§ MR. PLATT-HIGGINS (Salford, N.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether any cases have come to his notice in which the Boers have employed natives for military purposes during the war; whether any cases have been reported in which Boers have flogged natives who they believed had given information to the British or otherwise assisted them; and whether any instances have transpired of natives being found in arms or of attempts having been made by the Boers to induce natives to take up arms against the British.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (Mr. BRODRICK,) Surrey, GuildfordYes, Sir. During the siege of Ladysmith the Boers employed armed natives on outpost duty at night. At the engagement of Vaal Krantz several Kaffirs fired on the British troops, and some were afterwards found on the ground killed or wounded. The systematic intimidation of natives by the Boers throughout the campaign has been notorious; as regards recent in stances several natives were officially reported to have been shot by the Boers in November last. In February J. J. de Jager was convicted at Harrismith of murdering three natives, and hanged his defence was that in one case he acted under orders, and that in the two other 1456 cases he believed the natives to be spies. Further, I need hardly remind the House of the terrible treatment of Abraham Esau at Calvinia, for which no reason was assigned except his pro-British sympathies.