MANAWATU EVENING STANDARD. AND POHANGINA GAZETTE UARANTEED LARGEST CIRCULATION IN THE DISTRICT. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1900. BRITISH STRATEGY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 6625, 17 February 1900, Page 2

MANAWATU EVENING STANDARD. AND POHANGINA GAZETTE UARANTEED LARGEST CIRCULATION IN THE DISTRICT. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1900. BRITISH STRATEGY.

It may appear to be closely approaching idle amusement on the part of New Zealanders to speculate upon the movements of our army in South Africa, or ' to attempt to analyse the workings of our Generals' minds. Still, the majority of people cannot well refrain from having their own opinion upon the position our men are placed in by the various advances and retreats as they are made from day to day, and in looking at the course of events as they have occurred m Natal during the past few weeks everything has appeared « as in a glass darkly," so much so that in the apparent failure of General Buller to immediately < force the relief of Ladysmith many have been able to see nothing but baffled' braver^ To them it has not occurred ■ that .perhaps he was n ot as earnest in , tnis undertaking- a& Wj^ue^^, j believe he was, but there is now stroir" presumptive evidence that his tactics j have been as much a game of bluff as anything else. In all probability when he crossed the Tugela river on the last occasion he did so with the view of driving the enemy out if it were possible to do so without too great a sacrifice, but when the strong positions of the besiegers were revealed to him the river was re-crossed in the hope that the Boers might be induced to follow him on to the lower country, where he could meet them on more equal terms. This much, however, seems clear, that the headß of the British army are convinced that Ladysmith can hold out indefinitely, and that so long as General Buller can keep the besieging Boers eraployed in watching him he is accomplishing the dual service of preventing them concentrating their guns upon the town, and at the same time engaging the attention of troops that otherwise might bo despatched over to the western border to harass the Com-mander-in-chief, who will almost certainly make the decisive movement of the war from the Kimberly side. The fact that Lord Roberts went personally to the Modder country, and that he is massing the most mobile branches of his army, the Imperial cavalry, and Colonial contingents, in that direction, together with the news of his invasion of the Eree State all point in the direction that the plan of campaign agreed upon is a blow at the Boer power where there are fewer natural adyantages to assist them in their peculiar method of warfare. Now that Lord Roberts has began to move across the borders of the Orange State we will not be surprised if it is /not found that General Buller make's another immediate advance in order to prevent any re-inforcements being sent to check the British march towards Bloemfontein. The column now advancing towards the capital will we feel sure have the bulk of the fighting to do for some days to come and unless the Boers have many more men than the public have any idea of, they will hardly be able to check the advance of all our generals. One or more of them I is likely to get through and effect the almost immediate relief of either Kimberley, Mafeking or Ladysmith. Further, if it be true, as cabled, that Lord Roberts' strategy has severed Commandant Cronje's communications with Bloemfontein, then the paralysis that has been afflicting both Lord Methuen's and General Gatacre's forces for the past few weeks will be transferred to the Boer army. The British are now in a position to do what they have not 1 hitherto been able to hope to do with success, for the simple reason that they lacked the requisite number of men to safely attempt the work of dividing the attention of the Boers, for, after all is said and done in a war of this kind, where the opposing armies are so equal m skill, courage, and armaments, the : final victory will be won by the nation , that can put into the-fieldthe greater i number of men. [Since the above was written the news of Kimberley's relief ' has been received.] j