THE BOER WAR.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 78, 2 April 1900, Page 3

THE BOER WAR.

THE AGENT-GENERAL AND HIS

WAR CABLEGRAMS.

CABLEGRAM FUOM ME W. I*.

BEEVES

THE EXTENT OF BRITISH LOSSES

STRENGTH OF BOEII FORCES

(By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.)

WELLINGTON, this day.

The Premier has just received the. following letter from the Hon. W. P. .Reeves, Agent-General lor the colony, relative to certain criticisms that have appeared regarding1 his wai1 cables grams:—

Westminster Chamber, 13, Yictoriastreet, .February 7th, I'JOO, London, S,\Y.—The lliylit lion, the Premier, Wellington.—Sir,—Acting under your instructions, i have sent .you duriuy the last two months, almost daily., cable messages dealing with the more important points relative to the progress of the war in South Africa. In doing- this 1 have been at considerable pains to send nothing but trustworthy statements. It would appear, however, from the following paragraphs, which I cut from yesterday's "British, Australasian," that an important Ausi tralian news agency contests the accuracy of my messages. [ Note: Here follows the paragraph from the "British Australasian": "In contrast to the rose coloured accounts of the progress of onr army in South Africa, which appeared in the Australasian press in the early stages of- the campaign, Mr Reeves, it appears, has from time to time sent some cables to his Government of another character. Under, date December 19, the Australian papers publish the following despatch from Wellington, New Zealand. | Note: Here follows the despatch referred to above. | Mr W. IV Reeves, the Agent-General for New Zealand, has cabled to the Premier that the. British have been repulsed at ovary point except Arundel, and thai the British loss so far, including those from disease, has been 7700. The. Dutch in Bechnanaluiui and North Natal, he adds are joining the Boer*. and the whole European press is hostile and jubilant. Lord Roberts and Colonel Kitchener ure. proceeding to the Cape with 50,000 men as reinforcements/

To this despatch the news agency which sent it out appended the subjoined. | Here follows the news agency comment, j With regard to Mr Reeves' [ cablegram, it might be noticed that the New Zealand Agent-General has already supplied Mr Seddon with one or two cablegrams containing private information of an alarmist character which has afterwards turned out to be quite erroneous, or very much exaggerated. | Here follows further remarks of the "British Australasian."] Mr Reeves is quite able to dispose of criticism of this kind, if the deplorable logic of events lias not already done so for him. The point I wish to make is that the New Zealand people, in the splendid contributions which they arc making in men and money, are actingon no mere impulse of purblind enthusiasm, but have, their eyes open wide to the dangers and difficulties in which the Empire is involved. Xext to Natal no colony has given v nobler exhibition of Imperial patriotism than! what: may indeed be called "The Britain of tiie South.'' i cannot of course know the particular previous messages of mine to which the above quoted statement refers: but as regards the message which is given at length with I the reflection in a foot note, 1 think it is, to .say the least, justified by the! subjoined detailed estimate of British casualties, which has just been circulated in the press here. This was made public on the Ist. A fuller list of recent casualties and deaths officially reported since February Ist, added to this estimate, raises the figures to 10,020. Further, the Press Association estimate appended leaves out death by disease and accident during the first seven weeks of the campaign. These I took into calculation in cabling- to you last month. I am also of opinion that the Press Association somewhat under estimates the loss we have suffered at Mafeking. Attached, I send copies of the cables relating to the war which have been despatched to yon from this office up to date. The first telegram was sent while I was in America; for the rest E am personally responsible, and assure yon that it was indeed no little trouble to sift material facts from the mass of irrelavent and inaccurate matter with which the newspapers here have been loaded; The official news has been scanty, and nearly always very tardy. On the other hand, the newspapers, especially the evening journals, have, been filled with the wildest inventions! and exaggerations. Over and over again petty skirmishes have been magnified into important battles, and rumours of sanguinary engagements and great victories which have not taken place have been made the means of selling tens of thousands of. copies. I am also sending" with this for your •information a report of a speech delivered last evening in the House of Commons by Mr George Wyndham, TJncler-Secretary of State for Wai\ I am forwarding this because it is by far the ablest and most instructive statement which has yet been made concerning the war on one point—the Wai- Office estimates of the Boer foi--ees in the field. The statement might seem to differ somewhat from the information I telegraphed to yon. 1 said the Boers had 'probably some 40,000 men in the field, but Mr WyndhanYs words, read carefully, will show that he does not say, as newspapers here have supposed, that the Boers have 59,000 men in the field, but that they have 59,000 males to draw from. It is true that their levy is ci: massi, and they are understood to have sent every available man to tho front, but to suppose that they have, sent 59,000 men is to suppose that thoy, have nGt got a single man Kick or physically incapable of service, oi whose peaceful service at the seat of Government, in carrying on Government departments and in organismg1 throughout the two Rcpul> Ikm, is required. This, of. coarse would be an absurdity. I am convinced that my estimate given to you is very nearly correct, namely, that the Boers have never had more than 45,000 men in the field, and, allowing that 5000 of these have been put out of action, their whole available field force cannot exceed 40,000 men. I may add that this jis the view taken by Mr J. B. Eobin'son, the well-known African millionaire, who probably knows rather more about the Boers than any other living Englishman.—l have the honour to b?,

sir, your obedient servant, (Signed) "W, P. Reeves, February 9th.

I'.S.—Authentic information with regard to the stale of opinion in the JBoer republics and their military stores and resources is exceedingly difficult to get. I do not regard the statements of their agent in Europe as trustworthy, and bitter experience has shown that very little has been known in England on these matters. I am therefore sending you two letters by an American journalist, a Mr Kaston, who was in the Transvaal during- the earlier part of the war, and who is understood to be an honest and reliable writer, though of course his sympathies are very much with the Boers. It may be noted that the "Daily Mail," violently hostile as it is to the Boers, publishes hid letters specially, and does not impugn his truthfulness. To these i add" a summary of a pamphlet believed to have been circulated in Pretoria just before the war for the private information of members of the i'ransvaai Legislature. ]Jy comparing Air Easton's letter and this summary on one side with the speech of Mr YYyndham on the other, it will be possible to form a fair estimate of: what each side in this struggle asserts to be its resources and intentions.— (Signed) W. L\ Reeve?.