The Transvaal

Bruce Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 3103, 29 September 1899, Page 6

The Transvaal

The shop fronts at Johannesburg are being barricaded, and a number of foreigners have offered to assist General Joubert. Half a battalion of Lancashire Regiment have been despatched on patrol duty to the Orange frontier and a hundred Cape divers have been enrolled at Durban to assist the transport corps. It is expected the secret session of the Orange Free State Volksraad will terminate on Tuesday. It is suspected mobilisation is being arranged. Mr Steyn the President, and a leading minister, assured an interviewer that the Raatf was unanimous that the two republics should stand together. Mining operations in the Rand are almost at a standstill, owing to the exodus of miners. The British are ready to re-lay the old railway over Laing's Nek in 24 hours if the tunnel is damaged. General Sir Redvers Buller's projected force will be 50,000. The troopship Avoca has left Alexandra for Natal with the first battalion of the Irish Fusiliers. Canada's contingent for the Transvaal consists of 1200 regulars and militia, j Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales are also offering to send contingents. The ' Berliner Abendpost/ a semiofficial German organ, recommends | President Kruger to yield to the British demands. Attorney-general Smutz has cabled to the Transvaal Committee of the Liberal Forwards in England declaring that the Transvaal adheres to the Convention of 1884, which does not allow of any interference by Great Britain with the internal affairs of the Transvarl. Mr Michael Davifct, in the course of a speech, said that every Nationalist earnestly desired God to strengthen every Boer shouldering a rifle to defend his country's independence. Members of the Cape Africander Party urge President Kruger to yield, as Mr Chamberlain now guarantees the independence of the Transvaal against attack. The burghers at Pretoria are clamoring for Joubert's resignation unless he acts. Many B jers doubt the security of the Mauser rifles, and assert that the cartridges are worthless. The ' Times ' states that Sir Alfred Milner has submitted to the Cabinet drastic proposals for dealing with the whole difficulty, and including a memorandum prepared by Mr J. G. Kotze late Chief Justice of the Transvaal, recounting his interview with President Kruger in 1895, when the President threatened him with suspension from the bench unless the Judges upheld the resolutions of the Volksraad. 'Le Temps ' and ' Les Debats ' advise the Boers to attack before the British are ready. The steamer Australasian took from Melbourne 170,000 sovereigns, 2500 bales compressed fodder and a large quantity of provisions for the CapeFour other steamers are filling up*