The Welsh Coast Pioneer and Review for North Cambria

Scandalous Disclosures. Expert Advice Disregarded by the Cabinet. FOLLOWING close upon the issue of the War Commission's report comes the publication of the evidence, which appeared in two Qulky Blue Books, .on Friday evening, together with a third volume containing appendices to the minutes of evidence. The evidence alone runs into 1,254 pages, while the appendices' comprise another 445 closely-printed! pages. They providfei reading of a character which will excite more than ordinary interest. The mask which, has. for so. long hidden the ,events anterior to, the war is removed, and -.e truth is 1 revealed at last. The evi-dence- oif Generals 'Buller and. Butler in the light of the criticisms and humiliations to which they have been subjected- is astonish- ing. But what perhaps is more surprising s the fact that all the military leaders stalte that their advice was not sought in spite of the policy pursuedi by the Cabinet, thatt: warnings were not heeded1. Both Lord Roberts and Sir Reeivers iBuller went to South Africa with no instructions.

Builer's Story. Went to South Africa with No Instructions. SIR REDVERS BULLED, at the outset of his evidence, told of what happened when he was offered t'he command in South Africa. "In June, 1899, I was summoned from Aldershot by Lord Lansdowne, who told me that in the event of the war in South Africa I had been selecited1 for the command-in-chief. After submitting to him what seemed to me a preferable arrangement I accepted the com- mands, and we proceeded to discuss the ques- tion of the military policy to be pursued. I maintained that the only practical route was that through the Orange Free State. He declined, even to. dis.ousg t'his. Ultimately, we agreed1 that one army corps, a cavalry division, and seven) battalions for the lines of communication would be a sufficient force if the object of the Government were merely to attack the Transvaal, but I added that ;o leave the Orange Free State oriit of account was to my mind impossible. What Buller Suggested. At the beginning of July, Sir Redvers summed. up his conclusions as to what should be done in the following minute- to Lord Wolseley: "My view is that any operations against Pretoria should -be commenced in tne follow- in., sequence "1. Strengthen the Cape Colony and Natal garrisons to the extent; that local authority new think sufficient to protect those colonies. "2. Make up your mind' as to the r'o.ute and definitely as to the attitude to be adopted towards the Orange' Free State. "3. Commence the formation of magazines on the intended line of route, arid, the mobili- sation of the active force. "4. Send) a-Lit thils, fighting force. 0 "The p,ropos,al, to sendl out these io,ood men came t-o nothing. I pressed hard at this time, and afterwards, that our colcnie, might 'be garrisoned' in. accordance with a proper scheme of defence. I urged this again and again, but without success. No Instructions. In the ccurse of his examination, Sir Redvers Buller was asked by Sir .Henry Norman: Do I understand, Sir Redvers, that before your d'e- piarture for South Africa you received no. letter of general instructions as to. what the Govern- ment wishedl to be done?—None. Or after your arrival?—None the uSlual leuer of service. But there- is a mere- letter of appointment?— Yes. Sir Frederick Darley Speaking broadly, your opinion is that a commander of a. force such as you had under you at that time should ue taken into the confidence of the Government? Sir Redvers Buller: I think sco, I think I suffered myself considerable disadvantage by not having the small-eist idea. when I arrived, ;,t Capetown of the course which negotiations had been, taking, and. the attitude of mind' in whin I should find, Lord Milner.

Wolseley Ignored. Rarely Present at a Cabinet Meeting. LORD WOLSELEY said that in 1898 and early in 1899 current reports from South Africa impressed him with the conviction that a war with the Boers was sooner or later inevitable. He added — "It was quite evident that Mr Kruger was determined to make war, and' that those who knew South Africa tolerably well, even as well as I did, from having been there once or twice, realised that the ambition of the Boers was' first of all to sever their connec- tion entirely with England, and then to de- clare themselves an independent power. Eventually they looked1 forward to making a great Dutch Power in South Africa. "At this time (early part of 1899) we were preparing for a war as far as' we were al- lowed to do 50 with a people who would turn out 54,000 men in the field very well provided with ammunition and, with a certain amount cf very good modern guns. "At the beginning of the business down' s late as June, 1899, the ftiformation given me officially by word. of mouth was to the effect that probably the Orange Free Stalte would remain neutral. I am only giving you my impression en this. point, I was not taken into full1 confidence by the Cabinet on these points—in fact, I was very seld'om present at any Cabinet meeting during the whole of the business."

The War Secretaries. Lord Lansdowne "nl1 Mr Brodrick on Their Defence. LORD LA:NSDO'WNE said, that prior to' the war he gave great consideration to the steps which might be necessary in view of the possi- bility cf hostilities, and: was in frequent con- s'ultation with. his military advisers, above all the Commander-in-Chief. He also communi- cated with the military experts connected with the War Office. The Cabinet was certainly aware as early as liSgS that "the Boers, were making warlike preparations, which could only be intended for war with this country. He was afraid he could! not say whether tn'e Cab- inet had that information in 1896 or not. Continuing, Lord' Lansdowne said he thought that the point at which the military authorities failedl to appreciate correctly the magnitude of the task laid before them was rather this-that they did- not sufficiently realise the fighting value of the Boers., or sufficiently appreciate the difficulties of the situation. Experience also showed that the force which they recom- mended was not adequate. He could: find no- thing to show that Sir William Butler suggested' that more than) 40.,000 men would be required. Mr BRODRICK said he had been nearly ten years at the War Office before he became Secretary of State. It was, a very attractive thing to suggest making a soldier a minister, but, as had been pointed out since the proposal was made -by Lord Rosebery, the difficulty was that you, must at the same time make him a member of the Cabinet, and, therefore, a poli- tician. You could! not make him a member f successive Cabinets,, and he doubted1 whether .t was not better to make the Secretary of State and the Government responsible for the policy and to keep so far as possible military adtyisers outside the realm of that responsibility. He was, however, in favour -c.,f the Commander-in- Chief stating his own case to the Cabinet on occasion. Mr Brodrick's evidence extendis, to great length, but it naturally deals1 not so much with the past war as to proposals for reform in the future, ,andlamong other things Mr Brodtnck recommends that no commander should again take the field without full instructions in writ- ing and! the fullest possible plans or schemes in writing, which the Intelligence Department might have drawn up cf the country he was going to engage in.

"I Saved Natal." Sir George White Defends His Action. Sir GEORGE WHITE'S evidence contains this strik-ng- p,assage:- "I would like to submit to his Iajesty's Commissioners tha,t my resolve to hold Lady- smith and its successful accomplishment re- sulted in the complete overthrow cf the icer plan of campaign. That plan, was to over- whelm the British in Natal 'before their re- inforcementscouldJ arrive, and by a rapid coup conquer that province to the sea. The overthrow c.f that plan had 'been accom- plished even before the reinforcements land- ed. During the time the Boers could have carried out their plan they were held at Lady- smith. The holding of Ladysmith, there- fore, saved Natal. My task was thus fulfilled. I cannot justly be held responsible for the losses incurred in the relief."

Lost Opportunities. Sir John French Criticises Sir George White. Lieut.-General Sir JOHN FRENCH said he commanded the cavalry in 'Natal. He was in- clined to the opinion that had a vigorous offen- sive pursuit been carried out immediately following the victory of Elandslaagte in con- junction with the forces at Dundee, the forces might conceivably have proved adequate to the task they had to perform, which he took was the keeping open of Ladysmith until reinforce- ments could arrive. There was another occasion, in addition to Elandslaagte, upon which he thought had a certain event come off it would, have made a great difference. Sir George White 'had given orders to- attack Lucas Meyer at daybreak on the Friday after Elandslaagte. All arrange- ments were made accordingly, brat on the Thursday night an order reached him from; Sir George 'White that he was to come back to Ladysmith at once, as he could' not risk the attack because he was, threatened) by the Free Staters on the West. "My own opinion," said Sir John,, "is that had that attack taken place, Ladysmith might not 'have been shut up. I firmly believe that it would have been success- ful, because I had the same men, or a great many of them, with me as, I had at Elands- la.agte, who a few days .before had very success- fully attackedl the position, and the men were very confident." On another occasion before th-e retirement into Ladysmith, Sir John asked Sir George White to be allowed to hold Lombard's Kop. "I told- him," says Sir John, "that I could, do it easily with a few troops, and I did' not think it was a good thing to leave it. The answer I got back from Sir George- White was that I was to obey my orders, and) by that1 time all the troops were close back to Ladysmith.

"Indifferent Strategy," LORD ROBERTS expressed the opinion that "indifferent strategy had quite as much, and perhaps even more, to do with out mishaps in the early days of the war than inadequate numbers." LORD KITCHENER in his evidence criti- cised both men and officers. Regarding he former he said'. "The ;material is very good, but hard work andi intelligent training is -wanted to render it capable cf answering, every test." His remarks on the officers, were not very encouraging. 1

Lady Loses her Trousseau. Extraordinary Robbery. THE Liverpool police have issued bills offering a reward of £ 20 for the recovery of a wooden case, which was taken from an office door in Redcross- street on the 14th ult. It contained a lady's valuable wedding trousseau. Among the principal items in the case were :— A white satin wedding dress, trimmed pleated chiffon cream voile dress, trimmed with lace medallions biscuit coloured dress, grenadine green lining, feather-stitched trimming white China silk dress, with pink satin under dress; white muslin dress, trimmed with white insertion white nainsock dress, trimmed Valencienne inser- tion mousseline de laine tea gown, drab and white silk front; white cashmere opera cape, trimmed swansdown twenty four ladies' silk cream vests, twenty-four pairs of ladies' black cotton stockings, two pairs of ladies' silk stockings, one pair white and one pair black sunshades, knives, forks, &c. The case duly arrived in Liverpool from France, and was taken temporarily to the precincts of the office referred to, and as it weighed several hundredweights it was regarded as perfectly safe, and no special watch was kept. Its arrival had, however, evidently been watched, and it was in broad daylight appropriated in quite a workmanlike manner on a handcart and taken away. In the meantime the intended wedding has been postponed.

Abortive Prosecution at Colwyn Bay. Charge of Stealing Meat. BEFORE (Messrs James Wood and H. Hughes, at the Colwyn SBay (Police Court en Tuesday last, William Arthur Lloyd, butcher, employed at Grimsby House; Colwyn Bay, was charged by Mr John Jones, his master, with stealing a piece of mutton, value 7s, 6d. Defendant, who was defended iby Mr T. H. Morgan, pleaded, not guilty. The prosecutor stated that prisoner had been in his employ for about 18 months. On the previous day he (prosecutor) went into the cellar and found under prisoner's coat the fore quarter of a lamb (produced), which he valued' at 7s 6d. 'He. took it up to the shop, and calM the prisoner (who was at the time having his dinner) into the shop, and asked him if he knew anything about the meat, but he. denied any knowledge of it. Witness sent prisoner for Sergeant Tippet't, and, on his arrival, said1. "If it is I that's done it, I have done it." Prisoner was then, asked what he was going to dic, with the meat, and he replied that he intended giv- ing some to a man named Williams and he rest to the men at the Central. Sergeant Tip- pett left the shop then, and prosecutor, after thinking the matter over, decided to. prosecute prisoner. In reply to. Mr Morgan, prosecutc-r said ne had never hadi any cause to. suspect prisoner before.. A Promise to Overltok the Matter. I When1 he called) prisoner down, he tol.d him that if he confessed, therel would be an end! to the matter, and, that he would not prosecute him, but that if he did net confess .e would solve the matter in his own way. Witness could be certain that the prisoner put the meat there. When he called the sergle-ant in, he did not tell him that he had made any promise to the prisoner. Witness did not press the case, but as he had sùstainedl several losses in this manner during the season, he wanted to make an example of the man. By the Bench: The cellar is used by the men to keep their coats in. Corroborative evidence was given by Sergt. Tippett. In reply to Mr Morgan, he said he haard a promise made by the prosecutor to the pris- oner. Mr Morgan submitted" that there was no evi- dence in the matter to warrant the Bench con- victing the defendant. Whatever admission he had' made had been got by means of a promise net to prosecute; andi the conduct of the man in going for the police, and throughout, had been that of an innocent man. The Chairman said that from the evidence brought before them they co-aldi not see u.eir way to convict, and, therefore, the priscner would be discharged.

The Chester and Holyhead Line. Widening Improvements. THE London and North-Western Railway Com- pany are making good, progress with the scheme for widening their Chester and Holyheadl, line between Chester and Llandudno Junction. ,Since this line was acquired by the London and North-Western considerable improvements have been effected on it, and' vast sums of mcney have been spent in preventing damage 'by incursions of the sea. Between Rhyl and Abergele a long sea. wall h'as had to be erected, and at the base of P-en- maenmawr mountains for some years a large number of workmen were conti'unally engaged in strengthening the line by very costly sea walls, on the one hand ag'ainst damage by sea, and on the other against danger from rubble and' stones falling down the face of the mountain from the quarries. More recently, it will be remembered, a serious -accident happene,d at Penmaenbach, in which, the line being washed away, a goods, engine felll over into the sea, and the driver and' fireman wtjii3 drowned. This necessitated a, new heavy sea wall, which took ne'arly two years to complete, and about the same time it was found that the tubular bridge at Conway, though still in. perfect repair, was unfitted! to stand the stress of the extra weight of modern rolling stock and longer trains. Accordingly it had to be strengthened, at con- sidlerable expense. The traffic had: become so congested, that some years since it was decided to duplicate a portion of the line. A bill xcr the purpose was introduced into Parliament, but was withdrawn, owing to the dispute of the company with their Welsh-speaking servants and the consequent action of Parliament thereon. Afterwards, however, sanction for the work was obtained, and the first part of it is virtually com- pleted. This, includles, the widening of the line from Chester General Station by the Roodee :o Saltney Junction with the Great-WestenT Rail- way-a very heavy piece of work, involving very deep rook cutting and! the widening of the Dee Bridge. From Sal'tney the line is quadrupled to, a, point about half way between Queen's Ferry and1 Connah's Quay. Though some work is in progress, in between, the line is not quadrupled again until about half way between Bagillt and Holywell, whence it So compl'eted to Abergele. There is heavy -bridge work over the Foryd at Rhyl, and a large, new station at the latter place. A new station has been, made at Talacre, on the 'line between Mostyn and Prestatyn, the first point where the line nears the sea after leaving the estuary of the Dee. Some of the stations have an ex- tra island platform, whilst others have through running lines in the middle of them, as at Levensihulme, and Heaton Chapel Stations. The next portion of the widening is to begin at the west end of the tunnel at Llys'faen—that is, Old Colwyn station,—and the track is already fenced off in .places' on the land side. Work of an important kind' has been begun at Cclwyn Bay station. The old ballast pit, which iissucn an eyesore to the town, is rapidly being con- verted into. a gooàts yard and a goods station, and approaches, are well in hand. When tnis is completed the present practice of using the down line for shunting purposes, necessitated by having sidin.g.s at both the east and west end of the station, will be avoided, and the present goods yard! will become pailt o'f the new lines. From Colwyn Bay to Llandudno Junction the work is, so far advanced that the permanent way will be laid before long. There are several o-ver-bridgesiwtoi be completed, one beinglat Mochdre station, where a level crossing is. being abolished. Of the under-bridges the most 'm- portant is one opposite the Colwyn 'Bay Hotel, where a dangerous, corner in the road! under- neath the line will be very materially improved. Probably, a few months, wiM see this section of the line completed between Ccilwyn Bay and the Junction, and it cannot be long before t'he other connecting links in the work are taken m hand, though at present the scene of the historic Abergele accident, in 1868, and the viaduct which was washed away by a flood at Llan- ddulag in the Tate seventies are to remain un- touched.

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