The Irish standard., 1900-02-03

d. least, udu IIO cause vi COlllpldlLt
"But what about the crushing taxa
tion?"
Eighteen and sixpence year as poll
tax is not excessive, is it?"
"Do you mean to say that that was
the only tax?"
Certainly. When you came into the
Transvaal, the first thing to be done
was to get yourself registered, and this
entitled you to enter your name for the
various lotteries.
CATER that you paid your lbs Cd. tax,
and for the next twelve months there
was no further call upon you. This ap-
piled to everybody, and was the sole tax
levied upon the individual"
"What, then, about the mining royal
ties?"
"They were much lower than in the
adjoining British territory. You will
hardly believe it, but at Buluwayo no
less than so per cent of the mining prof
its are annexed by the government"
"And the customs duties?"
Are about the same as in the Cape"
$50 that, barring the poll tax OF 1Ss.
cd. and the dynamite monopoly, which,
| see, represents profit to the state OF
this dangerous product the conditions
of mining are more favorable than in
British territory? On the whole, there
fore, setting one advantage against the
other, you think the Transvaal has no
reason to fear the ordeal OF COMPARE
SOM"
$50 far from that expressing my SEN
timents, do not hesitate for moment
to say that, from my experience OF the
two, l should any day rather live under
the Transvaal flag than under the Brit
ish. And what is more, something like
that is the sentiment also Of nearly all
the Outlanders OF my acquaintance.
But how, then do you account for
the Outlander petition to the Queen,
and the formation of the johannesburg
corps that they call the Imperial Light
Horse?"
ooh, as to that, half the people who
signed the petition did it without know
ing what it was about. There were
people paid fl day to hawk it about
in the hotels and bars Of the town, re-
cciving shilling extra for every name
they secured Lots signed it simply
because it was British. Many more
signed it because, though they knew its
purport, they had no objection to Sc
curing few additional privileges, some
of which, however, they had not the re-
hottest intention OF exercising But no
one dreamt that Kruger would refuse to
climb down again, or think himself
strong enough to declare war over the
question. If such thing had seemed.
possible there would have been very few
signatures to the document outside OF
the capitalists and their immediate fol-
lowing. AS to the Imperial Light
Horse, which is certainly fine body OF
men, it is not accurately described as a
Johannesburg Outlander corps. 1t is
chiefly composed Of troopers who had
already seen service in Mashonoland
and other places"
II want you now to clear up a point
about which there has been a great deal
OF uncertainty. 1t has been variousy
stated, first, that there is no Irish bri-
gade; then, by the Times correspondent,
that it consists of less than 200 men,
the swcepings OF johannesburg and,
lastly, in an Irish newspaper, that its
numbers run into four figures. What is
the truth OF the casc?'
"The truth as regards number lies
between the two estimates AS to the
existence OF the brigade there is no
doubt | have myself continued Mr..
Whelan, two cousins and an uncle
serving in it, and you remember Oates,
the furniture manufacturer in Long
street, don't you? He's with the bri-
gadc too, and son of his.
Together l should say there are
from 700 to 500, not all Irsh-there are
good many Irish-Americans,and Eng
lish and Scotch; but it was Irishmen
who got it up and induced the others to
join"
eyes" said Mr.. Russell, lit is, as you
see, to some extent, cosmopolitan
body know one Englishman in it
who had tobacconst's shop. He had
been ten years burgher, and he told
me that he was only too glad to go out
to fight for his adopted country"
apart from the merits of the quar-
rel, how did you personally find the
Boers?"
"Quite nice if you only treat them
fairly as civilized beings like yourself.
But if you treat them as if they were
dirt they will repay your contempt with
interest. Don't believe what you read
about their ill-treatmcnt of the refugees
I suppose you read in the papers about
that case in which number OF miners
were said to have been savagely horse
whipped by the Beers on their way
down to the Cape. l was talking to
some of these men afterwards in Cape
Town, and they admitted frankly
enough that what had happened was
this: Stopping on the way after long
train Journey thew made for the hotel,