NATAL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIX, Issue 8123, 21 April 1906, Page 5

NATAL.

NATIVE DISTURBANCE. SITUATION MOST CRITICAL. LOYALTY OF DINIZULU SUSPECTED. Reoeived April 20, 1130 a.m. . PiETERMAKITZBURG, April 19. The situation in Natal is reported to be most critical, The native chief Ndubi has joined the rebel Bambaata. jfOolonel Sir A. Wools Sampson offers to raise from five thousand to ten thousand Transvaal irregulars to further a scheme tor enoirgUag Banrbaafca. « Native asoietance has been abandoned by the authorities. The loyalty of Dinizulu. the paramount Zulu chief, is still auspeoted. He has been summoned to confer with the authorities as to the best means of capturing the rebel chiefs. The inhabitants of Melnott are laagered inside of wire entanglements. One hundred and fifty of the Durban Light Infantry, fifty muunted men, and one hundred Natal volunteers, with two Maxim guns, have been sent to Esbo»e. ("There is no doubt that Dinizulu, v the repatriated son of the late Cetewayo, is spoiling a fight—but he will not fight single-handed, I am oonvinced that he will not move until he is sure of receiving support either from the Swazis or the Basutos." Thus spoke an old Transvaaler, in the person of Mr W. Springorurr:, who ia on a business visit to London, to a representative of The Standard. Mr Springorum comes from Dundee, in Natal, where all bis interests lie; he knows Zululand through and through; and has taken an active part in more than one native war in South Africa. "When 1 was last in Zululand—a rcatter of a few months ago—there were unmistakeable signs," he said, "that Dinizulu was more or less in a discontented frame of mind. The fact that a poll-tax wa» about to be levied on certain reserves in his oountry had not improved matters; and the presence in Zululand of a Government Commission baa given rise to a rumour that the Zulus were to be deprived of certain pieoes of land, on which, apparently, they sec great store. The rumour bad no foundation in faot. Dinizulu himself is no friend to the British; and my opinion is that so soon as an opportunity presents itself he will not hesitate to make trouble. He will first make sure that the neighbouring tribes are disaffected, and will then throw in biß lot with them. The Zulus have been for a long time very overbearing in their attitude towards the whites. I think the Natal Government would make a very grave mistake in ao- ' cepting Dinizulus offer to help to put down the present trouble. Dinizulu must be carefully watched. Being in such close proximity to Natal as he is, he could swoop down in twenty-four hours oa VryheioV-or Dundee. Cetewayo showed us in 1879 how quickly the Zulus can move from place to plaoe—and that is a lesson we oannot afford to for--get.")