africa reach over 300,000 don't-think there are less, and people will insist oh saying why not catch De La Rey and Botha, why its like looking for a?needle in a haystack, and if either of these men were caught there would bound to be another Botha come to light, * and if De Wet died . there <-are -v any amount of other men .there,; who are ready to take unto himself"' the same name. These people have . a peculiar genealogy, they an all related; while I was in South Africa „ we have caught as many, as 8 or 4 Botbas, 2 or 8 Meyers' andlMnsloss’ and 2 De La Beyi* and.Jltaß-’" mas', &c., and never the righh ohea,, Louis Botha and De La Bey are there not to b& caught, should hs forsee any reverses, he does a backslider under cover of bin owaman who remain to be caught in his or their stead. Lbnisnov.—This is the whole secret of the present prolongation, the British Government are for too lenient towards the Boers and they impose accordingly. They, will keep,/ on fighting till Doomsday as long asv« their families are kept in Oonoentra- ;; tion Camps and are getting 8. meals a day. Theirs is a happy life—no work. I took the tcouble tp ihquireV; at Irene and Veraeipgineg|||jjmi|fl their treatment they couldn’t .he taj pcowi

... ■’ were the loyal portion of the 4H)alatioD, they are starving in the of oases. I must now wind ifp these short notes and pray that our boys of the Bth and 9th will at last end this war in conjunction wiih the 6th and 7th, who are still under Flamer and Garrett..