Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, MAY 30, 1903. A New Zealander in Trouble

Manawatu Herald, 30 May 1903, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, MAY 30, 1903. A New Zealander in Trouble

The East London Daily Dispatch of the 22nd April in a very strong article draws attention to the manner in which two Colonial officers,one a New Zealander, have been treated, and suggesting that the New Zealand Government should take steps to look into their case and see that they receive some measure of compensation. The facts, as set out by the Dispatch are :—On or about the 23rd of April, 1902, Captain Walker, D.S.O, was in command of D Squadron, Colonial Light Horse, which was attached to a column serving in the Fraserburg and Sutherland districts commanded by Major Brock, Royal Horse Artillery. On the date mentioned Captain Walker was sent out in charge of a patrol consisting of 250 officers, non-commissioned officers and men with instructions to visit and search certain farms in the district, to destroy or bring away all waggons and foodstuffs and to bring in all male adults found on the farms. These farms were the headquarters of the forces of the rebels who were then infesting the districts of Fraserburg and Sutherland. Major Brock and his column were under the command of Colonel Crewe, then O.C. No 2 Division C.C.F., and consisted entirely of Colonial Troops. At one of these farms named Klipkraal owned by a Mrs Sieberhagen and family, two sons being absent on commando and fighting against the Colonial troops in the district. On searching the farm a sum of money was found which according to Mrs Sieberhagen’s statement amounted to £l4O. Captain Walker took charge of this money in the presence of Lieutenant Barrett who was staff .officer to Major Brock and who was with the patrol. The money was replaced in the drawer in which it

was found in the presence of Lieut. Barrett. Major Brock’s affidavit, a copy of which we print, deals with this point. On Captain Walker’s return to camp that afternoon he made a report on the day’s operations to Major Brock, mentioning the incident of the money The next day Mrs Sieberhagen lodged a complaint of the loss of her money to Major Brock, stating that she had lost i>3ol, and Major Brock made an official enquiry reporting what he had done to Colonel Crewe, who confirmed his finding. Some time after this Major Brock received thrpugh Major Morgan, the Administrator of No. 9 Area, a claim for £3OOI for property destroyed, amongst the items being one for £3Ol for cash taken. A written statement was furnished to Major Morgan on the subject which appears to have satisfied that officer, and he recommended the whole claim should be referred to the War Losses Compensation Commission On the 25th of November, 1902, some seven months after the incident had occurred, and four months after peace had been declared, Captain Walker and Lieut. Barrett were arrested by the civil authorities at Capetown and charged with theft on a warrant issued by the R.M. of Fraserburg, an affidavit having been filed by one of the Sieberhagens. Captain Walker was ill in bed but nevertheless he was taken off to the Roeland Street gaol, after having been brought before the A.R.M. at the Wale Street Police Court. The letter which Captain Walker addressed to General Sir H. H. Settle on the subject of his arrest is printed and deals with this treatment in the gaol. We publish also Ministerial Minute on the subject; and the report of the Capetown gaoler, as also copies of Captain Walker’s testimonials.

Major Ord’a affidavit on the subject of bail being offered will also be found among the documents we publish. No reference in this case appears to have been made to Colonel Crewe by the civil authorities, but heading of these two officers’ arrest Colonel Crewe addressed a letter on December 14th to the Attorney General’s Department, the reply to which we print. It would appear that when General Settle heard of this case he protested, though these officers belonging as they did to the Gape Colonial Forces, he could not actively interfere.. He strongly objected to officers being arrested in such an arbitrary manner, there being no proof that they were not acting in good faith and had therefore been freed from any charge by the passing of the Indemnity Acts. Captain Walker, D.S 0., served during the war first in the New Zealand Mounted Rifles and then in the Cape Colonial Forces, serving as did Lieut. Barrett also throughout the whole campaign. The leader in the Dispatch is headed “ Siberian methods ” and is as follows :—lt is almost incredible that horrors resefnbling those endured in Russian prisons could be experienced in this Colony by two officers (one a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order) who have served throughout the recent war. We present to our readers practically the whole of the correspondence in the case of Captain Walker, D.S 6., and Lieutenant Barrett. We leave our readers to judge the conduct of the Prime Minister and the Attorney General. A few remarks may be advisable, though none are necessary; for all the gruesome details are to be found in the correspondence and the facts are admitted by the Prime Minister and the gaoler. These two officers above mentioned were arrested on the affidavit of one Sieberhagen belonging to a rebel family on a charge of theft four months after peace was made and after the case had been enquired into by officers serving under the Cape Government. The arrests were made on the evidence of rebels (tainted evidence to begin with) on which the R.M. of Fraserburg was unable to found a case; the Attorney General also subsequently refusing to indie, owing to the fact that the evidence Was, as might have been expected, contradictory and unsatisfactory in the extreme. Captain Walker’s statement shows that he was confined with the worst class of malefactors In a yard that was in a vile condition, and full of vermin Here is what the Prime Minister says on the subject:— “ The population of. the gaol is extraordinarily cosmopolitan, and necessarily includes many pens ns of nationalities which have a ve< y low standard of personal cleanli nsss .’’ Again this is what the Capetown gaoler says;— “ .- . . and where the majority of persons are the filthiest alive.' 1 And yet into this prison crowded with “ a. cosmopolitan population,” the majority of whom are the filthiest alive,” are thrust two Colonial officers on the affidavits of a rebel family. Was ever such return made for active loyalty as this? The question of why the granting of bail was obstructed by Mr Broers, and the same bail subsequently accepted

by him, will, We hope, form thd subject of Parliamentary enquiry. For we sincerely trust a Select Committee will be appointed next session to enquire into all the circumstances of the case; as well as into the abominable conditioned! the Metropolitan prisons The Ministerial minute is one of the most callous documents W 0 have ever persued ; for in it there is not one word of regret. At the same time that these two officers were incarcerated in the Roeland Street prison there were also confined there 4-1 rebels in similar conditions, and untried and unconvicted, some belonging probably to respectable Dutch families. We trust therefore that the Afrikander Bond will join with Us in insisting upon the necessity for immediate enquiry into the conditions of the prisons of Capetown, To the two officers concerned we must express on behalf of every loyalist in the country our deepest aympaty, and fervently hope staunch friends will be found to take up the case, and to see they are provided with suitable employment and some measures of compensation. Captain Walker is a New Zealander, and we urge that his own Government should also make representations to the Imperial Government. Human nature is proverbially ungrateful, but that a Government should treat thus those who stood by it in the hour of need and danger, who had times without number risked their lives in its service, is an exhibition of human ingratitude in its basest form. No words of ours can express the deep resentment and: the great sympathy which everyone of us most naturally feel on reading the details of a case which is without parallel in the annals of Colonial administration. When so much conciliation is being shown to our late enemies, a little decent consideration for those who fought for us would not be out of place.