The evening times., 1900-01-06
BcER AMMUNITION.
The Powder Factory at Pretoria. aud
Foreign ImpOrtations


Most o. ,ne ammunition used hv the
/ Beers is Of German or French manufacture.
comparatively small quantity was made
/ IN England, anu an equally small proper
tion was manufactured at the Transyaal
government works. near Pretoria.
a vast amount Of mystery and secrecy
/ surrounded the government powder fac
I tory, as il is called, and Oh one was al
lowed TO visit il, or even 10 approach with
in half a mile Of the enclosed buildings
without an extra special permit.
The factory is entirely run by Germans.
and, curiously enough. the head thereof
vas a Mr. Kruger, who was always careful
10 assert that he was no relation whatso-
ever TO the President This seems quite
. likely, as he was a decent sort OF fellow.
The works were near Daspoort. about
four miles outside Of Pretoria. and IN the
immediate neighborhOod OF the cement
works. where sO-C8Iled Trausvaal Portland
cement was badly made. The powder fac
tory is most jealOusly guarded from iutrdd-
ers. and even the Italians from the dyna-
mite factory not many miles away know
nothing of its internal economy. Il IS
thought questionable by many whether any
actual manufacture takes Qlace here, or
whether. as in the case Of the dynari
works t"MaatsChapij voOr Ontplonbaren
( Stoffen" in the "Taal"l the imported in
the spot so as 10 appear to carry out the
requirements of the exclusion concession.
The ammunition is taken away al dead Of
night on mule wagons 10 one OF other OF
the forts around Pretoria. and a portion is
often sent over 20 the johannesburg fort.
but not by rail. as the jolting might 5e
dangerous in the case OF the CareIessly put
together explosive The mule wagons tray
el forty-twO miles in the night. and unload
at the Johannesburg fort. on Hospital Hill.
in the early morning. An escort OF aTtil-
lery rides with the wagons and reports the
due delivery Of the ammunition.
In the case of foreign imported ammuni-
tion. Lee-MetfOrd, Mauser. and heavy gun
shells. it comes by German. French OF
Dutch steamer to Delagoa Bay. and is there
unshipped. stored for a longer or shorter
period in the wretched tin shanties on the
wharf which do duty for bonded ware
houses, and then. when all the eXtraOrdi-
nary Portuguese fOrmalities are complete
It is forwarded by train. by way Of Komati
PoOrt. to Pretoria. where II is taken, again
at the dead OF night, from the railway sta
ton to one OF the forts or TO the govern
ment magazine out on the veldt. beyond the
race course
Now and again, as indeed happened just
before the present war broke out. the POr-
tuguese officials at Lourenco Marques
(Delagoa Bay) for some reasons best known
to themselves refuse to pass the ammu-
milton. and then there is an angry and
heated exchange Of letters in a queer mix
ture of Portuguese, Dutch, and Engl sh.
and after long delay the goods may ar
rive at their destination. or they may lot
In at least one instance an amusing con-
tretemps occurred. A large lot Of ammuni-
tion, some twelve hundred boxes. went
astray at the port, and could not be found
The port authorities were sure that they
could not account for them in any way.
At last after the lapse Of many months.
it turned out that by some unaccountabla
error the whole lot had been reshipped to
Beira and had got through to BuluwayO
and was comfortably repOsing in the maya
zines Of the Chartered Company OF Brit
ish South Africa. The Beers Indignantly
claimed their ammunition; Mr. Rhodes Of
ficials said: VERY we'll come and fetch
It; but. as we happen to want some Of this
particular brand ourselves, you had better
let us pay you for it, and say no more on
the subject" This actually happened. but
ii was never found out whether the mis-
take occurred on purpose or by accident
On the whole. It has been found that the
French ammunition is more reliable than
that made in Germany, and there has also
been less palm oil, less bribery and cor
ruption in its purchase. shipment, and de-
livery. In the case OF one particular lot
of German cartridges it was reckoned that
the original cost was quadrupled by the
time they reached Pretoria, owing to 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 cartridges
were unpacked and distributed among the
farmers. it was found that they were faulty
and dangerous, so that the whole transac-
ton was eminently unsatisfactory from
every point or view. These were Mauser
cartridges.
The quantity Of ammunition stored in the
Transvaal is absolutely colossal and would
suffice for a ten years war even at the
present rate Of usage