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Ch. 20: The Mines Besieged

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THE MINES BESIEGED
243
stay a short time. He had made a report on the defences of Kimberley as early as 1896, and an accurate military map had been prepared of the town and surroundings. Major O'Meara came later as Intelligence Officer. The Imperial Government sent these officers to prepare for the defence of Kimberley, and on the 13th of September, shortly before the war was declared, there arrived a half regiment of the Loyal North Lancashires (infantry), and a battery of Royal Artillery, consisting of six
muzzle-loading seven-pounders of obsolete pattern, and some Maxims.
On the 30th of September the Governor of the Cape Colony gave his consent to the formation of a Town Guard, " solely for local defence in case of attack from without." The radius of the circle in which the Town Guard must confine their operations was eight miles, with the market square as the centre. Lieuten­ant-Colonel Robert George Kekewich was appointed comman­dant. Lieutenant-Colonel Harris, V. D., a director of De Beers,
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