The age-herald., 1899-12-27
THE BCERS HAVE
 AMMUNITION GALORE
From the London Mall.

From the London Mail.
 Most of the ammunition used by the Boers is of German or French manufacture. A comparatively small quantity was made in England, and an equally small proportion was manufactured at the Transvaal govern- ment works, near Pretoria. A vast amount of mystery and secrecy surrounded the gov ernment powder factory, as it was called, and no one was allowed to visit it, or even to approach within half a mile of the in- closed buildings without extra special permit The factory was entirely run by Germans, and, curiousfy enough. the head thereof was a Mir. Kruger, who was alv@ys careful to assert that he was no relation whatever to the president. The works were near Daspoort, about four miles outside Of Pretoria, and in the immediate neighbor- hood of the cement works, where so-called Transvaal Portland cement was badly made The powder factory is most jealous 1y guarded from intruders, and even the Italians from the dynamite factory not many miles away, know nothing of its~in- ternal economy. It is thought questionable by many whether any actual manufacture takes place here, or whether, as in the case of the dynamite works C'Maatschapij' voor "Ontploffbaren Stoffen" in "TaalD, the imported ingredients are just put up in cartridges on the spot so as to appear to carry out the requirements of the exclusive concession.
 The ammunition is taken away at deao of night on mule wagons to one or other of the forts around Pretoria, and portion is often sent over to the Johannesburg fort an ni2nt dangerous in the case of the carelessly put together explosive The mule wagons travel the forty4two miles in the night, and unload at the Johannesburg fort on Hospital hEl. in the early morning. An escort of artillery ltdes with the wagons and reports the due delivery of the amrnu- milton.
 In the case of foreign imported amdnuni- tion, Lee4Metford, Mauser and heavy gun shells, it comes by German, French or Dutch steamer to Delagoa Bay, and IS there unshipped stored for longer or shorter period in the wretched tin slhanties on the wharf which do duty flor bonded ware houses, and then, when all the extraordin- ary Portuguese forma.Tfes are complete,
 it is forwarded by train, by way of Komatl Poont, to Pretoria, where it is taken again at the dead of night from the railway sta- tion to one of the forts, to the govern ment magazine out in the veldt beyond the race course. Now and again, as, in deed, happened just before the present war broke out, the Portuguese officials at Lou renco Marques (Degagoa Bay) for some req sons best known to themselves refuse to pass the ammunition, and then there is an angry and heated exchange of letters in queer mixture of Portuguese, Dutch and English, and after long delay the goods may arrive at their destination, or they may not
 In at least one instant an amusing con- tretempts accurred A large lot of ammu-
 milton, some 1,2eO boxes, went astray at the port and could not be found The port authorities were sure that they had been landed, but the railway officials could not account for them in any way At last, | after tEe lapse of many months, it turned | out that by some unaccountable error the 1 whole lot had been reshipped to Beira, and | had got through to BulawaYo, and was | comfortably reposing in the magazines of | the Chartered company of~British South | Africa. The Boers indignantly claimed | their ammunition MT. Rhodes officials
 said: 'Very welh come and fetch it; but | as we happen to want some of this partc-
 ular brand ourselves, you had better let 1 us pay you for it, and say no more on the l subject" This actually happened, but it | was never found out whether the mistake | occurred on purpose or by accident. | On the whole. it has been found that the | French ammunition is more reliable than l that made in Germany, and there has also been less palm oil less bribery and cor 1 ruption in it's. purchase, shipment and de- 1 livery. In case of particular lot of l German cartridges it was reckoned that | the original cost was quadrupled, owing te 1 the number of hands through which they | passed, and the number of officials who | had to be "insulted" before they were | passed Not only that, but when these ear- | tridges were unpacked and distributed | among the farmers, it was found that they
 were faulty and dangerous, sd that the | whole transaction was eminently unsatis- ! factory from every point of view. These 1 were Mauser cartridges.
 The quality of ammunition stored in the | Transvaal is absolutely colossal, and | would suffice for a ten-years' war, even I at the present rate of usage.