NEW ZEALAND'S HELP TO THE EMPIRE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXII, Issue 4, 2 March 1900, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND'S HELP TO THE EMPIRE.

(PB3 I BESS ASSOCIATION.) Auckland, March 1. Two hundred applications were received to serve iu the Fifth Reserve Contingent. Forty passed the medical examination, but the rest have not yet been tested. The More Men Fund is nearly £4OOO, and the joint funds £IO,OOO. Arrangements are not yet settled for a steamer to take the men and horses of the Fourth Contingent to Wellington. Gbeyjiouth, March 1. Eighteon men volunteered from Greymouth for the Fourth Contingent. Seven more have promised to volunteer to morrow. Several horses have already been presented, and seven more promised. Dunediit, March 1. At the Fourth Contingent camp tbo largest mounted parade yet litM took place, 132 being mounted. To afsis' in the process of weeding i u", heavy skirmishing work was undertaken on very rough country. MEETING OF NEW PLYMOUTH COMMITTEE. Tha local Patriotic Committea met on Thursday and fically decided to limit the number of men to be sent with tha Fourth Contingent to four, Applications from tho3o wishing to go will be received until Tuesday next, and all candidates must be prepared to find their own horses, and must be in attendance at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 7th inst., to undergo tho tests, and to have their horses inspected by the Government Veterinary Surgeon, who will be in attendance, The Committee decided that it had not sufficient funds to send a nurse to South Africa. HOW THE BOER DEAD ARE BURIED, In the current issue of the Methodist Times the Rev. Hugh Price Hughes makes some interesting revelations concerning the conduct of the Boers towards the burghers who are killed on the battle-field. He says:—We have casually become acquainted with a , Boer lady now in London, whose

sympathies are, of course, with her own race. But she is very discriminating and very candid. In the first place, she earnestly sought permission from her own Government to return at once to the Transvaal in the capacity of a nurse ; but they, not unnaturally, are unwilling now to be responsible for the maintenance of anyone who cannot fight. In the second place, this highly-intelligent and cultured lady informed us that she had no idea whether her husband and other relatives were alive or dead. She says that it has always been President Kruger's policy to conceal from his own country, as well as from the world at large, all facts with respect to Boer losses. Whenever a Boer dies in battle his body is weighted and thrown to the bottom of a river, or in some other way concealed as quickly as possible. No information of any kind is given to the relatives of the deceased ! They never know what has become of him, and all they can do is to assume that he is dead. It is a curious custom, the exact opposite to our own. We make no attempt to conceal the exact details of our losses. This custom throws a flood of light upon the statements constantly received from Boer sources with respect to the small losses they have endured. The lady with whom we had a conversation fears that the losses of her country are very great. In the next place she speaks in strong terms of the unscrupulousness and unrighteousness of the Kruger party. She says, as we all knew, that before the raid the more liberal and enlightened party represented by General Joubert was rapidly growing, and but for Dr. Jameson's insane and unpardonable canduct, the performances of President Kruger and his ruthless military oligarchy might have been ended before now. Many of the quiet Boers are totally opposed to his methods of government, his mendacity, his political unscrupulousness, and his scandalous misuse of public money. But this lady tells us that President Kruger is supported by a clique who have made immense fortunes out of his corrupt government, and by the scum of Europe.

COLONEL KEKEWIOH. Colonel Kekewich, who has distinguished himself so brilliantly at Kimberley (says M.A.P.) is a West of England man. He is the second son of Mr. Kekewich, of Peamore, Exeter. He is 45, dark, broad-shouldered, of middle height, good-looking, and inclined to be bald. Generous and goodhearted, and always ready to do a kindness, he is loved and respected by all his men, in spite of a reputation for " strictness," and is a great favorite with his brother officers, by whom he is known as " Kecky," although by his family he is ■ generally called "Bobbie." Kekewich is full of fun, and loves a joke, but in a sick room no one could be more quiet or gentle. He nursed a friend of his with all jcare' last year, and proved an excellent nurse. He is very fond of polo, and is a goo ( d player of the game. His success as a soldier has not mad<? him in the least conceited ; indeed, Kekewich's modesty is one of his most noticeable features. MARVELLOUS GUNS. Apropos of the new 12' inch steel and wire guns now being constructed for the Admiralty, a gunnery expert, in the course of a conversation with a press representative, said that a 12inch gun, known as Mark VIII,, has been in use in the Navy for the past six years. The weight of the Mark VIII. gun is 46 tons, as againt 50 tons of the new one, known as the Mark IX., and of which the Admiralty have ordered nineteen. Six are already delivered, and the others will be finished at the rate of about one a month. The nfew gun can carry a 6-cwt. shell some 20 miles, although at this distance the aim cannot be accurate; but an effective range is obtained at about 10 miles. "And," added the gunnery expert, " that is quite far enough for battle- ; ships; at any greater distance the opposing vessel would be below the horizon." A heavy gun, twice the weight of the new Mark IX., is in course of construction at the American Arsenal at Waterlivet, to carry a shot 21 miles; but those "in the know" are of the opinion that it will never be finished. The Mark IX. gun has a muzzle velocity of 2,600 feet per second, as against 2,3C7 feet of the older pattern, and requires a firing charge of 207 lb, of cordite, while the Mark VIII. only required 107^1b.