THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CIII, Issue 12241, 29 June 1900, Page 5

THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA.

COMMISSIONS FOR COLONIALS; BOER DELEGATES IN FRANCE. THE MILITARY HOSPITALS. SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS. TESTIMONY OF MR JBURDETICOUTTS. trotted Press Association —By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. (Received June 28, ILIS p.m.) LONDON, Juno 27. Lieutenants J. E. F. Dapiee, New SonAh Wales, and Trooper J. Way, South Australia, have bsen given commissions in. lie. Royal Artillery. The Boer envoys ha.v£i sailed for Franse, where a new Boer Committee has lata formed, including nine es-Ministere; A CHARGE OF TREASON. (Received June 29, 1 a.m.) LONDON, June 27. J. N. P. Botha, member for Aliwal North in the Cape Assembly,-has been arrested oa a charge of treason. .„ SHAMEFUL CONDITION OF THE ' HOSPITALS. ■ v - (Received June 29, 1:20 a.m.) There is indignation in Cape Town about the condition of the military .hospitals end the absence of comforts. Mr Burtlett Cou'i ts, a member of the House of Commons, iu a letter to tihe "Times," supplies"horrible details of the sufferings of typhoid patients at Bloemfonteia and elsewhere, owing to 1 Jie deficiencies of the field hospitals. The total deaths from disease number' 3965, besides 12,000 sick and soldiers invalided nome,. AWARDS OF THE VICTORIA CRQSiS. ■ NO TROOPS TO BE WITHDRAW]! I".. (Received June 28, ILIS pjn.) LONDON, June 27 . Victoria Crosses have been awarded >to Major E. J. Ehipps Hornby, Sergeant Barker, Gunner Lodge and Driver Glassock, *>£ the Q Battery, Field Artillery,' for bramay, . in connection with the ambush of a .British con;roy at Kocrnspruit. ~ Tie recipients of the crosses were elected of tie battery. Ad official notification has been.pabMslsd at Cape Town that no troops will bq ws'jii" drawn until tho'end of the war. NEW SOUTH WALES JsIOUNTED INFANTRY. ■ A DASHING EXPLOIT. SYDNEY, June 23. . Tins special correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph " gives details of a daring attach by a company of New South Wales Haafi*ed Infantry, during the fighting 'round Yen-" terßbnrg.' The company, while .'rtcting aa an advance guard, saw a strong Boer force, with guns and waggons, * advancing,' evidently in difficulties. Without 'waiting iot reinforcements Captain Holmes, who wca armed only 1 with a sjambok, dashed forward, leaving Ms men behind, and called upon the Boers to surrender. "Three obeyed, and a fourth was preparing to shoot, . when one of - Captain • Holm-cs's men coming ed his attention to Mm, and tthot him through the neck. In the meantime reinforcements had joined: the company and captured the convoy and three ambulance waggons, containing sixteen wounded. They took seventeen prisoners, Captain Holmes's company accounting for twelve. i ' (Received June 28, 10J.8 p.m.) ■ SYDNEY, June 28. The -invalided soldiers were warmly wel--1 corned at the official reception. The Minis-' ' ter of Education, on behalf of tie Govern* men* and people, thanked the men for the noble manner in which they had upheld the honour of the Empire. " The cost <of the colony's contingent* to date is £210,000, including £45,000 for the Imperial Bushmen, which, the British Government Tvfll refund.

THE PRESENT POSITION. ' - OPINIONS OF AN EX-MTLITJjJVY . OFFICER, . . (By.RHAMABIDIKWI.), • NOTES. The news from Soutii .Africa relating to the progress of the war is still meagre and disappointing, the opening of the railway £o Standertom being, perhaps, 'the most satisfactory item, as it removes, for the time, the anxiety about provisioning the British' troops in the Transvaal " It was foreshadowed in yesterday's notes that the'information recording a skirmish of Major-General Button's Mounted Brigade ■with a Boer force to the south-east of Pretoria was not altogether satisfactory, as m indicated ttet General Botha's 'troops -sere again assuming an aggressive attitude. This opinion is clearly borne out by the fad that the Boer advance guard has returned to the hills eighteen miles east of Pretoria, probably'close to a small place on the line called Vander Merwe, which is only about eight' miles from Erstefabricken, -where the two. days' serious fighting took place.some seven-, teau days ago, on June 11 and 12. This move -has been undertaken, probably, witl, t the object of covering operations in which considerable portions of General BcitLa'e forces will take part, in older to cut the .railway line of communication by rapid dashes between Elandsfontein Junction and Pretoria, or to the southward between the junction and the Yaal, and also, possibly, between Standefton and Laing's Nek, &s iie Boers cannot for long- afford to sit st3l while the British are gathering commissariat stores and completing their plans. The effect of this action on the part of the enemy may "be ■ that Lord Roberts will be compelled to cigaiu advance and drive them back on Middleburg. Some eight days ago it was stated that u, portion of General Buller's command- had passed Ermelo, and was pressing northward. Another force, junctioning with Clery's at Charleston, advanced on Wakkeretj-ocin, which promptly surrendered some eleven • days since. No further news has been, afforded of the whereabouts or movements of these columns, which, had they coutmtied - on their northward march, should, before this, have compelled Botlha's retirem<3rb on. • Lydenburg, by threatening Ms rear coimromicaitions. Of the movements of the forces nnder Generals Hunter, Badon-Powell, and Car-

sscgtoo and Colonel Plumer iihere have been no fresh tidings for days, which either indicates an entire absence of active operationa or uitenrupted telegraphic communication. In the Free State the enemy are still darjjj* and active, and the -weak British force, ctSsidering the .extent of line it has to jruard, and the large tract of country 16 is compelled to cover, !has its hands very ML "As evidencing their vitality, the enemy ■*■ Evared a daring attack on General Bundle s rear-guard, near Senekal, which, however, •vaa smartly repulsed, the British chasing the Boers back to their main laager at a mountain called. Tafelberg, ««»» ' south-east of Senekal, burning toe fawtfc whsre the Boers took temporary refuge, or attempted to makea'stand on the line oi their,retreat. ', -_ . •. t ,^jAt the Honning Spruit, affair. 400 ?ol tne British ex-prisoners, lately released: from Waterval, had the opportoily of turning tihe captured Boer Mausers, with which tbey re-armed, on the enemy, and did splendid service by holding back Commandant Da Wet with 800 Boers and three guns for seven fcoiirs, until" the timely arrival of rernforcesests from Kroonstad relieved the situation. Five hundred of the British prisoners lately captured in *he Free State, aire reported to.have arrived at Macbadodorp in good health, and, apparently, have been well treated. • ' ,' ■ That some fresh move is contemplated by the Boers under General Botha's command seems to 'be borne, out by the'fact fhat Mr. Krager, who, several days ago, was : reported to have moved further east toAlkinab, has mo 1 !? returned westward to Ms old station a%

Mechadodorp, which, rather,betokens a "return of confidence on -his part, and, possibly, the idea that his presence may be needed to have an encouraging effect upon the Boers. *, It is "somewhat remarkable that, there lhaa betin.no further news 'of the doings of.the Cape Parliament since-Sir Gordon, Sprigg was summoned by Sir Alfred Milner to form * fresh Cabinet, which he was, apparently, successful in doing. It is satisfactory, however, to note thatan old friend, Dr Jameson, was elected a member of the Assembly for Kimberley, and there is no doubt that he ■will be a tower of strength to the progressive - ■ British party. [Pse Pbkss Association.] WELLINGTON. June 28. ' ,' Sir Alfred Milner cables that Private A. IL- Joseph, of the Third Contingent, is 'dangerously ill from enteric fever at Kroon- ■ etad. - Private J. J. MoeUer, of the Hotchkiss Battery, is also ill from enteric fever at Spilngfontein, [Per Peess Association.] : . DUNEDIN,-June2B. . The Otago Hussars, at their half-yearly meeting,' forwarded a cable to Major Robin, their old commander, congratulating him on being recommended for promotion as Colonel, and sent kind regards to other old comrades., ■