BOTHASBURG.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 207, 2 March 1914, Page 3

BOTHASBURG.

XEW ZEALAXDERS ON THEIR METAL. The adversary of the battle of Bothasberg was celebrated last week. It was the most serious engagement in. which New Zealanders have been engaj-ed since the Maori wa.rs, and one in which they acquitted themselves like men. It was the Seventh New Zealand Regiment of Mounted Rifles who stood the brunt of that thrilling night attack when the Boors came charging up in an un-nccess-ful attempt to break the Imperial and Colonial lines. Twenty-four Xow Zealand soldiers were killed and nearly thirty were wounded in the fight, which deserves to be remembered and honored as an occasion in which the young troopers from the remotest part of the Empire bore themselves fully as well as 1 the British veterans of many v.ars, in an affair which was all the more trying because of its suddenness. The commander of the Seventh at liuthasberg was Colonel Porter, who had buckled on his sword again after thirty years of peace, and who made frequent skilful use on the veldt of the scouting tactics In., had learned in the campaigns against the Hauhaus. Colonel Porter's despatch to the Xow Zcalaud Government giving the Ihvt account of the light .in the earlv hour- of February 2-1, J!l(t', was a very eloquent tribute to the smart and -plucky v/ork of his men. "On midnight of February 23," it ran, "Howards of 800 Boers, under Commandants 11. ISotha, Ross and Alberts, broke through the driving cordon line of outposts held by \iio men of the .left wing, t'nder cover of 1000 head of cattle .the enemy rushed the) position in overwhelming force, desperately irresistible and bold. Our men in shelter trenches gallantly resisted the onslaught. Their, resistance! is evidenced hv 'the casualties, all in the trenches,'killed twenty-four, wounded twenty-seven. The Boer loss was heavy. Then." wore many instances of heroism, and not one skuller is reported." One of the two r.Dicers who was shot dead in the midnight battle was a Christchurc.h man, Lieutenant 11. L. Dikenson (remarks the Lyttelton Times). One. of the wounded troopers was kyttoii Diteley, of Akaro-. who was laid aside ready for burial. Next morning it was discovered that the hid was still alive, and after spending three or four months in hospital he returned to Xew Zealand to win something more , than local fame as an oarsman and ceneral athlete. h