The Lyttelton Times. TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 1900.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CIII, Issue 12162, 28 March 1900, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 1900.

Further cases of plague are reported from Sydney. At Moltcno and Dordrecht Sir Alfred Milner, on his journey northwards, was welcomed, while Mr Schreiner was booted. The colonists in Natal are excited to a dangerous degree at the prospect of ‘the disloyal element of the population escaping punishment altogther. The British vanguard, consisting of detachments of the New Zealanders andl Canadians, has left Van Wyck’s Vlei, and is advancing northwards.

Foreign steamers are landing 500 Boer recruits monthly tut Delagoa Bay.

The Free Staters .threaten to shoot Commandant Olivier for grossly deceiving them. Outpost skirmishes have taken place between General Buller's troops -and the Boers to the nor th of Elandskuagte. General Buller has established a.hospital of six hundred beds at Estcourt.

Commandant Olivier’s force of Boers, supported by fifteen guns, is reported to occupy a position nortin of Ladybrand. Other reports from Ladybrand are to the effect that Olivier has deserted his laager, and that the enemy is flying wildly, with General Gatacre’s cavalry in hot pursuit. A Reuter’s correspondent states that the resistance at Kroon3tad and elsewhere is designed to cover the enemy’s ultimate withdrawal to Transvaal territory.

Lord Roberts’s proclamation calling upon the Boers to surrender, a.ud recommending them to trust to the clemency of the British, does not apply to rebels. The Commander-in-Ohiief offers leniency to tihe'burghera who were misled by President Stoyn, if they will reconsider their action, and disarm.

In.the House of Commons Mr Balfour agreed to the appointment, of a committee to inquire into the alleged army contract scandals, if the law officers decide to pro&scuto the alleged offenders.