Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1900-02-08
BOER AMMUNITION.
1t Would Last Ten Years War
Most of 1t Is Imported.

III would Last Il len Itdl5 w al
Most of 1t Is Imported.
Most of the ammunition used by the
beers is Of German or French manu-
facture. A comparatively small guam
tity was made in England and an
equally small proportion was manu-
featured at the Transvaal government
works, near Pretoria. A vast amount
OF mystery and secrecy surrounded the
government powder factory, as IL was
called and no one was allowed to Wis
IL 1t, or even to approach within half
mile of the inclosed buildings without
an extra special permit. The factory
was entirely run by Germans, and, Gu
Tiously enough, the head thereof was
Mr.. Kruger, who was always careful
to assert that he was no relation what
soever to the president. The works
were near Daspoort, about -four miles
outside OF Pretoria, and IN the imme-
date neighborhood of the cement
works, where so-called rransvaal
Portland cement was badly made.
The powder factory is most jealousy
guarded from intruders, and even the
Italians from the dynamite factory for
many miles away know nothing of its
internal economy. 1t Is thought qlIss-
tionable by many whether any actual
manufacture takes place here, or
whether, as in the case of the dyna
mite works "Maatschapij voor On
tplonbaren Stoffen" in the "Taal'O the
imported ingredients are just put In
cartridges on the spot, so as to appear
to carry out the requirements of the
exclusive concession
The ammunition is taken away at
dead of night on mule wagons 10 one
or other of the forts around Pretoria.
and a portion is often sent over to Jo-
hannesburg fort, but not by rail, as the
joliting might be dangerous in the
case of the carelessly put together ex-
plosive. The mule kagons travel the
AZ miles in the night, and unload at
the johannesburg fort on Hospital hill.
in the early morning An escort of
artillery rides with the wagons and re-
ports the due delivery of the ammunl-
ton.
In the case of foreign imported am
munition, Lee-Metford, Mauser and
heavy gun shells. ii comes by German,
French. or Dutch steamer to Delogoa
bay, and Is there unshipped, stored
for longer or shorter period in the
wretched tin shanties on the wharf
which do duty for bonded warehouses.
and then, when all the extraordinary
Portuguese formalities are complete It
Is forwarded by train, by way of Ko-
matt Poort, to Pretoria, where IL is
taken, again at the dead of night, from
the railway station to one of the ports
or to the government magazine out on
the veldt, beyond the race course
Now and again, as. indeed. happened
just before the present war broke out,
the Portuguese officials at Lorenza
Marques (Delagoa bay, for some rea-
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 Por-
tuguese, Dutch. and English and after
long delay the goods may arrive at
their destination, or they may not.
In at least one instance an amusing
eontre-temps occurred, A large lot of
ammunition, some 200 boxes. went
astray at the port and could not be
pound. The port authorities were sure
that they had been lanued. but the
railway officials could not account for
them in any way At last. after the
lapse OF many months il turned out
that by some unaccountable error the
whole lot had been reshipped to Beira
and had got through to Buluwayo and
was comfortably reposing in the mag
azines in the chartered company of
British South Africa. The beers in.
dignantly claimed their ammunition.
Hr. Rhodes officials said: Very well.
come and fetch IL; but as we happen
TO want some of this particular brand
ourselves. you had better let us pay
you for Il. and say no more on the
subject" This actually happened, but
II was never found out whether the
mistake occurred on purpose or by
accident.
On the whole 70 has been found that
the French ammunition Is more reli-
able than that made in Germany. and
there has also been less palm oil. less
bribery and corruption in its purchase,
shipment and delivery. In the case OF
one particular lot of German car
tridges II was found that the orig
inal cost was quadrupled by the time
they reached Pretoria. owing to the
number OF hands through which they
passed. Not only that. but when these
cartridges were examined and distrib-
uted among the farmers IL was found
that they were faulty and dangerous.
90 that the whole transaction was EN-
inently unsatisfactory from every
point of view. These were Mauser
cartridges.
The quantity OF ammunition stored