The British-Boer War. EXPERIENCES OF LANCE-CORPORAL C. A. WILSON (3rd NEW ZEALAND CONTINGENT).

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 59, 16 October 1900, Page 3

The British-Boer War. EXPERIENCES OF LANCE-COR-PORAL C. A. WILSON (3rd NEW ZEALAND CONTINGENT).

{Continued). The line of trenches outside the besieged town extended Tor nearly five miles. On one side of the river was the Brifcish position and on the other (the town) side was that of the Boers. Each was well intrenched and little stone shelters v;ere buiifc up all along the ridges. On every hand could bo seen che work of tho ; shells. Great holes yawuad in tho ' iitllsides and river banks, aud dead , houses, mules a.,d bullocks lay every where across the track, polluting the air for hundreds of yaids around. Tho man el is how tho little band of 1500 men managed to sustain such a deter m'ned resistance against a vastly superior force. The gunnery of the Cape Mounted Riiles was a great factor. This corps is without exception the best mounted corps in the colony, j "Y. eil drilled in every portion of cavahy woik, and moat of them familiar with the country, they have covered them selves wilh honour and glory every time they have been in action. \ Our march now was not very Interesting. All day, and sometimes well on into the night we would march, lea\ing behind us every day the dead bodies of some horses. One sheaf of forage oats was not enough to fit them for the arduous work required of them. | Oo.Msioually we managed to get more j Jj ago than this, but this was the army allowance. For a time while I Wd3 dismounted I was given charge of ,a waggon and three men for the purpose of " commandeering " forage. Thi3 is ras.lly a uaisnomer, fcr everything waa bought and paid for unless i we happened to strike a deserted house. Then, when the waggon was loaded, one would watch for an Imperial ; officci's arrival and the others would go into the hou^e and r.earck for nicknack' of eve^y <? ascription. I have hoard talea of jewellery discovered and I know o! one case in which three small diamonds were found in a washleather bag under the hearthstone, but most Btorias of hidden wealth were fictitious — the Boers knew too much to leave anything portable behind. I took half a-dozen and some puiieiy from a Dutch house and next day we happened to camp near a sfcrptim. All the mess had a wash and each ate hia dinner with a real knife, fork and spoou, on a real table cloth (also found) and with a real serviette wherewith to wipe his bearded mouth. I secured a few Ddtch texts at the ■same place and was able to send them liocue Ly pott from Eloemfontein, but she rest of the things ar<* in my kit, uul will never see Now Zealand. Many articles of interest we found, but they had to be left, for wo were overloaded as it was. Scores of Mauser rifles were captured. The sights of these were bettered, the bolts broken, and the barrels bent under the waggons. They could noi; be carried and it was better to render them useloss tnan risk their falling into tiie hands of the enemy. Day after day we marched, starting before daylight and mnrching till dark, with a two or three hours' rest in the middle of the day. The oxen were our pedometers — the distance they •travelled was regulated by their eneu auce. Thank goodness, , they got tirtd sometimes. It was a grand Bight to see the whole column in motion* One morning, just after sunrise, I was riding on the fianK. We had to pass round a large kopjo and tho road descubed almost a semi-circle. Round taia stretched the column, and With my companions I saw a Bight never to be forgotten. Ahead, the advance guard, with right and left flankers thrown out, then a continuous line of bullock waggons. A break would occur and here would be sandwiched a duty rdginaent of "foot-sloggers." Another transport and its attendant regiment, and so on till the eye had traversed the whole sis miles of men, mules, horses and oxen. Bravely they ttatnpcd along in the cool, bracing, mo^,^* a i r » with the white frost still glistening on the scanty grass of tho veldt, while the fife or bugle bands threw life into the marching by striking up some stirring tune. Here were stragglers from the historic regiments of England, their gay uniforms replaced by the cotton kbakij dirty and torn, their boots worn to the uppers, some with their putties wrapped round their bleeding feet, others with their boots in their hands, tramping along with their wealth of accoutrement on their weary backs. Oh, this weary, weary marching 1 We had but a few weeks at it, but thac was sufficient. What woader that these men, who had fought from the beginning on the Natal side, who had j .Believed Ladysmith, -and who had

marched down to assist iv the relief of the British garrison of this little Dutch village, should yearn foe thei»: homen < should cuise the country, with its flies, its heat and its dust. These men were only taken up on wapgona when unablo to muve, for the endurance of bullocks is limited. As one Tommy Baid to rae " You've got to pay £ 40 for a blanky bullock, but you can get any nunibar of blanky men for fifteen bknky pence." Even those in charge of the waggons were not supposed to rida, but if any of us saw an empty waggon we soon got in, for officers weia not so strict towards us. On one occasion a British captain saw us and galloped ur to the waggon. The Imperial Torn on would have been shifted, but the colonial Tommies were not. Instead, he said to ma, " Corporal, would you mind taking charge of the waggon and see that the driver keeps np with the rest of tha transport." I saluted and consented to officiate. As I was able by this time to shout " Hamba lapa " (go forward), as well as having acquired a email supply of KalSr profanity (to be used sparingly, and well shaken before taken), I managed vory well. A little while after, I was listening to the tales of sundrj privates of various line regiments. They wore a woe-begotten lot. Sc&rcely one had a sound pair of boots, and in the country we were travelling through there waß no chanca of renewal. The waggon was soon full and to every disconsolate straggler by the wayside we shouted a cheery " Come on, kid," for every Tommy is a " kid " to his companions, even though his years be two score and ten. Just as we were thinking of packing up to make room for more, a transport officer ranged alongside and asked " Whose waggon is this ?" " New Zealand waggon, sir, non-com, there," answered a big sergeant, quickly, and the danger was over. It was not always riding on waggons, however. Sometimes the order -vould be to arrive at a certain point at midnight to attack a commando, which probably was nevt-r seen, at times a huriiod i-ight march, but it neaily always ended up the same way. At rimes a few shuts would be fired at p few Boers, who would then make themselves scarce, to be seen no raoro. One night the order was to ou-saddle and maich at 12, midnight, to surround che to-vn of Smithfield, 16 miles distant, beforB daylight. Daylight was about 680 a.m., but the rough road was successfully undertaken and tha cordon drawn round tha town ' before the first streak of dawn. ; Major Jowsey and 16 men lode in and made a search of the town, taking prisoners aud captuung arms. Returning, they advanced towards the position occupied by the Malta SlouuLod ljtautry, and these, not recognising our men, and taking them far JBoerd, on account of r,ho blouch hats, poured in a Sow volleys at 1000 yards. However, no one wab bit and the mistake waa soon made evident. But our coiu'or:able slouch hats v/ere doomed. The order went forth that as soon as possible tho holvnet should be substituted. {To be Continued.) ,