The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-03 00:00:00

-1-846

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE

• Wo have received private advices and papers from
Cape Town to the 10th of October. The items of mili-
tary news inserted belovi, are interesting, though not
iinportant. Colonel Hare, the Lit, uteriank-Governt,r,
had r--ached Cape ToWn,• en his way tp.. England; " bis
health having sunk (it is stated) under the fatigues and
distractions of -the frontier service." --,The pious rains
that hake fallen in the-re,,ien of the-Kafir frontif-r had
restored the rivulets, supplied the tanks, increased the
volume of the rivers, and brought great relief to the ve-
getable and animal world. We add to our extracts from
the journals an official document relative to-the finances
of the colony..

(From the South African Commercial Advertiser, Oct. 7.)
The principal news Of this week is that Mr. Deputy.
Commisiary General Palmer proceeds, to the frontier by
the Thunderbolt. fir. Palmer is an able and active
officer, and, without ascribing blame to-tbose at their
posts in this department at Port Elizabeth, Graham's
Town, or anywhere else, it has been felt that, there was
a blank somewhere Aicl he is expected to fill
-up. The
Conimissariat is the real basis of nailitary operations.
Powder and ball are not more indispensable than flour ;
and biscuit. A hungry horse is as powerless as an
empty cannon. This department has been roundly ac-
cused of inefficiency, and there has been much suffering i
from hunger and cold among the " levies." But if their
mouths were not shut by the form of the service, it is
affirmed by their friends that they could make out a strong
case in defence, partly by dissproving innumerable-state
ments made to their diSadvantage, partly by
forward difficulties which their
-accusers are either igno- ;
rant of or willingly overlook, and partly by Showing an
amount of work done fOr which the world would applaud
then!, if iialy infOrreed. For- instance, the loss of so
many scores of waggons laden with provisions and stores
to the enemy was through no fault of their department.
The obstruction on the lines.of road, caused first by the
enemy 'and then by the drought, must not he placed to,
their account. And if it be true, as has been, publicly
some .15,006 people have. been, and are still
receiving rations from Government, notwithstanding. dis-
comfiture and drought, this department cannot possibly
have been so deficient as individual sufferers may be led
to think, or individual, censors to declare. In all wars
•
there will be suffering on both sides, and the character
of the enemy and of the country in the preseat contest
is peculiarly fatal to the collection and transmission of
stores for troops in the field. The main force of this{
enemy is always in your rear, or on your flanks. lie'
yields before you as water before a vessel under sail, but
he closes behind you in the, same, manner, and your
march leaves to more solid or safe track for supplies to
follow than a ship does on the sea. In all these con-
siderations there is the force of truth, yet the fact that
the principal officer in this branch of the service pro-
ceeds immediately to the frontier is universally. regarded
as a piece of good news: Arid if he bad authority to
take a few hundred mules with him, the news would be
better still, as those ;animals are superior oxen for
emergencies in Kafir warfare. - 1

Connected with the Commissariat, the latest intelli-
gence from Waterloo Bay is not altogether unfavour-
able, but it by no means relieves Government from the
duty of surveying the bay, or bight, or creek •at the
mouth 'of the Buffalo in the centre, as it were, of the
enemy's country; and of the future settlements and forts
to be placed, as they now must be, in-advance; for thc
protection of the colony. In that place Mr. John
Findlay, of this`town;itchored, and remained at anchor
for 72 days, in 1835, and landed supplies-within the river
itself, without loss or damage to 'a single bag or package.
Ile considers -the anchorage • good: Th 9 bottcan . re-
sembles that in Table Bay—sand above clay. He never
shifted his ground all the time the vesscl lay there, atei
on coming away he had a good pull to haul up his anchor,
on the palm of which there was stiff blue clay. The la)
of
.the lands and headlands is such that none of the
stormy winds blow directly on shore. In the most dair-
gereuslales the ship'u head can be carried seaward, gnu
escape is easy. In northerly gales in Table Bay," and
southerly winds' in Algoa Bay, if you Part from your
anchors, there is nothing but the beach for You. Mr.
Findlay is of opinion that anchoring is always"safer here.
and landing goods practicable a greater number of days in
the year than itl Algoa-Bay. Such statements from so ex-
perienced a hand as Mr. Findlay, who knows and has known
for more than half a century what bays, and beaches, and
bars, and winds, and surfs, and rollers are in every part of
the world, but more especially on African coasts, justify, ar
rather demand, his Excellency's most serious attention in
the present circumstances of his government. A good, or
even practicable /ending for supplies at this point in Kafir-
land, in connexion with Waterloo Bay, is equal, in a
military point of view, to a force of 2,000 or 3,000 men,
500 cavalry, and thousands of draught cattle, constantly
in motion ; even a much greater force than this has not •
succeeded in dragging and protecting supplies from
Algoa Bay to the neighbourhood of the Fish River and
Buffalo mouths, in time for effective service. A coasting
vessel, proceeding from Algoa Bay, may in a few days
land at the Buffalo mouth—if it be such as Mr. Findlay
thinks it —2OO tons of supplies, which 3,000 oxen, led
and driven by some 600 men, and guarded by nobody
knows how many armed men on foot or mcunted, would
hardly convey to head-quarters on the Fish River or
Buffalo, in as many weeks, to say nothing of the.compa-
rative expense, which would be estimated low as at
pounds to shillings.
Government may itself cause the Buffalo as well as
Waterloo Bay to be surveyed, and experiments made
of landing and shipping cargo ; or it may contract with
merchants to land supplies at so much a ton, or bag,
or cask, on the beach at either of those places, a
sufficient force being stationed at the Buffalo or at Wa-
terloo Bay for protection in the mean time. It may be
that landing may be possible at the one, when it is not
so at the other, and where such a war as the present is
protracted solely from insufficient supplies, no possibility
of procuring them can be neglected without incurring
blame, amounting perhaps to guilt.
Besides mules and horses, if to be had, Mr. Palmer
should be authorised to collect, or order to be made, some
hundreds of light waggons, or carts, or frames on wheels,
on which two or four of these creatures can pull along
1,000 or 1,500 pounds weight of provisions as fast as
troops can march, and almost- wherever troops Zan
march. This lighter array could often act where heavy
waggons with from twelve to eighteen oxen are stopped,
or disabled by a few shots from the enemy, to the con-
fusion of a whole convoy, as at Block Drift and Trom-
petter's. The Kafirs are now scattered or rather dif-
fused everywhere, in small parties, for the purpose of
procuring food for themselves, and with the design of
cutting off. supplies, so as to starve the posts and ad-
vanced portions of the army, This is their plan. 'ln
their circumstances a better could not have been de-
vised, though with them it is as much the result of
necessity as of sciecce. To civilised troops such a foe
is perplexing and even humiliating. They are baffled
by imenemy whom they scarcely ever see, or see only
as he flies from them. The- parties are at present hold-
ing each other in a state of siege or blockade, and the
contest will be determined by hunger at last. Hence the
incalculable value of an active and steady commissariat
—a commissariat that has resources, ingenuity, inven-
tion, foresight. -The Kafirs are beginning to suffer front
hunger. This is a prelude to their submission, and un-
remitting vigilance must check their supplies. Indeed,
their commissariat stores, wbieh' have hitherto been in
the colony, are pretty nigh exhausted. Some more of
the chiefs have surrendered at discretion, as Stoek has
done. The great chiefs still propose terms—but it is
expected that unconditional 'submission will be insisted
on After breaking faith and spurning friendship, they
must now be made to feel without mitigation • the heavy
hand of a master.

FINANCES OF THE COLONY.
Chamber of the Legislative Council,
Sept. 30, 1846.
The subjoined minute and estimates of the probable
revenue and expenditure for the services of the year
1847, were this day read, laid upon the table, and di-
rected to be published.
WM. HOPE, Clerk of the Legislative Council.
MINUTE—FINANCE.
Kafirland, Camp near the Fish River Mouth,
Sep. 15, 1846.
Honourable Gentlemen,—The cause which has de-
ferred the placing before you of the estimates of revenue
and expenditure for 1847 till this unusually late period
of the year, and which now prevents me from submitting
them in person for your consideration, renders the framing
of them more than generally difficult, and necessitates
the introduction into some parts of them of considerable
doubt and uncertainty.
The disturbance in our social system, caused by the
disruption of our peaceful relations with the neighbour-
ing Kafir tribes, and the ensuing war,• will probably
affect some sources of revenue, and particularly will
lessen the amounts usually received from auction dues,
land rents, transfer dues, stamps, and sales of Crownlands.
I have, therefore, made an abatement in the. estimated
receipts under those heads; and you will find the total
revenue available for 1847 to be 155,2351.4 i. 9d.
It is impossible to foresee- accurately what items of
extra expenditure may have to be defrayed in the en-
suingf or e ,o3ra• eiatrt
eodn suchac cocuhnat r
go!f
sthfreornliatfihre we
satri
m;
alt
ehwavhei,c
ht there-
fore,
lay
before you, and have calculated the ordinary expendi-
ture at 161,854/.155. 10d., leaving an anticipated balance
at the close of 1847 of 3,3801. Bs. .11d. This surplus
will,l trust, be found appliCable to the payment of any
unforeseen charges which may grow out of the present
war.
The notes which are-appended t 6 the several estimates
of expenditure for the various departments of the ser-
vice will explain to you the increase or decrease which
I propose in the charges for the ensuing- year, as com-
pared with those of 1846. The only points on which
need specially remark are the following:—
The office of lieutenant-governor of the eastern dis-
tricts is still under the consideration of her-Majesty's
Government. I propose, therefore, to retain the item of
0765/. in the estimate for it, which, under altered cir•
eumstances, will be applicable to whatever arrangements
may be made for the management of frontier affairs.
The termination of the treaties with the bordering
Kafir tribes will render unnecessary the continuance of
the machinery by which they have been made effective ;
but as some new chargos are likely to arise in the place
of those, Which will never cease, I have inserted Under the
head of aboriginal native tribes the item of 2,3111. 10s.,
which is 1,1541. 9s. less than the estimate of last year.
You will understand that great uncertainty attaches to
this and the preceding item, which under our present
circumstances do not admit of accurate calculation.
Under the judicial department you will perceive an
increase of 1,0001., for the salaries of the four resident
magistrates who have been appointed iti the room of the
late special justices, at the rate of salary recommended
by yourselves.
You will find anew head of expenditure in the present
a.; estubliAairviit Of the: British icsulenfs
among the tribes beyond the north-east border. The
, favourable operation of the system, which has been there