Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-11-30
THE tADYSMITH OF TO-DAY
It is an Intensely English little Place in
the Mountains
Well Protected by Natural F0rtificn-
tiOns-Its Importance In Past Years
as Commercial Center.


| From the London Mall
When | left Ladysmith, in July last, there
| was naught to presage the present state Of
| affairs save vague unrest in the air.
I subtle drawing together of the townsfolk
and the soldiers at the camp. and a tense
! feeling of expectation of something-we
| knew not what
| ordinarily. Ladysmith is quiet. dull lit
| tie place, intensely English, in so far that
| there is absolutely no Dutch element to dis
| turb the soiidiy loyal serenity of the town
| ship-for it is little more
We rather pride ourselves upon the situa-
| ton of Ladysmith. 1t is over 1900 feet
| above the sea; the frownng crests OF the
| Drakensberg mountains are about thirty
| miles away. to the north and west, and
| help TO shelter in winter from excessive
cold. The climate goes to rather unneceS-
| sary extremes: the height of summer (De-
| cember and january is very hot, and the
| depth of winter tJune and JULY cores
| rCndingly cold. At the same time the air
| is extraordinarily dry and bracing. The
| open air cure for consumption had been
| tried and proved successful at l-adySnltn
| years before it began to be talked about at
| home.
We are not only healthy, but we are very
| good. Probably few towns of four thous-
| and Inhabitants have so many places OF
! worship. Practically every creed has it's
church chapel, from the Dutch Re-
| formed which is very small congrega-
| siderable We even can boast of the Saliva
ton Army.
Folks are wont TO laugh at the import
| ance of little provincial places, but, after
| all, I.adysmith is the third sized town in
| Natal, Durham and Pietermaritzburg being,
| OF course. a good deal larger. Our town
hall. We think, is worthy OF an Engnsn
| ca thedral town, and We plume ourselves
! considerably on the public buildings, espe-
| cially the court house. schools, pubic
| library and the Jail
he
| much to look at, few dusty, ill kempt. but
| fairly wide streets: a spacious market
| square, surrounded by low galvanized iron
| stores. many OF them be airing such curious
| indian names as Moona- mmy, Ahdol Ma
! hornet and the like, on the signboards. for
| the important Arab merchants of Dur
| ban are all represented by branch houses.
| III front of the court house the hotels
and the police barracks are the usual horse
| lettering rails. and one bitches up one
| pony and leaves 1T alone for hours, quite
! secure in the average integrity of the pass
| erS by
Honestly our weak points are our roads,
| cur drainage and our lighting. These are
| elementary and not on the scale that they
| should be Our oedlles promise us better
| things in the near future. But mooniess
night, rutty road ana a variety OF Smau
| SHUTS (iitches3 have before now made the
| stranger in our midst use strong language
| about our rural simplicity.
For quite a long while Iadysnlith was the
| railway terminus from Durham. from which
| it il 100 miles away. During the gold rush
to the Trausvaal coaches, cape carts,
| wagons spiders, even gin cases on wheels,
| set ont daily hy the score for the northern
| F,idorado. At that time the bonded ware
! houses for goods in transit We're piled up
| with thousands of pounds worth OF goods
| for the Transvaai. In those days the hotel
| Keepers did a fourishing business in hous-
| ing intending travellers and provisioning
| them for the journey. But this has all been
| altered now We are only a roadside sta
| ton on the great through line to Pretoria:
| and beyond. But We have the branch llne
! to Harrismith in the Orange Free State, so
| that we are, after all, junction on small
scale.
There are a good many trees in Lady
! smith-in fact it is by way of being an
| oasis In the. veldt Mimosas, gum trees of a
| dozen kinds. yucas. aloes and planes all
flourish, and some of the flower gardens
| are beautifully bright in summer.
| BY the way, the name of i.adysmith mas
| the. simplest of derivations. 1t was chris
| tened after Lady Harry Smith about the
| year 1910 She was the Spanish wife OF Cen
| eraLl Harry Smith. who commanded the
| troops in South Africa at the time. HIS
| extraordinary ride from Cape Town to Gra-
| Jamestown q distance Of nearly five hun
| dr ed miles. TO the relief OF the city of
| saints in the Katfir war of 1888 in six
| days i Il matter of history.
| But after all. the chief interest in Lady
| smith TO-DAY lies in its military position. In
/ the old days of the first Transvaal war
| we had troops here aud the town was to
| all intents and purposes a garrison town.
| Eut the soldiers were eventually withdrawn
| again familiar with the flies and drums.
| IN that year the military authorities came
| up from MaritZburg and laid out camp of
| considerable extent near the water works,
| rather less than two miles to the west of
| the town. We were right glad to see them,
| and tried best to do them well. There
| Were never less than 1000 men in camp
| under canvas and in so-caled huts, and
| three field batteries of artillery helped to
| swell the number.
| Looking back today to the time when the
| camp was re-estabiished. just two
| years ago, IL seems to me that there was
| some inklins OF strange happenings, even
| at that time We talked vaguely of posi-
| bilties but never realized the dread actu-
! alities that have now come to pass
| At that time various real estate spec
| uiators and others bought land in the neigh
| borhood of the camp with a view of build
| ing a hotel some bungalows, canteen or
| so and other accommodation for the
| troops. but owing to various causes moth
| ing tangible was done, and beyond the tents
| there are only some dozen little brick build
| ings dotted about the outskirts of the regi-
| mental lines
| The soldiers came and went freely in the
town and caused an apprecable improve
| ment in the trade of the place, which, pre-
| vious to that, had not been in a too flour
| iShing condition.
1t would be ridiculous in the extreme to |
| pretend that Ladysmith is impresnable. 1t
| II nothing OF the sort. To the west of the |
| town there Is fine level plain in which |