GENERAL BULLER AND HIS CRITICS.

Motueka Star, Volume I, Issue 37, 17 December 1901, Page 4

GENERAL BULLER AND HIS CRITICS.

The following is a portion of the speech made by General Sir Redvers Buller last month, and which brought about his downfall. After replying to criticisms ol his appointment to the command of the First Army Corps, he turned his attention to The Times and said They attack me, andlthey say that I wrote a telegram in which I ordered Sir G. White to give up Ladysmith to destroy his books, and so fortl. I wrote a good many telegrams, and I wrote one telegram that admits partially of that description. -There are a great many telegrams which I wrote fo which we cannot refer because an officer in high command, of high lanl, is really a partner in a large concern. We ought to stand and fall together; the war is still going on ; we are all fighting for the country, and so far as I can I would strengthen the hands of every man now in the Army and ol any man in authority, and God forbid that I should try and defend myself at the expense of anybody. But with regard to this particular telegram, I stand absolutely alone. It is I and nobody else, and therefore, 1 have not the least objection a* all in telling you about it. I attacked Colenso on th*(jsth December. I was unsuccessful; it very trying day ; I was 36 hours at work ; >-was 14 hours in the saddle. It was the hottest day we had the whole of the time I was out there, and I had rank bad luck, and I hope some day that if I had not had bad luck I had good enough men with me to get in. I attacked Colenso and failed; and, having failed, I had to consider the people in front of me in Ladysmith. Ladysmith was held by Sir George White. I do no harm in repeating the report I made to the Government on him on the day Ladysmith was first closed up. I said I did not know him well, and that I had not seen very much of him, but that if 1 had had to pick in the whole Army a man to whom I would entrust the defence of Ladysmith in its present position that man would have been Sir George White. I knew that horse sickness was almost certain to become very prevalent in the Tugela Valley ; 1 knew that enteric fever was endemic, and was likely to become epidemic in the Tugela Valley at that time. I believed also that the Boers were engaged in putting dead horses into water which the garrison was obliged to drink. I knew that the garrison would have trouble, and great trouble, with their sick. I did not know what supplies there were. I thought at that time I had officially in writing that the garrison could not be fed beyond the end of the year. I was wrong, but at that time I thought it and believed it. The end of the year was fifteen days off. The message I had to send to Sir George White was that I had attacked, that I had failed, that I could not possibly make another attempt for a month, and then I was certain I could not do it except by slow fighting, and not by rushing. That was the message I had to send, and I had to ask him certain questions. I wrote the telegram out, and read it through several times, and I said, " It is a mean thing to send a telegram like that to a fellow like that. He will sit still till the end. What about his sick >" I was in command of Natal, and it was my duty to give my subordinate some some lead,"something that in the event of his determining to surrender he would be able to produce and say, "Well, Sir Redvers Buller agreed." I therefore spatchcocked into the middle of that telegram a sentence in which I suggested it would be necessary to surrender the garrison, what he should do when he surrendered, and how he should do it. I put it after one question he had to answer, and lollowed it with another question. I did not like to suggest to a man I believed to be a brave soldier that he should to this, that, or the other; but I put in the sentence in order that if he found he was obliged to surrender it would be some sort of cover for him. In fact, what I felt at the time was that if surrender came I should be just as responsible for it as he was, and I did not mean to stand up and sa3' it was all his fault. I challenge The Times fairly to bring their scribe"" Reformer" into the ring. Let us know who he i?, by what right he writes, what his name is, what his authority is ; "let him publish his telegram. The telegram, I believe, is in the hands of the editor of a magazine which made itself remarkable by grubbing in an ancient garbage heap and raking up a fifty-year-old and discredited story against an old and valued public servant. It was a perfectly secret telegram. I challenge them to produce the telegram and say how they got it, and when they do that I will publish a certified copy of the telegram I sent, and the public shall judge me. I am perfectly ready to be judged. Let it be understood that I make that challenge as a whole. I sav the whole thing must be published, because what they quote is only a part. They are not going to draw me by saying they have got a thing, and then not producing it. They are to publish the telegram if they got it,

and then I will put my telegram downThe Times once quoted Napoleon to abuse its friends, and I will quote Kruger to defend myself. lam going to let the tortoise put its head out before I cut it off."

The Mangatoro Estat, fiawkes Bay, lately acquired by the Government from the Assets Realisation Board under the Land for Settlements Act, will be opened for selection about the middle of January. The estate is situated about eleven miles from Dannevirke. and contains 19,538 acres, of which there will be offered for selection on lease in perpeturity, and ssx runs for lease on the small grazing system. The land is reported to be of good quality, and its average carrying capacity for the past six years has been sheep and 1240 cattle.

The foundation-stone of a new convei sat Blenheim was laid by Archbishop Redwood on Sunday afternoon. In the course of an interesting address on» the religious life, the Archbishop said the Catholic schools thiougout Australia were taught almost exclusively by religious men and women, and in this connection as much as £IBO,OOO per annum was spared to the State and the taxpayers. The Catholic schools in New Zealand were almost entirely taught by religious associations, and here it could be claimed without exaggeration, that £40,000 was saved to the State and the taxpayers. The Western American papers are fond of giving the addresses of country ministers who, taking advantage of their approaching departure, give ''a piece of their mind" to their unappreciative flock. A Californian newspaper relates that the pastor of a rural district in that State took permanent leave of his congregation in the following manner :—Brothers and sisters, T have (tome to say good-bye.- I don't think God loves this church, because none of you ever die. I don't think you love each other, because you have not paid my salary. Your donations, are mouldy fruit and wormy apples, and ' by their fruit ye shall know them.' Brothers, I am going away to a better place. I have been called to be chaplain of a penitentiary." A cable to the Cape Argus, under date London, October 21, states "His Majesty the King has expressed displeasure at the attacks on General Buller, and it is rumoured that a Peerage and a grant of money offered him."

In his speech at Geraldine, Mr Flatman, referring to the State Coal Mines Bill, said :—"The railways use about 100,000 tons a year, and I do not see that starting the State coal mine will help much to cheapen coal. He said this to warn people that probably they would be disappointed if they expected the price to come down." ' "'*"

The London Express says ;- —It is persistently rumoured in New Zeafetnd that Mr Seddon, the popular Premier of that colony, will be made Governor of the Orange River Colony. And no better appointment could hg made, for though a Lancashire lad of very ordinary parentage, the genial giant of Australasia has made himself loved by natives and colonists alike. It is nearly forty years since the eighteen-year-old boy went out to Australia. A mechanical engineer by profession, he has engineered the colony of which he is Premier into a superb position. Since the Maori football team returned from Home in 1889 ten members of it have died.

General Baden-Powell*is never at a loss for repartee. At a luncheon party a celebrated doctor was chaffing him. "And how do you feel when you have killed a man professionally ?" he asked. "Oh," said Baden-Powelf, imperturbably, "J don't mind it. How do you feel under the same circumstances?" *** Subscription to the MOTUEKA STAR : — Three Shillings avd Sixpence a Quarter, which may begin at any time^