NT COMMANDANT-GENERAL B. J. VILJOEN.

SIR,

I have the honour to enclose herewith a copy of a communication
received from Lord Kitchener. _Begins_:--With reference to your letter
of the 10th August on the subject of employment of natives, I have the
honour to inform you, as I have already informed Commandant-General
Botha, that natives are employed by me as scouts and as police in
native districts, especially in the low country, where white men, if
not by long residence inured to the climate, suffer much from fever.

I would point out to you that in numerous cases armed natives have
been employed by the burgher forces, particularly in the commando of
General Beyers, and that armed natives have frequently been found in
the commandos fighting against us. I do not wish to bring the native
population of the country into this quarrel between British and Boers.

I have invariably told the natives that, although I could not forbid
their defending themselves if attacked by burghers, they were on no
account to attack. I am convinced that but for the strict orders which
I have issued on this subject, the hatred engendered by the wholesale
slaughter of unarmed natives by the burghers during this War would
have led to a native rising, with deplorable results to the Boer race.

It must also be within your knowledge that most of the rifles in
possession of M'pisana's natives were sold to them by men of your own
commando when moving from Hector's Spruit to Pietersburg last year.

In answer to your questions regarding the British prisoners now in
your hands, the persons named are enlisted soldiers in His Majesty's
Army, and have been acting under my orders. They should be treated as
prisoners-of-war.--_Ends._

I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
A. CURRAN,
_Lieutenant-Colonel
Commanding Lydenburg_.

_23rd July, 1901._

TO HIS EXCELLENCY LORD KITCHENER,
_Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's Troops in South Africa, Pretoria._

YOUR EXCELLENCY,

I am compelled to emphatically protest against the methods of your
officers. Last April your Excellency's brother, General W. Kitchener,
took our ambulance veldt-hospital, near Roos Senekal, and only after
much trouble were a number of the vehicles restored to us. On that
occasion, General W. Kitchener refused to return to me the slaughter
o