THE BOER WAR.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIX, Issue 1, 3 January 1901, Page 4

THE BOER WAR.

NOTES AND POINTS OF INTEREST TO CATHOLIC READERS,

THE TACTICS OF THE BOERS. Colonel a- Court gives the following summary of the novel and bewildering difficulties experienced at the front by commanders whose tasks are even now very imperfectly comprehended: — 'The Boer invariably douH thu exact opposite of what common sense and military experience lead you to expeot he is likely to do. He places his riflemen in trees and watercourses and some of his trenches in the strangest places. He drags his (iin guns with treble spans of oxen to the tops of hills 2000 feet above the surrounding country, and secretes his quick-firers in the lowest dongas. If you expeot him to attack he is sure to be going away ; and if all reports agree that he is on the t*ek he will probably attack you. He will let you go away when you get into a mesa without the hammering you deserve, in perfect accord with the maxims of Dogberry. He will make a fortress out of a hole in the open country and defend it to the death ; and he will spend thousands on the forts round his capital, and not defend them for 24 hours. He is the most extraordinary mixture of bravery and prudence, of openness and cunniny, of good faith and duplicity, of shrewd sense and credulity ; and from day to day you can never tell which of his many qualities he is about to present to you. GENERAL BOTHA. In his home, it is said by one who knows him, General Botha is a model husband and father, his wife is a cultured lady of charming appearance and demeanor, his children are well brought up and receiving the best of education, both in the language of their country and English. Nothing more charming could be imagined than the home life of the Botha family, and Lord Roberts, since going to Pretoria, has taken many opportunities to express the pleasure of himself and his esteemed consort at meeting the family of the plucky Commandant-General of the burgher army — a feeling which was freely reciprocated. TROUBLE EVERYWHERE. A Lancashire Liberal candidate gave me (says a London writer) an amusing account of his misfortunes during and after the election. While it was proceeding he was received in the streets with cries of ' Pro-Boer !' After it was over he took a holiday in a famous Flemish town, where he was hooted &b an Englishman by small boys wearing caps adorned with the device 'Spion Kop !' THE STATE OF JOHANNESBURG. Letters received from Mr. George Hutchison, member for Patea, written from Johannesburg on November 19, give soms curious glimpseß of the position of affairs in that city and in the Transvaal generally, at the date mentioned. A few extracts may be of public interest. He says :—: — Although the military headquarters have been removed from Pretoria to Johannesburg, civilians know next to nothing of what is taking place. It seems rather an incredible Btory to tell, but a fact nevertheless, that we rush greedily for the London Time* to get news of the war movements in South Africa — some of them happening probably within a few miles of us. The one thing patent is that the war has assumed a new and more perplexing phase in the pin-pricks that are being inflicted by numerous bands of roving Boers, all well mounted and living on the country with plenty of everything, with one exception, that is ammunition, which I learn is becoming short. One result of this state of things is that the Mauser in many instances is being discarded and the old-fashioned Martini-Henry is taking its place, because there are neglected stores of the suitable sort of cartridges being fossicked out. There are constant raids made on the railway commnnications, and terrible disorder on all the routes into this part of the Transvaal. One consequence is that, excepting a few influential individuals, no refugees have yet been permitted to return to Johannesburg. Naturally there is much discontent. The embargo on ladies is particularly felt ; indeed, 60 far as I can ascertain, Mrs. H. is the only one that has got through. I wish it were otherwise, although, through the abounding kindness of male friends who have gathered around up, she and the lassies were never in better form or enjoyed themselves more. But so far as one can see the whole country is at least six months farther off settlement than would have been believed possible five months ago. Still there is a little movement in the town. The few men with money who have got here are settling the local labor partially at work, taking down hoardings and clearing off the accumulation of dust from shop windows, and such like. Beyond keeping them olear of water, and in readiness for working at the earliest possible moment, the mines are at a standstill. When the refugees return, and for months thereafter, there will most likely be a considerable amount of distress, as the newcomers, having Bpent their savings, will compete with one another for daily bread. I daresay a whole twelvemonth will elapse before business ia restored, and even twice that time before it ia in a healthy state.

Speaking at the celebration of the centenary of Mount Gambier, South Australia, the Chief Justice (Sir Samuel Way) said : • Whilst mentioning the literature of thia part of the country they ought not to pass over the Rev. Julian E. Woods. His history of Australian exploration was still the best and most exhaustive work upon the subject, and there was no book written in Australia which contained better or more melodious prose than his Geological Observat ions in South Australia, which was published in 1862. He had met many of the fine old men of the colonies, but he had never met a more attractive conversationalist than the late Father Woods.'