THE IMPERIAL LIGHT HORSE.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 98, 19 January 1901, Page 4

THE IMPERIAL LIGHT HORSE.

When the history of the present war comes to be written, honourable place will be found in it for the Imperial Light Horse, the volunteer regiment formed in Natal by Colonel Wool-Sampson and Major Karri Davies. The record of the corps, as given to the Melbourne Argos by Mr J. De Lacy Sutton, an Ausirafian who served in the ranks, is as foUows : —They took part in i.he basics of Elandslaagte, Reitfont :a and Lombard’s Kop, before ine investment of Ladysmith ; fought with the garrison through the siege, assisting in the operations against the Boers at Biggarsborg fitter the relief. The regiment then left- Natal for the Cape, where their first achievement was to cooperate in the successful march on Mafeking under General Mahon. This was followed by an advance through the Western Transvaal to Botchefstroom, and subsequently Bretoria was reached. Desultory fighting ensued for some weeks in

this neighbourhood, one squadton being badly cut up when the necessity of relieving General Baden-Powell at Rustenburg arose. Then the Imperial Light Horse, which was still included in Mahon’s Brigade, marched westward, the result being that the Boers wore driven from Rustenburg. Next came the chase after De Wet to Warmbad, whence the reglmmt returned to Pretoria, and shortly afterwards proceeded to Barberton, where it assisted in the final discomfiture of Botha’s army. Mr Sutton, with commendable modesty, hdS a strong objection to speaking of bis own exploits, but the Imperial Light Horse were the only regiment which went through the siege of Ladysmith and afterwards took; part in the relief of Mafeking. A record of their work farther shows that during the war they covered a distance of nearly 5000 miles, and were engaged in continuous hard fighting for nearly twelve months. Of the original strength of the regiment, 42 per cent were killed and wounded, while 8 per cent died of disease. SOUThTfBICAN SETTLERS. Mr Arnold White contributes to the Contemporary Review an article dealing with difficult (jiu • ;ivi! of the suggested settlement of English colonists in large numbers in South Africa, Mr AVhito is fully aware of the great success which attended the 1820 settlement, ami also the transportation of the. German Legion after the Crimean War, but he is more anxious to point out the difficulties in the way of new emigrants than to dilate on the success of their forerunners, and many of his warnings are very much to the point. He states that few of the correspondents who have discussed the question have touched upon what is, perhaps, the main difficulty, ttfe encouragement given to intemperance. Brandy is ninepence a bottle in Capo Colony and alcohol is procurable throughout South Africa at an incredibly cheap rate. The result of such a state of affairs upod the industry, intelligence and aims of the people can be imagined. Alone among the civilised white communities of the world the Cape Colony dispenses with excise. This is a legacy of the Dutch ; a legacy of evil inconceivable to those who have not lived the life of South Africa. White immigration to a land saturated with bad alcohol is heavily handicapped. The dangers arising from the large preonderance of the black population and from climatic and other causes are also dwelt upon by Mr White., He points out that it would bi undesirable that the cleavage between the two races should be accentuated by the settlement of all the English in the towns, and the monopoly of agriculture by the Dutch. It is, therefore, necessary to ensure the establishment of people of English blood in veldt farm life. Unfortunately, however, the rains fall at the wrong time, and in two years out of the five there is a drought of more or less serious dimensions. Before any expenditure is made on veldt settlements it is abso'utely necessary to organise an irrigation system after the necessary land has been acquired. If this is not done disastrous failure is the inevitable and inexorable result of the condition of things prevailing in Sooth Africa. The whole article rather tends to give the impression that New Zealanders ate much better off at home than they are likely to be in the hew El Dorado.