Part 21

Much might be written in confutation of the many alarmist reports as to the decadent condition into which British trade has fallen of late years, but, after all, is this worth while? Admitted that, inflated with our past prosperity, we have slumbered on undisturbed by the thought of what the to-morrow will bring, it would need greater imagination than the prospective garnering of the two thousand five hundred millions sterling which it has been shown is likely to fall into the lap of the world's traders as the result of the future expansion of South Africa in less than fifty years, to suppose that our manufacturers have suddenly become bereft of their senses not to seize the most of their opportunities. It is easy to decry their enterprise, to compare their alleged shortcomings with the activities and the asserted "pushful" tendencies of their competitors--thus advertising the latter at their expense--but how much of foundation is there in such reports? The brief statistics with which this article is accompanied--and they have been confined to the narrowest possible limits--conclusively show that, so far as South African trade is concerned, British manufacturers are more than holding their own; and there cannot be the least doubt that they will continue to do so in the years of prosperity and expansion that are before the sub-continent, provided they are assisted by the ungrudging efforts of labour. This is a matter which need not be intruded here, but it is one upon which the maintenance of our supremacy in the world's markets will depend, and it is one, too, which could be more profitably discussed by those whose apparent mission is to belittle everything that is British in favour of those who, in South Africa as elsewhere, are striving to wrest our commerce from us. As has been shown, the future outlook for trade in that country is of the brightest, and that we shall not prove equal to the task of maintaining our position there is a contemplation that does not come within the scope of probability.

THE FUTURE OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONSTABULARY

VIEWS OF MAJOR-GENERAL BADEN-POWELL

Believing that a short account of the origin and object of the force known as the South African Constabulary for the Orange River and Transvaal would be interesting to those anxious for the prosperity of the new Colonies, General Baden-Powell, the originator of the highly-practical scheme, was invited to contribute to this volume a brief _resumé_ of his important work. The General in his reply said, "I am very sorry that it is quite impossible for me, under present pressure of work, to contribute an article;" but he kindly furnished an outline of his scheme, which serves to enlighten home-staying people regarding the importance of this irregular arm of the British service.

In brief the General writes:--

"I can only say of the South African Constabulary that it is not formed on lines exactly identical with any other Police Force, although in many respects similar to some.

"A Military Mounted Police is a bugbear to most administrators, as being an expensive luxury; but I think that it is rather like what a steam-engine is to a Boer farmer--once he knows how to apply it to the many uses of which it is capable, independent of what has been the practice of his predecessors--it will be found to be an economy in place of a luxury.

"I have schemed the South African Constabulary to that end, viz., as the machinery for performing many duties not hitherto included in the province of Police; and my one hope is that it may be found effective for the purpose.

"It is the best paid force of its kind, and by careful selection and elimination I expect it to be the best in quality.

"It numbers at present 10,000 whites and 1000 natives, but these numbers will be liable to alterations as the country progresses.

"It is divided into four separate self-contained Divisions carrying out the duties of District and Town Police in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, together with their subordinate departments of Criminal Investigation and Intelligence, and many minor and temporary duties, such as medical, agricultural, and veterinary, postal and customs, sanitary, public works, &c. &c.

"With a good Reserve, as the Force will shortly have, of men settled in the country in civil situations, and with its married establishment of 600 families, the South African Constabulary will also take an important share in the development of the Colony, and will at the same time be in a position to supply a well-trained mounted force for military work should emergency arise."

This force has been formed for the maintenance of order and public security in the Orange River Colony and the Transvaal, but is available for service in any part of British South Africa. It acts as a District Mounted Police in time of peace, and as a military force in time of war. At one period drafts of about 80 men per month were despatched from Great Britain and Ireland, but now, owing to the cessation of the war, recruiting is closed. From time to time new blood may yet be in demand. Candidates had to be good readers, writers, spellers, riders, and shots. Single men were preferred, and recommendations, particularly as to sobriety, had to be forthcoming. The term of engagement was for three years for those recruited in the British Isles, with the possibility, for non-commissioned officers and men, of re-engaging on increased pay. The term of service for men enlisted in South Africa (who had not been given a passage) was two years. Promotion by merit and commissions are obtainable from the ranks. The age of candidates is not under 20 nor over 35. The standard of height, without boots, is not over 6 ft. 2 ins. nor under 5 ft. 4 ins. The chest measurement, deflated, is not under 34 inches, and the weight, without clothes, is not over 13 stone 7 lbs. nor under 9 stone.

The following is the scale of pay:--

_s._ _d._ Sergeant (Staff-Sergeant) 10 0 per diem. Sergeant 9 0 " Second Class Sergeant 8 0 " Corporal 7 6 " First Class Trooper 7 0 " Second Class Trooper 6 0 " Third Class Trooper 5 0 " Pay commenced from date of attestation in South Africa.

Pay, as well as promotion, is largely in accordance with a man's efficiency and behaviour, troopers being divided into three classes, and non-commissioned officers into four, for this purpose. Promotion from one class to another among troopers depends on their qualifying in Constabulary duties, musketry, signalling, language, and other tests, and on their continuing efficient in these subjects. Men of all grades entered at the lowest pay of their grade. Men selected in Great Britain and Ireland joined as third-class troopers. Promotion in the non-commissioned officers' ranks will generally only be granted to those who qualify in colloquial Dutch. Men desirous of marrying while in the South African Constabulary need to obtain the sanction of the Officer Commanding Division to their doing so, they are then entitled to an allowance to cover lodging and other expenses, such as rations, fuel, light, &c., at the consolidated rate of 3s. a day. On completion of the first three years' service a man may, if approved by the Officer Commanding Division, re-engage for a further term of two years, at 3d. a day extra. On completion of his five years he may re-engage for further service by the year, if the Officer Commanding Division approves, at 6d. a day for every additional year, until the total increase of pay for re-engagement shall have reached 2s. per diem. Rations, horse, forage, clothing, equipment, arms, quarters, and medical attendance are supplied free. In exceptional circumstances, where rations cannot be supplied, a ration allowance will be made of 2s. per diem.

A non-commissioned officer or man may be discharged at any time by order of the Officer Commanding Division with or without gratuity. Discharge may be purchased, with consent of Officer Commanding Division, for £20 during first year, £15 during second year, and £10 during third year.

Any Non-commissioned Officer or Trooper may, with the approval of his Commanding Officer, be transferred to the Reserve, provided that there is a vacancy for him, at the end of his first engagement (three years), or if he re-engages, at the end of any period of re-engagement, up to the completion of five years from his first entry into the service. Every man transferred to the Reserve is required to remain in it and have his permanent residence in the Orange River Colony or the Transvaal, unless discharged, up to the end of seven years from the date of his first entry into the service. A man wishing to purchase his discharge from the Reserve may do so on payment of £12 at any period of his service in the Reserve. He will receive while in the Reserve pay at the rate of £1 per month. He will be liable to be called out annually for not more than ten consecutive days for training, and shall also be liable to be called out for active service at any time by the proclamation of the administrator, governor, or other person exercising for the time being supreme authority in the Transvaal or Orange River Colony, declaring the existence of a state of war, or of such serious menace to the peace as to render mobilisation necessary. While on training or on active service he will receive full pay at the same rate which he was enjoying when transferred to the Reserve. In addition to their pay, Reservists, if they desire to settle on the land, will receive special consideration in any Government-aided scheme of settlement.

Proposals are at present under consideration, whereby suitable settlers may be assisted to acquire land, and be aided at starting by Government advances, the purchase price and capital advanced being repayable on easy terms. If any plan of this kind is found to be practicable, a certain number of farms annually will be offered in the first instance to members of the South African Constabulary, who, having borne a good character, may be desirous of being transferred to the Reserve with a view to actually settling on the land as farmers. Similar privileges will, if the opportunity offers, be extended to Non-commissioned Officers and men who may quit the South African Constabulary after five or more years' continuous service, bearing a good character.

Any man having served at least five years continuously in the South African Constabulary (not including Reserve service) with a good character will be entitled, on retiring, to a gratuity of one month's pay for every year of service. Men on the Reserve may, with approval of Officer Commanding Division, be taken on to full pay again at any time for a term of two years at 3d. a day extra pay.

Where a number of men joined from one place they were squadded together as far as possible in the South African Constabulary. Leave of absence will where possible be granted to all ranks for one month in each year, cumulative, on full pay, special conditions ruling shooting leave, and leave to England or out of South Africa. After four years without leave six months on full pay will be granted.

Candidates were given a free passage in a transport to South Africa, and a free railway voucher from their place of residence to the port of embarkation. They were liable to further medical examination on arrival at the place of attestation. Any candidate found unsuitable was given a free passage back to England, provided that he was not rejected for any misrepresentation, misconduct, or serious fault of his own. After five years' total service a free third-class passage home will be granted to men recruited in the United Kingdom.

The full strength of the Constabulary will in future be six thousand men: the four thousand enrolled for the war contingency will shortly be disbanded.

These particulars serve to show the nature of the new Force, and give some idea of its value in preserving the future peace of the King's new dominions.

APPENDIX

MR. CHAMBERLAIN AND THE BOER GENERALS

Soon after the conclusion of the war Generals Botha, De Wet, and Delarey, in the hope of making favourable arrangements with the Government on behalf of their fellow-countrymen, sailed for England. They were greeted by the British people with unusual cordiality, not because of any sympathy with the Republics they came to represent, but because it is a characteristic of the British people to honour brave men, even when they are defeated foes. General Botha was received by Mr. Chamberlain, and the Boer future was discussed. A few days later the public was startled to read in the daily journals the following manifesto entitled, "Appeal of the Boer Generals to the Civilised World."

"It is still fresh in the memory of the world how the Boers, after a terrible struggle lasting more than two and a half years, were at last obliged to accept through their representatives at Vereeniging the terms of peace submitted to them by the Government of King Edward VII. At the same time the representatives commissioned us to proceed to England in order, in the first place, to appeal to the new Government to allay the immense distress everywhere devastating the new colonies. If we did not succeed we were to appeal to the humanity of the civilised world for charitable contributions. As we have not succeeded up to the present in inducing the British Government to grant further assistance to our people in their indescribable distress, it only remains for us to address ourselves to the peoples of Europe and America.

"During the critical days through which we have passed it was sweet for us and ours to receive constant marks of sympathy from all countries. The financial and other assistance given to our women and children in the concentration camps, and to the prisoners of war in all parts of the earth contributed infinitely to mitigate the lot of those poor sufferers, and we take advantage of this opportunity to express in the name of the people of the late Republics our fervent thanks to all those who have charitably assisted us in the past. The small Boer nation can never forget the help it received in its dark hours of suffering.

"The people of the Republics were ready to sacrifice everything for their independence, and now the struggle is over and our people are completely ruined. Though we have not had the opportunity of drawing up an exact inventory of the destruction done, we have the conviction, based on personal experience, that at least thirty thousand houses on Boer farms and a number of villages were burnt or destroyed by the British during the war. Our homes with their furniture were burned or destroyed, our orchards were ruined, all our agricultural implements broken, our mills were destroyed, every living animal was carried off or killed. Nothing, alas, remained to us. The country is laid waste. The war demanded many victims, and the land was bathed in tears. Our orphans and widows have been abandoned. Besides, it is needless to recall the fact how much will be needed in the future for the education of the children of the Burghers, who are in great distress.

"We address ourselves to the world, with the prayer to help us by charitable contributions for our widows and orphans, for the maimed and other needy ones, and for the satisfactory education of our children. We allude to the terrible results of the war in order to bring to the knowledge of the world our urgent needs, by no means to inflame people's minds. The sword is now sheathed, and all differences are silent in presence of such great misery. The ruin caused by the war is indescribable, so that the small amount which Great Britain is to give us, in accordance with the terms of surrender, even were it multiplied tenfold, would be wholly insufficient even to cover the war losses alone. The widows, orphans, maimed, needy, and children, on whose behalf alone we appeal, will receive little of this sum, and in most cases nothing.

"All contributions will be assigned to a fund to be called 'General Fund of Help for the Boers,' which will be devoted solely to supplying the wants of those for whom we are collecting, and to provide for their future. We solicit the hearty co-operation of the committees existing in the various countries of Europe and in America. We are now on the point of visiting these countries in succession with the object of establishing a satisfactory organisation.

"BOTHA. "DE WET. "DELAREY."

The lamentable representations of this manifesto naturally caused a profound impression--and the effect of them was not removed till late in the year when Mr. Chamberlain's correspondence in relation to the matter was published. This correspondence merits more than superficial study by those truly interested in the pacification of the new Colonies, for the evil done by the pronouncements of the Boer "appeal" will live after them, while the good effected by the tardy publication of the Colonial Secretary's refutation will probably be interred in the official mausoleum. To this end the opening despatch from Mr. Chamberlain to General Louis Botha, dated Downing Street, the 6th of November, is here appended:--

"Since the interview which you had with me at this office on the 5th of September an 'Appeal of the Boer Generals to the Civilised World' has been issued, many of the statements in which have, according to Press reports, been repeated and enlarged on in the speeches delivered by yourself and General Delarey and General De Wet during your tour on the Continent.

"The appeal, I regret to say, appears to me to convey an incorrect and exaggerated impression of the circumstances to which it refers, and though I have no desire at this time to enter into controversy, I cannot allow it to pass altogether in silence.

"In the first place I am at a loss to understand why the appeal should open with a statement that you have not up to the present succeeded in inducing the British Government to grant further assistance to your people. It is not, indeed, the intention of his Majesty's Government to ask Parliament to authorise any addition to the free grant of £3,000,000--a grant which is itself without any precedent in the history of the world--but the promise of further assistance by way of loan on very easy terms, as provided by Article 10 of the Terms of Surrender, has never been withdrawn; and I think you will agree, on again consulting the record of our conversation, that there is nothing in the language which I then used which indicates any intention on the part of his Majesty's Government to withdraw it.

"Further, the expenditure on the Burgher camps which, since the conclusion of peace, have to a great extent been transformed into organisations for enabling the people to return to their homes, and the cost of which has been about £200,000 a month, is being borne by his Majesty's Government, and constitutes in effect a very considerable addition to the free grant.

"The cost of the camps since their establishment has exceeded £3,000,000, and there is no room for reasonable doubt that they have been the means of preserving the lives of thousands of women and children, and of providing the latter with a better education than they ever had the opportunity of enjoying before.

"I observe that in an article signed by you in this month's _Contemporary Review_ you make it a complaint that the concentration camps are still being maintained.

"It must be self-evident that, on the score of expense alone, it is the interest of his Majesty's Government to abolish these camps at the earliest possible moment, and it is only in the cause of humanity that they continue to maintain this costly organisation.

"If they were to accept the inferences to be drawn from your statement they would turn out into the veldt thousands of men, women, and children whom it has been impossible to return to their farms immediately on the termination of the war, owing to the absence of sufficient transport and the scarcity of stock.

"They have, however, already provided for the return of large numbers of the population of the camps which had been reduced from 116,000 at end of May to about 34,000 in the last week of October.

"I observe that you are reported in the Press to have suggested in a speech at Paris that the British military authorities deliberately used the sufferings of women and children to induce their relatives in the field to lay down their arms, and in the resolution passed at Vereeniging on the 31st of May the sufferings of the women and children were given as a reason for surrender.

"No one deplores more than the British Government the high mortality in the camps during the epidemic of measles and pneumonia, but nothing was spared that money or science could afford to reduce it, and for the last six months the average total death-rate in the camps has been about 21 per 1000 per annum, a rate which must be much lower than any which obtained before the war in normal conditions.

"It is, therefore, clear from the statistics that at the actual time of the surrender there could have been no cause for anxiety as to the condition of the women and children then in the British camps; and in confirmation of this view I may remind you that neither at the time of your conferences with Lord Kitchener in February 1901 nor in the discussions which preceded the acceptance of the Terms of Surrender was any request made for special provision for widows and orphans.

"On the contrary, the request made on both these occasions was that the sums offered as a free grant by the British Government should be applied to the payment of notes and receipts for goods requisitioned by the Boer commandoes, in many cases from persons of considerable means. To this proposal his Majesty's Government objected, and while willing that these notes and receipts should be accepted as evidence of war losses, they stipulated that the grant should be applied for the benefit of the destitute, or, in the words of the Terms of Surrender, 'for the purpose of assisting the restoration of the people to their homes and supplying those who, owing to war losses, are unable to provide themselves with food, shelter, and the necessary amount of seed, stock, implements, &c., indispensable to the resumption of their normal occupation.' As at present advised, I believe that the sum allotted will be amply sufficient for the purpose; but, should more be required, there is one source from which a substantial addition may be fairly expected.