The Portland daily press., 1900-01-03
BOER AMMUNITION.
Have Enough Pc WIDER and Ball for q
Ten Years, War.

(Troni the London Daily Mall.
Most of the ammunition used by ths
Beers IL Of German or French mHnufac-
turs. A comparatively very small guam
tity was made 10 England, and an squaliy
small proportion was manufactured ut tbs
Trausvaal Government works, near Pre-
toriA.
A vast amount OF myst,ry and secrecy
surrounded the Governmens powder fac
tory, o. IL was called, and no one was
allowed to visit It or even TO approach
within half mile Of the inclosed build
ings without very extra SPECIAL permit.
The factory was entirely run BY Ger
mans, and, curiously enough, the head
thereof was Mr.. Kruger, who was always
careful to assert that he was NO relation
whatsoever to the President. This seems
quite likely, as ne was very decent sort
of fellow.
The works were near Dssport, about
four miles outside of Pretoria, and In the
immediate vicinity OF the cement works,
where so-osiied Transvaal Portland
cement was very badly made. The pow
der factory Is most jeaiously guarded
from intrudsrs, and even the Italians
from she dynamite factory, not many
miles away. know nothing Of Its internal
economy. 1t Is thought Questionable by
many whether any actual nanufacture
takes place there, or whether, as In the
case Of dynamite works "Maetsohapi
voor Ontpioffbar Stoffen" In the
"Taal",D the imported ingredients are
Just put up In cartIi dses on the spot. SO
~ 70 appear to carry out the requirements
Of the exclusive concession.
The ammunition ID taken away At dead
Of night on mule wagons 70 one or other
Of the forts around Pretoria, and por-
ton 10 often sent over to the Johannes
burg fort. but not BY rail, 40 the joltinR
might be dangerous In the case OF the
vssy oarelssaly put together explosive.
An escort OF ARTILLERY rides with the
the ammunition.
In the osss Of toreisn -imperted ammr-
. ition--Lee- MstfoId, Mauser and heavy
gun shells IL comes By German, French
or Dutch steamer to DelAgoa Bay, and
10 there unsnippsd, stored for longer or
shorter period In ths wrstohed tia shan
ties on shs wharf. which do duty for
the extraordipAry Portuguese forualitiss
are complets IL IL forwarded by train. via
K omst Poort, to Pretoria, whore Il 10
taken, again at the dead Of night from
the railway station 10 one Of the forts or
20 she Govern ment magazine Gus on the
veidt, boy DAD the rsos sourss. Now and
again, as indeed. happened Just before
the present war broke out. tho Postu-
susss oflo,Als at Lorenso Marques della
goa Bay), fer some reasons best known
70 Themselves, refuse 70 pass the ANN uni
tion aad then there is an angry and
heated exchange OF letters In . queer
mixture Of Portuguese. Dutch asd Eng-
lish and after long delay the goods may
arrive at their dsstinatisp, or they may
not.
In as least one Instance an amusing
oeutFstemps occurred. A large let OF ana
munision. some !, 100 boxes, went AstrAy
ct the port and could nos be found. The
port Authorities wers sure that thsy had
been landed, but the railway officials
could not account for them io any way.
A. last. altar the lapse q many months
error the whole lot had been reshipped 10
Beira, and had got through the Bulu-
wayo, and was Comfortably rspodng In
the ma gAzinss OF the Ch1Ftsred Con5pany
OF BYisish south Africa. The Beers indig-
nantly claimed their aHmunition. Mr..
Rhodes's officials said VERY wall. come
and fetch IL hut - We happen to want
some OF this particular brand ourselves.
you had better lot us pay for y and s ,y
happened, but 10 was never fousd eut
whsthsr the mistake occurred on parposs
or By accident.
on tbe whole, II hes been found thas
the French ammunition 10 more rslisbis
than that made In Germany. ana there
has also bean Ices palm oil, less bribery
and csssupsion In IT. purchase. shiDmsst