The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-01-24
TRANSPORT DIFFICULTIES
 AFRICA


 Not only is it perfectly true that the
 transport difficulties in South Africt
 have not yet been surmounted, but they
 are even being increased by the dis ! patch of those further reinforcements
 which are required by the necessities oi
 the military situation. The position of
 the war office authorities is understood
 to be that they were not allowed to is-
 sue their orders for the provision of I transport requirements until the actual l declaration of war. That the Trans
 vaal had been steadily preparing for
 years for the present hostilities is a l fact which everybody now recognizes; l yet. out of consideration for the inter- l ests of diplomacy, and especially for the l feelings of certain classes of politicians, | the war office was to do nothing that might endanger the success of the ne gotIations" that were being carried on i with a view to peaceful settlement. | Consequently, it was not until October il, when war was declared that the war office could send out its contracts for the supply of transport necessaries for the First army corps.
 It is quite true that for months pre- viously diligent inquiries had been made as to where mules, wagons and other things needed could be obtained; but, though mules could and of course were, bought by cable, they had to be shod trained and despatched from 1ta- ly, America or elsewhere to South Afri- ca. while the wagons had still, mostly, to be then made. This first order com- prised twenty thousand mules, with seven or eight hundred wagons, har- ness, etc., for the first four divisions, together with regimental transport for the troops already at the Cape. When instructions were issued in regard to this order the departments concerned gave d distinct warning that, in the circumstances they could hardly hope to execute 1t in a shorter period than three months. The Boer ultimatum expired at 5 D. m. on October Il, and the opening incident of the war oc- cured on the following day. Yet it was not until the 11th that diplomacy could allow the order to be actually given for the provision of those trans port facilities on our side, which were then at once needed. If the war office could have not only made thelr 1n1tlal inquiries, but have ordered their sup plies as well, three months in advance in other words, if they had been all lowed to prepare for war in the same way as the Transvaal was doing, while the diplomatists and the politicians were still aiming at. or talking about peace-the mules, the wagons, the har- ness and the other things would have been OH the spot when they were want ed.
 Then, too, while we are still over fortnight from the date that was the earliest by which 1t was hoped to be able to provide for the First army corps, matters are complicated by the fact that during the interval three more divisions have been called up those of Sir Charles Warren, Lieuten- | Kelly Kenny and Majoy- l General Tucker-while provision has ] now also to be made in respect to trans | port for the volunteers and yeomanry. Each of these supplementary divisions requires two hundred wagons and | twenty-four hundred mules-that is ten mules for each wagon, and certain number for other purposes besides.