West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Thursday 23 May 1901, page 5


CABLEGRAMS. THE BOER WAR. THE WEST AUSTRALIAN CASUALTIES. THE KILLED AND WOUNDED. London, May 22. The following casualties occurred among the West Australian Fifth and Sixth Mounted Infantry Contingents, at Grobelaorecht (?) on 15th instant:-KILLED. Lieut. A. A. Forrest and Sergeant Ed-wards. of the Fifth W.A. Mounted In-fantry. Privates B. Fisher, F. Page," F. T. Adams, and John Semple. of the Sixth W.A. Mounted Infantry. DANGEROUSLY WOUNDED. Corporal W. Bollinger, of the Fifth W.A. Mounted Infantry; and Private H. Blanck. of the Sixth W.A. Mounted In-fantry. SEVERELY WOUNDED. Corporal R. J. Hancock, and Privates F. St. J. Kennedy, C. Bissett, and W. J. Stevens, of the Fifth W.A. Mounted In-fantry; and Lieut. Stanley S. Reid, and Private W. Nicholas, of the Sixth W.A. Mounted Infantry. SLIGHTLY WOUNDED. Private Hedley Rule, of the Sixth W.A. Mounted Infantry. MISSING. Corporal R. Furlong, of the Fifth W.A. Mounted Infantry. At Reitvlei, on the 15th instant, Pri-vate J. F. Facey. of the Sixth W.A. Mounted Infantry, was severely wound-ed. [Reitvlei is in close proximity to the Delagoa Bay railway line, and about 15 miles to the east of Belfast.] [Messages received by the Governor's Deputy on Monday last conveyed similar intelligence to the foregoing, and have already been published in the "West Aus-tralian." Cablegrams received on Tues-day, and yesterday, by His Excellency the Governor announced that both Cor-poral Bollinger and Private Blanck had succumbed to their wounds.] PURSUIT OF MALAN'S COMMANDO. DISORGANISATION AND FIiGHT. London, May 22. Colonel Scobell's force has been hotly pursuing Commandant . Malan's Cape commando. The.commando has been completely disorganised. All the spare horses were captured, and many of the enemy, in their haste, fled bareback, abandoning a large number of saddles. MINING. RAND AND NATIVE LABOUR. CAPITALISTIC CONTROL. London. May 22. A number of mining and financial houses interested in the Rand have combined' to regulate and control, on a large scale, the steady and economic supply of native labour. W.A. BUSHMEN. London, May?22. Captain Hurst and. Lieut. Ord, of the West Australian Bushmen. have sailed for: Englanj. CAPTURES O LIVE STOCK. London, May 21. The British forces. operating mn the eastern portion of the Orange River. Colony have captured 3,000 horses, 20,000 sheep, and 2,000 cattle. A number of families of prominent burghers have also been brought/into the British camps. ACCIDENT TO AN OFFICER. London, May 21. Colonel Maxwell, of the RoyalEngineers. has-been thrown from his horse at Rouxville. on the southern border of the Orange Rive. Colony. He was rendered unconscious and his position ,is critical. London, May 22. Colonel Maxwell has died from the effects of the injuries he received at Rouxville. BOERS AT ZUURBERG. London, May 21. A force of 1,200 Boers is concentrated at Zuurberg. in Cape Colony. near the southern frontier of the Orange River Colony. HEROIC TASMBANIANS. TWO AGAINST TWENTY-TWO. London. May 21. A heroic exploit by two Tasmanilans. Privates Warburton and Brownell, has been recorded. Near Gannshoklr they were intercepted by 22 Boers. Sheltering behind trees, they made some splendid rifle practice. thrice repulsing their assailants. Ultimately

toe' were compellen to suuoo wL1 -in order to obtain further cover. The attack ended in Warburton beifig shot through the head, and when Browrnell had used his lmAt cartridge he surrendered A Boer shot him in the shoulder. Brownell was stripped and then released. Warburton succumbed to his wound later. AUSTRALIAN JAM. London, May 22. Since October. last. the War Office authorities have purchased 1.678 tons of Australian jam, for the use of the troops in South Africa. VICTORIAN tndUALTY. London, May 22. Private J. W. Sandford, of the Victors ian Bushmen's Contingent, has been severely wounded at Snesuw Berg, in Cape Colony. THE CASUALTIES AMONGST WESTERN AUSTRALIAN SOLDIERS. A FURTHER DEATH. His Excellency the Governor (Sir Arthur Lawley) received a cable message yesterday from the Governor of Cape Colony, which bears on the recent casualties sustained by the Fifth and Sixth Western Australian Contingents. The telegram states that Private Blanch, No. 339, Sixth Western Australian Mounted Infantry, died of his wounds received when with General Kitchener's column, on the 18th inst. In the cable message published on Tuesday, Private Blanck was described as having been dangerously wounded in the head. Private Arthur Blanck, who was a native of South Australia, was 21 years of age. He was for two years a member of the No. 1 Battery of Field Artillery, and followed the occupation of a carpenter. The death of Private Blauck increases the total of killed in connection with our contingents to 21. The message received by His Excellency does not disclose the locality of the engagement in which our two last contingents lost so heavily. The casualty list of the Fifth and Sixth Contingents now stands as-follows:-Ono officer and five men killed, one man died of wounds, and one officer'nnd eight men wounded, with one man missing. REFEh1, CE BY B1allOP RIIEY. During the course of his speech at the annual meeting of the parishioners of St. John the Baptist's Church, at St. John's, Hall. Melbourne-road, last evening. Bishop Riley said that lie had been deeply grieved to hear. on arriving from Melbourne that day, of the recent disaster to West Australian soldiers in South Africa. lie paid a high tribute to the qualities of the late Lieutenant Forrest, and said that lie felt sure that'the sympathy of all would be extended to the bereaved a?l ily, and also to the rela=

tires of the other soldiers who had fallen while doing their duty. It was very sad to think that this terrible war was still going on, and he knew that it must be the heartfelt wish of all that it would soon beyover, and peace established once more. (Applause.) AN EXPRESSION OF SYMPATHY. To the Editor. Sir,-As their addresses are not available, I am directed to ask you to allow me to convey, through your columns, an expression of sympathy of the members of this association with the relatives of those brave men who lost their lives defen'ding the Empire in the engagement of May 15, in South Africa. Thanking you in anticipation.-Yours, etc.,W. W. GUILFOYLE, General Sec. W.A.G. Railway Association. Perth, May 22. WEST AUSTRALIAN BUSHIEN. RETURNING SOLDIERS. Advices have been received by headquarters to the effect that the s.s. Morayshire left Capetown on the 9th inst., having on board 62 members of the West Australian Bushmen's Corps and four members of other local contingents. The Morayshire, it was stated, will call at Fremantle for the purpose of landing the soldiers returning to this State. HOW THE BOERS LAY MINES. AN INGENIOUS ARRANGEMENT. A very interesting description of the method adopted by the Boers to blow up railways and trains is given in a letter written by Lieut. F. W. T. Saunders, of the Imperial Yeomanry, to his brother, Mr. Frank Saunders, of Fremantle. Lieut Saunders was at one time executive engineer in the West Austrai lian Goldfields Water Supply Department. He writes::-"It will be interesting to know the method adopted by the Boers in blowing up the railways. A Hollander named Kemp has specially come out from-Europe to direct operations. He saws off the barrel of a Martini just in front of the back sight, and saws off the stock.just behind the lever. which gives a total length oT about 18 inches. They then fill'the shortened barrel with powder, plugging the muzzle, then open the lock, and place five deto-' nators in the chamber where the cartridge usually goes. The breech is now closed, and when closed, a small' indicator stands up about a quarter of an inch above the lock; and this indicator, when struck a downward blow, explodes the charge. The barrel, although only 18in. long, is too long to admit the rifle bletween the sleepers. They, therefore, loosen the 'chairs on. two sleepers, and hammer them sufficiently wide apart to admit of the shortened rifle being placed directly under the rail longitudinally, so that the little indidator touches the bottom of the rail, a large stone.be= ing previously placed under the trigger' guard, to prevent the weight denressing the rifle into the soft ground. The mine is then laid with the muzzle of the shortened rifle just touching the guncotton or dynamite. The ground, being hollowed out from under the two sleepers, naturally yields when the locomotive passes over. it. giving 'that portion of the rail a regular blow. The explosion usually takes place. just .under the drivers, and the mess it makes-,defies description. The Boers are usually hidden on the kopies close by. and immediately on the exnlosion of the mine, they pour a volley into the guard on the train, usually comnosed of abbut twenty-five men. If the Boers are 300 strong ,they soon silence the guard, and up they gallop ivith their waggons and Scotch carts, unloading any foodstuffs they can find. I have often regretted that I hadn't my-camera in this campaign, as such a picture of a wrecked train, with the loot scattered over the veldt, and an. occasionally dead Beer or Britisher, bearing evidence of the conflict. would give a picture worthy of any studio." au n nn, n nan