on 4th December:--

"After the evacuation of Dundee the Boers shelled the hospital and the
ambulance until the white flag was hoisted, when their firing ceased.
Captain Milner rode with one orderly into the Boer camp with a flag of
truce, and was told that the Boers could not see the Red Cross flag.
This statement he verified by personal observation."

As to the use of "explosive" bullets, which makes the "man in the
street" so indignant, it is worth mentioning that, as far as I am aware,
not a single instance of the employment of such a missile came under the
notice of our medical staff with Lord Methuen's column. I do not for one
instant deny that occasionally such bullets may have been fired at our
troops, but it is clear that the utmost confusion prevails about the
nature of these projectiles. The Geneva Convention prohibits the use of
explosive bullets, _i.e._, hollow bullets charged with an explosive
which is fired by a detonating cap on coming in contact with a resisting
surface. Now it is almost impossible to render a Mauser bullet
"explosive," owing to its extreme slenderness, so that any explosive
bullets which may have been used by the enemy must have come from
sporting rifles, which are--as all evidence goes to show--extremely rare
in their commandos. Expansive bullets are made by cutting off the
rounded tip of the bullet, scooping out its point, constructing its
"nose" of some softer metal, or simply making transverse cuts across the
end. These missiles are not prohibited by the Geneva Convention:
nevertheless their employment against white men is altogether
unnecessary and reprehensible.

As to looting, we must not forget that all commandeering of goods on the
part of the enemy has been so described. But, of course, it is perfectly
legitimate according to the usage of modern warfare to seize any
property necessary for an army provided receipts are duly handed over to
the persons from whom the goods are obtained. The Germans invariably
acted in this way during the Franco-Prussian war, and no historian has
ever described them as "savages" for this reason. Of course the wanton
destruction of property which appears to have been perpetrated by the
Boers in Natal is absolutely indefensible.

If any one on reading the above thinks the writer "unpatriotic" he can
only say that many British soldiers serving their Queen and country are
"unpatriotic" in the same way. I hold no brief for the Boers, and I
feel sure