THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CIII, Issue 12243, 2 July 1900, Page 5

THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA.

PRETORIA-DELAGOA RAHWAY

COMMUNICATION INTERRUPTED.

A DARING FEAT.

ACCOMPLISHED BY CANADIANS.

FIGHTING AT SfiNE&AL.

THI BOEBS HOBTEB. United Press Assocda.rioarrßj TeJeg^ph—"Copyright. LONHON, June 25, A pepprt ® OOTtfimed that a -fagop ■ «*£’ Horse. landed at Eos? Ray, i" and, sallying across the Defegpa Bay Railw-y. This, probably, refeasa to the cable message ef Jra* 21, wM<?h stated that the railway op, tdj© Eelpgoa Ray hue, a± HAwipruA hpd oqßppsed, causing the aospenrion oj the poda truffle. The Boers suspected that it vm tfee Wfe pf escaped British pi-imexi. CAPETOWN, June- 2f.- ■■ Vtiwfa. Walker, of Queensland, iird ol enteric few. ' . FIGHTING AT SENEKAL.

FLIGHT OP THE ENEMY,

A BOER SCHEME PRUSTEATI3B. (ReceivEd July 1, 4.30 p.ra'! LONDON, Jaye 23.

Ljeutenant-Geaeral GreotfePte ; ■flyieg} column, 800 strong, proceeding to- 'veinburg, encountered 1 a strong force of Beers with artaßsry a few miles west of Sjnckak General Brabant, with 609 men asvj. seven guns, moved out of S-enekal ami attack rii the enemy's flank. After three be»i?Y fighting the Boers fled hurriedly. The Boera attempted to How iip-ihc; artillery barracks at Pretoria, but e, gunner Kicked away the fuse. P. R. Burnham, Lord chi A ocout, has been iSvalided home.

SURRENDER OF RIFLE-"

THE CONDITION OF THE HOSPITALS. (Received 1 July 1,.4.35 p.Kt) LONDON, June 20. Four thousand rifles were sasq.-esders'd to General Baden-Pcwell in a week.

Lieutenant Lee, of the New South Wales Mounted Men, has been imraßcK! r i-- Inland.

Mr Julian Ralph, the—" Daily Mail's- w correspondent strongly supports Mr Bavdett Contis’ charges.with referanu; i.-> lie hospitals.

THE BRITISH HOSPITAL!

DEBATE IN THE HOUSE OP COMMONS.

AN INQUIRY PROMISED. (Received July 1, 6.15 p.m.) LONDON, Jra 30

In the House of Commons Mr V/yudham. referring to the charges against the ho.ji.tii si arrangements for the troops in South Africa, admitted that there hod b:. r uw rible hardships. Eveiy effort had beats mad® to mitigate them, and aappu<u had not been stinted, but insuperable had been encountered. The penc-emago of deaths was below that of previous cats-' paigns, and not higher than in Home norpitals. He read Lord 1 Roberts’s telegram that any defects were accidental, act -(mb cal. *

Mr Burdebt' Contis reiterated hit statements as to the horrors of typhoid .itKnoonstad, Bloemfontein, and MairA-sd hospitals, and other camps at Capo To-vt, He exonerated Lord Roberts, bul bl-trud the War Office system. Mr Walter Poston said that hsif the : deaths from the disease might ha> r 1u.,-!: avoided.

Mr Balfour promised an inquiry.. He justified 1 Lord Roberts’s rapid advance, oven if be bad only able to carry limited medical . iwptief. There had been an unexpected outbreak enteric fever after Paardeburg. A COLONIAL MEDAL. A STRANDED BATTERY. SYDNEY, Jive 30, The Premiers of Victoria and ’j> : n)Snir« . are agreeable to Sir W. J. Lyne’s proposal ' that a medal- of-uniform-presented to the members of the Atfr:',;...;contingents.. . The colony’s crack A Battery, upcu L ■which -so hopes had tied, has had hard luck since"it wen. ■c the Uvp.%. jpitir

toeeka, dolefully- saya fihafc the battery is *fcSl stranded there, and their march from Orange Hirer is likely to last till the war Ci: ovr.r. They had not fired a shot, or seen "M-is fired He asks to he informed if the .•'•7s-.tWtr-ia'*fall going on. The officers grin and .''jear.it, but all the same they are disappoint i with the ■whole thing. “-We have a few would-be heroes in the battery,” adds tie wriva-, “and we deal with.them by,bar--I‘idc-rcom court-martial. Our last one was rai a cKter who wrote to a friend, stating that he was in action, and had been wounded We i.-.nnd the letter, arrested the writer, tried Irka and found him guilty of writing s-j, leuter with intent to mislead people into believing that the battery, had been under 'ire, and acting in' a manner calculated to bring "ridicule on tie battery. The : -jury fcit&d him • guilty, and sentenced him to a vriorcunrh good tossing in a 1 blanket, and-to "bc-roußcd in a horse pond, and also to.wea>r; ■the : V.C.’ -for being the, champion liar of. ibs battery. The sentence of the court-was duly carried out.” ' ' i ‘ r ; !

A MHSAGE FROM BADEN-POWELL,

SYDNEY, July 1

CV.rrjiiif-be requesting his acceptance of a sword of hcnour, a charger and accoutreiflonfe in recognition of his defence of *Mafe-Idug,-General Baden-Powell, cabled, ’ “ Most dcaply grateful for Australia's proposal Your telegram reached me simultaneously With reinforcements of 2000 Australian Bushmen. Prefer to receive your generous nresenfc amongst my Australians here.” Already nearly- 18,000 schillings have been, subscribed in New South Wales to the presentation fund. 1 • •

THE PRESENT,'POSITION: • : 'K 43PSNIONS ’OF ' AN '■ EX-MI&ITAR'E ' • - OFFICER- ■; i

(By RHAMABIDIEWL)

• . " : : NOTES. " At last the urgent necessity for crushing Commandant De Wet and stamping out the flame of lebeHicn inthe Free State has been recognised. As pointed out more than throe 'weeks ago, this should have been/ undertaken immediately after the battle of Erstefabricken, afl De Wet’s successful ■ raids, cutting of railway line, and capture "" of' numerous bodies of British, troops, were • not only demoralising to the 'weak scattered forces left to guard the line ef communication, but also constituted a ■riww menace to the continuity of food aapplies for the British army of occupation in the Transvaal. Lieutenant-General Grenfell, with a flying column 800 strong, proceeding in a north-easterly direction from Winburg, ,en- . •wintered a strong force of Boers with . mrtMlery a. few miles to the west of Senekal. Brigadier-General Brabant, evidently, ateo string aware of the enemy’s movements, moved out with. 600 men and seven guns . .from' Senekal,- attacked! the enemy’s left flank and rear t and, after three hours’ stiff fighting, the Boers fled hurriedly. In addition to this, according to Saturday’s cables, the British have ■ had ; some other ■mall successes in the same neighbourhood, at Boodewal Spruit and other places. No doubt, now that this urgently important •peratkm. has been commenced, it will be .carried out with vim and vigour. In the far north of the Free State, near . Yereenigmg, the Boers had taken up a strong position, evidently with the object of damaging the line and intercepting troops which might be coming south from Pretoria; or commissariat trains going north, provided the line was clear up to that point. But on Thursday cr Friday last, Lord Methuen' attacked and expelled them from their position. From the Transvaal, only one or two , little items of news, relating to active opecatioas are to hand. -Generals Hutton’s and Badeh-PoweU’s forces, 1 acting in" conjunction, had a smart skirmish with the ■ enemy hear Rusfcenbuxg, defeating them, and capturing'lso of Commandant Sny- ' man’s commando and) two guns. Tins, although satisfactory, seems to point to the " ‘probability that a considerable number of gnyman’s force must have, Tor a time, re- ‘ tamed to their farms and recently gathered again at seme point, with the hope of ; threatening Pretoria to the westward, as 1 General Badsesn-Powdll had previously traversed the whole of this district with but ' little opposition. Evidently, however, the excellent work done by his column is bearding good fruit, as the Boers surrendered *4OOO rifles to him in ones week.. i In cabling to the Sydney Presentation Committee his deep appreciation of its desire to present him with a sword of honour, a charger, and accoutrements, in iwxjgniticip of his defence of Mafeking, General Baden-Powell stated that, simul-' taneonriy with the telegram announcing the oominittee’s generous effer he had received reinforcements of 2000 Australian Bushmen. This clearly shows that a part: : ,of Carrington’s force is for thevtime being to be used in the Transvaal, and it would ■ not astonish- the writer much if news came in a fefw days that the force has taken an important part in the fresh operations ■which it will shortly be necessary for Lord Roberts to take against General Botha, as it will be remembered that about the middle of }aßt week" the Boer advance guard had ageem moved westward ito within about eighteen miles of'Pretoria. After that, Bhouldit stall be nebessary, it is not at all, unlikely that this force will be despatched for operations in the Free State. ■ At Pretoria, some , of the numerous spies which were spoken of last week made a _ <fetcmg attempt to blow up the artillery barracks, but the attempt was* apparently, - foiled only in the nick of time by orie. of ‘the British gunners Kicking away the ‘fuse. fit last, the insolehoe and treachery o| , - Hsoe- of - the 'Netheriands - ‘ have so offended lord Roberts that lie has peremptorily orderfed, them to."leave the orimrtry •- to this,-he -would • speedily- bang '‘all the ■ . traitors ; and spies, it would greatly, ac- ■' ceilerate the end of the’war. ' • . - The explanation of the report about the datamation of the Delagoa railway bridge . ’ arid line at Hectorspnut in a message of —.-June *2l, is that a force'of, Strathcona’s Hoiee, landing in Kosd Bay, in Tohgaland, .saHied rapidly across country, carried out their project, and, apparently, got safely away, and it is to be hoped that this dar- - ;-ing- piece of service may seriously hamper the Boers far fresh foed supplies. . . Stirring news of hard fighting, both in ■ the Orange River Colony and the Transvaal, will; most probably come tb hand during this week. ' * ' . MESSAGES TO THE PREMIER. The Premier has received communications ■ dated May 14 arid May 17 from Colonel Newall, Colonel Sommerville and Captain- ' 'Major, to the effect that the Fourth and Fifth Contingents were well; and that they were about to move from Beira to Marandelias. Out of 417 horses, the Gymeric lost only 20. The men and horses were well. Summerville adds that Lieutenant rfjcddonv whom he met at ' Beira, was in hdiarge of 40 men and 400 ..horses,- and that the was very , well. Field-Marshal Lord Roberts has cabled to Premier that 'the First and Second Con.tangents aid! the ■ Hotchkiss Battery are at Pretoria, and that the rest of the New Zealand Contingents are in Rhodesia. He says that he is delighted to hear that the Premier's health has been restored. Colonel Robin has cabled to the Commander of the Forces that the Hotchkiss Battery bos been converted into mounted infantry.