Life in the Transvaal. A RETURNED NEW ZEALANDER INTERVIEWED.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume II, Issue 88, 21 December 1899, Page 3

Life in the Transvaal. A RETURNED NEW ZEALANDER INTERVIEWED.

(Continued.) Although the only personal taxes anio'int to nbont £1 10s per annum, the it irect tat Mon is ("-noi-mons - Prom Ea.ii ijoudon to Cape Coloiu a distance ot 286 miles, the charges «i nine torn of mining nmtciul w , , £24 8s8d; in the On«,ge Free Sr t over 325 miles, £28 0* sd, mid on the Tiausvaal lailwav, owr a distance of 52 miles, were £14 10s Sri This is only oik sa nple of what Uillnndeis have to bear. This dots not ,iftU-t the Boeia, for they do not rinpoit nnnfng material. The dynamite monopoly is one of the most disgraceful amo.,g many oppressive &c\ of the Government. The dwuimile factory winch 'has sola eoutiol of this industry in the Ttans \aal chaiges £i 17-, (3d per case, wlulo in Australia it i° sold' for ahoufc £l 15-, per case, if the monopoly did not exist, the article comV" be l.uidad in Johannesbuig at £1 17s 6d per case. It i>, cftnmted that the dynamite monopolists have heen m.ikmg a dear p -ofit of over £2 per cnse. Then- is a duty of 9 per cent on food stufts, with special duties in many cases of ]00 per cent. As an illustration a case of j,mi. which costs in Europe 18> 6d. has to pay a duty of 13 3 7d. All foreign giMiu imported into the TriuiB\an]'has to pay a sp-oial duty of 100 pei Cent and this tn\ ii particularly odious, as *etj little gram is grown in the country. The oidinary cost of flour in 1898 was threepence peV lb. Tha Uitlandets have no opportunity of getting these abuses redressed, nor . have they the slightest voice in the spending of |,he enormous sums fxtoited -from them by indirect taxation, for they ha\e no representa lion in the Hu.ids. These csvusea have led to the agitation among the iders, which culminated in the well known petition to the Queen for rpdiess. Mpetings have continually "f>een held ftnd petitiou after petition sent to the, -Raad for redi tss of the grievoncps, but thes<= petitions were laughed at aid treated with contempt V\ the governing body. The cry has alwajs been, "Keep quiet, have patience, and we will Vedress all your giieVances," and 'then the burdens have been made heavier. When the people kee p quiet they are told theie are no giievances. Another grievance has been the inability to secure justice in the courts, tlie language bpoken in which is entirely Dutch. The judges, instead of being independent, are appointed and dismissed by the Government at pleasure", and should a j idge give a decision in any case unfavolnable to th« Government, he is promptly dismissed and a more complaisant one substituted, as was the th» case with Chief Jublice Kotze.' Justice in the Transvaal is by no means evon handed. ]f a Boer knocks a/ Uitlander down ar d half kills him he is fined a few pounds, bat, an Englishman couimitiug the saule offence on a Dutc hman would recihe several years'imprisonment with hard laboun Many cases of this kind have occurred, but one illustration will suffice. Ono night iv Johannesburg ciiesof murder were heard, and on two or three policemen running up, they found a man lying on the ground, and anotbei man standing by who said that the man had been murdered by another man who had run into a house ob,e by. Without' waiting to Ree wheiher the man on the ground were really injured or not, two di the policemen went ilito the house "and, going upstairs to the voom where the* man who committed the assault wus'baid to be, they brdke open the doo*. Thafcian, riot knowing who was al the door," 6eized a. stick to defend himself with, and one of thtl "policemen seeing him with thio'in his hand, shot hitu dead. It transpired tft&l the uiad. suppbsed to beiauirclere^waariot^ead'^ not verjr Much ipj«i«d ? 'kna &*£ hi*

had bneti drinking heavily, and been' knocked down by the Outlande'r who v\fas shot, for insulting him. The policeman was arres£ed c for mftrislaugh--tev, and acquitted, the Judge savingthat ho hud done fiis fluty. Thepolico aro all arnipd .with" revolve, and as the Outland rs are riot xVb ved toiurry amis they aie defenceless. Incidentslike this have helped to increase the race hatred, which is very bitter. The Boera in the country districts seem to delight in getting b<sld of any BtrayTJitlande'r who may be parsing through and insulting him in every .possible way, -jailing him a " verdoiode rooi--nek," (redneck) and boasting how they had shot down his sornp.itriots at Mn]uba Hill, and Bronkhorstspruit, ,in 3 tiying to make him assault one of them. The Boers are very boastful, and think they are capable of driving the British out of South Africa, and taking some ships, sailing over to England 1 , and taking that too. There has alwajs been a strong war party in the Transvaal, principally among the younger and more turbulent Boers, who hove only been held in 'check by Kruger and bonie of the more enhghtpned leaders. The ignorance of some of the young Boers is very amusing. Two Englishmen were travelling in a tram and talking about London, and the sights to be seen. Presently a young Boer, who was in the same compii tinefit, and had been sh >wing signs >f impatience, broke in with an excln' ' ■ mtiou ; " Bah, you Englishmen are il w.u a bilking about your London, and saM"g what a wonderful place it is, but >ou bhould see East London." (A. town about the size of Lyttelton.) Shoitly before the outbreak of the present war, two Boers were travelling together and discussing the prospects of the war. One wns saying "we beat England b 'fore and could ad it again." •Ah,' said the other, " last time Fiance and Geimany were in our "favour, but the^ won't this time." "All the batter," bdid the other, " wall wipe them out ac the snrae time." There is no doubt tli.it it bus alw.ys been the intention of Piesident Kruger and his Boers to, booner or later, repudiate Great Biitnin'B suzerainty, and declare tbeir v absolute Tndopendence. They have baen working to gain this object for years past-, and the present war may bo to a grpat extent traced to tfie laxity of the British Government in allowing guns and ammunition in enormous quantities to be imported into the conntry. In 1897 above over 800,000 rifles' were brought into the" Transvaal for t.he Government, -via' Delagoa Bay, besides a large number^ of the.,. latest, quick-firing guns and. immense quantities of ainmuni tion and other war material. It was "known that there were enough rifles' in the country to arm' every Boer, man, woman, and child With seven rifles a pteco (all bought with money ektorted from the TJitlanders). The question may be asked for what purpose the Government required such huge stoiGs of rifles. The answer is. that for the past two or three years they have been sending rifles by hundieds and case after case of ammunition, to -their sympathisers in Cape Colony, in anticipation of the time when there would be a united rising of the Boers throughout rfouth Africa for the purpose of driung out the British and forming a Boer' United States of South ! Africa. That this has been 'the dream of President Kruger and his friends, there can be no doubt whatever. The fact that these nYfias and ammuuition were being sent into the colony was well known generally in Johannesburg, mid uiust have been known to the Cape Government, but no steps were taken to prevent" it, the party in power in the Gape being the Bond (not trie Bund, as it is always spelt in the Australian papers) who are ardent sympathisers with President Kru'ger. Treasonable speeches have been made time after time in the colony, and no official notice has been taken of them. In every way the . iSchreiner Government and the Africander Bond have encouraged President Jiru'ge'r in his designs, and -thrown obstacles in the way of the British Government. There should , be a heavy reckoning with those responsible for this state of iiffuue, when the war is brought to» successful issue. Mr Akhurst* Considers the British Government greatly to bl.uue for allowing the heavy iin.portation of arms into the Transvaaland the buildmg of forts round Pre lorin and Johannesburg, The Boera ' could have had only one objeit in view, namely, the overthrow tit British pow ci in youth Africa, fd? beiog entirely surrounded by itritisfi colonies they hfld no foreign enemies to proteo flieuiselves against. Haa the' Boer 3 not been allowed to -brug in tbeae heavy armaments, the recent reverses the British bavn suffered in South Africa i'6uld In'e\er 1 n'e\er have ocourred-. The" stuff x writtdn feo "flic pVp'ers tbouT the poor down- trodden Boetw ib'solut B 4| sJwaddleV'and if £bi pedple to\& iudgli{% ut /iuoh ' «<jfcJy^ «ratiiaBiik*n^ $&&*:

oibly be transported toiil^iPrkflTv^ ' and mad i to live amonjptheir t rienSft the gentle,' kind,, peace loving ßoeryfot a, few tnoi-fth', they would undergo* marvellously rapid change of opinion* The Bj'er, lib the Knffira arcundhim* only understands the law of might keep a firm hand" over hm and let him see that you are perfectly able^ and ready to crush him on the lea^t sgn of 'insubordination', and he will rsspect you, but tra'at him with generosity and "liberality, and he will immediately ascribe your - attitude to weakness and despise you accordingly. .The only redeeming feature about* tkb recent reverses is that they will he tha means of causing all the disaffectefl Boers in Cape Colony 'to join their comrades of the Tree State and Trans'* vaal, and so when "the day of reckoning comes, as u surely will, we shall know who are frieuds and who are foes. Mr Akhnrst has a very good collec tion of South African curiosities, many of which exhibit great skill on the part of the native manufactureis. This is particularly true of the gv^ds, used as water bottles, and the •nuff boxei* which are of carved wood >r small gourds, ornamented with brass andcopper wire. There is- notmug "rudelooking about these utensib, in fact a European would be proud to confess; them his work. Very curious are the snuff spoons, of bone. They are beautifully shaped and at the end have i long comb for fixing it in the owner'i hair. The native bracelets and anklets show erceptionally fine woik, one, ol Matabele manufacture, having a tri-! angulai cefftrepiece, although present- > ing a round appearance. Tortoiseshells, geological specimens, skins, Kaffir pipes, pillows, knives, assegais, spears, shields and musical instruments go to forra a collection which must liave cost the fortunate possessor much iv time and labou>* alone. Many of the artciles have curious, and sometimes tragical histories. Here, for' instance, is a large knobkerrie hanging peacefully on the wall. The, weapon was found, after Isandlhwana,) standing upright in the face of th«| dead bugler, whose face was smashed, to a pulp. The bugle lying by the poor iad's side is still in the possession ' of the man who picked up both after 1 the battle. Two of the assagais also camp from this field. Loss tragic is the liistory of a tortoise shell ■ ig nent pot, which wag taken in tim*i ot war from a Kaffir kraal in Chief" Molopoch's country, Northern Trans- 1 vaaj. It. belonged to MolopochV favourite wife. Two small china' images of- European haake, and repr«-! senting ctttle, were found in the cavi ! of M'Limo, *he witch doctor whd 1 stirred up_the_retoent Matabele rebel-; lion. They were taken from the cave | by Mi>*button, a son of tha pioneer who first discovered gold in the Transvaal. Not of ie I interest i 9 a stmllj carved bone snuff box used by Majajo, 1 the chieftainess 6f the ' Knobtioses,' sd| called because 6f the peculiar shape oi their noses. This chieftainess was tbaj onginal from which Eider Haggard i pourtrayed the character of the witcn' in his story, 'King Solomon's Mines.' Last, but not least, is a python's skirl about 15ft long, and a Kaffir war boruj about three feet long made from *j koodoo horn. Many a tme, in all probobility, has this a\ve inspiring in-: "strument sounded the dread sUmmon3 through the crowded kraals in th 4 days when white men were, as yot unknown. #erhap3 some of the assegais ajid shields hanging quiptly around were brandished by wan-iors whd heard the notea, but with the othef tokens of the industry of a native riii they help to swell a cpllectioii whicfi evidences lha advance of the whivoi nun, tba, retreat of tjie black. j

was conducted under a terrific^ > with perfect calmness. It is estimated ' that Cronje's force haa now' reaohifl 20,000.' Many are massing at Jacobidal owing to the bad water at Mageraforitein. r 2000 Boers occupy a |rang« parallil with the railway at Arundel. During a night march, the AnstraHans and New Zealandera discovered the Boers posted at a pass to the num ber of 1200. A sharp fight ensued, the artillery finally compelling the enemy to seek cover. The British casualties were slight. Lieutenant Cox, of the New South Wales Lancers, had his horse snot under him. The Boers lost heavily.