ATTACK ON MAFEKING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11202, 24 October 1899, Page 5

ATTACK ON MAFEKING.

350 BOERS WOUNDED.

WATERWORKS RECAPTURED BY THE BRITISH. Durban, October 23. Three hundred and fifty Boers

were wounded at the attack on Mafe-

king. The latter have arrived at Pretoria and Johannesburg. The British have recaptured the waterworks at Mafeking. Several Australians are with 1 Colonel Baden-Powell, including Sergeant Phillips, who was wounded. OPERATIONS AT KIMBERLEY. BOER SUCCESSES. COUNTRY BEING DEVASTATED. Durban, October 23. Boers have captured the Kimberley waterworks, devastating the surrounding country and investing the town, with the object of capturing Mr. Rhodes, CAPTURE OF BOER GOLD. Durban, October 23. The British cruiser Tartar is at Delagoa, and has removed from the Avondale Castle £25,000 specie consigned to the Transvaal. Three hundred thousand pounds more on the passage is certain to be intercepted. ! THE BRITISH FLEET. London, October 23. | The fleet reserve has been ordered ! to be in readiness. The Channel ' squadron cruisers convoy the transports beyond the Bay of Biscay, ] afterwards rejoining the squadron at Gibraltar. ' MESSAGE FROM THE QUEEN. ! 1 . ■ London, October 23. The Queen wrote Lord Lansdowne: "My heart.bleeds at these dreadful ■ losses again to-day. - Great success,

I fear, is very dearly bought. Convey my heartfelt sympathy and admiration to the troops." RELIEF FUND. London, Uctober 23. The Lord Mayor, in response to the Duke of Cambridge's appeal, has opened a fund for the widows dependent on the men killed. THE OPERATIONS AT ELANDS LAAGTE. Durban. October 21. An armoured train operating in the direction of Elands Laagate telephoned that an engagement had taken place, resulting in the silencing of three Boers guns, and the capture of Elands La-agate. The enemy numbered 1000, while only 200 British were engaged. General White's intention was to reopen the railway to Glencoe, which had been destroyed at Elands Laagate by the Boers. COLONEL SYMONS' WOUNDS. London, October 21. In the House of Commons before midnight, Mr. Balfour read a message announcing the Glencoe victory. When it was annoiured that Colonel Symons had been mortally wounded, all the members uncovered. TROUBLE WITH NATIVES. Durban. October 21. Several of the Boer commandos are required to overawe the natives on the Basuto and Swaziland frontier. The threatening attitude of the Basutos is largely relieving the danger to the British at Aliwal North. MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS. Capetown, October 21. Mr. Reitz has issued a manifesto to the Free Staters denouncing the British as murderers and treatybreakers. He says Sir Alfred Milner and other statesmen have defrauded and libelled the Afrikander nation. Mr. Schreiner is working loyally with Sir Alfred Milner. The censorship by the war authorities at the Cape is having the effect of reducing cable details of the war. Major Scott, commanding the mounted police at Vryburg, has committed suicide, being unwilling to evacuate the torn. A meeting of Irishmen at Capetown condemned the formation of a Transvaal Irish brigade, and supported Sir A. Milner. London, October 21. A call was made for 60 volunteers in Victoria, British Columbia, and 1000 responded.

The news of the British successes has strengthened the Stock Exchange.

NOTES ON THE WAR. in is stated in our cable messages this morning that the natives in liasutoland and Swaziland are causing the Orange Free State and Transvaal Boers considerable uneasiness, and that they have to keep a considerable force on their native frontiers to prevent a native attack. A short time ago ' a writer in anticipation of this state of things, wrote : — Supposing that the Boers of the Transvaal were massed in commandos near the border, and that from the Free State large numbers of men were withdrawn. What would these two facts mean for the Transvaal natives, the Swazis, and the Basutos? The Transvaal natives would rise, and the war-loving Swazis, who resent Boer interference in their country, and hold the Boer in contempt, make no secret of shaking off and for ever the lording over them of Joubert and his men. The Swazis will invade the Transvaal the moment British troops cross the Transvaal border. For years the Free State farmers have been haunted by the fear of the Basutos. The Basutos have long-standing grievances against the Free State, which they intend to wipe out. They are determined to repossess the. conquered territory, which the Free State by false means was allowed to steal from thorn. The Basutos' intentions have been for long known. It has been stated that the Boers in the eastern Transvaal, before responding to the call for arms, took children from the Swazis as hostages, so as to make sure that they would not meddle with doer cattle while the owner was away from home." The fact that the Boers have lost confidence in General Joubert is of considerable ..importance. , Contrary to general expectation, Joubert, who' is now an old man, and unfit to bear the fatigues of a campaign, took command of the Boer forces operating on the Natal frontier, and which are estimated, at 15,000. The Boers wanted Commandant ' Cronje to lead them. This notorious individual -was, however, rele-.

gated to the command of the operations on the Western frontier. During tho war of 1880 lie commanded the Boer forces engaged in the siege of Potchefstioom. Here ho outraged every rule of war. Not only did he sentence -men who had capitulated to hard labour, but he forced them to work in the trenches which the Boers were digging, in front of the. British fort. There, exposed to shot and shell, several lost their lives, killed by the bullets of their comrades, who imagined them enemies. Cronjo was guilty of another iniquitous act. He received the news of the armistice agreed upon after Majuba on March 12, but he remained silent about it to the wretched garrison. In a space of but 25yds square were crowded 300 souls, whom Cronje kept imprisoned until March 20, when, still ignorant of the armistice, and in a state of misery beyond all description, they evacuated the fort. Cronje commanded the Krugersdorp division of Boers at the battle of Krugersdorp, where Jameson's last hopes were destroyed. Hero again he was guilty of duplicity. According to Sir John Willoughby. Dr. Jameson's surrender was the consequence of a written communication from Cronje that all lives would be spared. Directly afterwards Cronje notified the Uitlanders of Johannesburg that, unless they laid down their anus, the lives of Jameson and his men would be sacrificed. He did not deny either fact, but in an affidavit, ho made at the request of the Executive, he said the guarantee was only conditional. Commandant Cronje's gross duplicity does not militate against bis popularity with the Boers, who regard him as a good soldier,

The Boer commandant of the forces'which made the attack on Glencoe and were driven from their advantageous position with serious loss, was in all probability Lukas Johannes Meyer, the second of the Boer military leaders after Cronje. He was born in the Free State in 1846, his- early life being spent in Natal. In 1865 he trekked to the Transvaal, settling in the Utrecht district, and in 1872 was elected field-cornet. In that capacity he served in the war of independence, and at the battle of Ingogo received a wound which incapacitated him from further service. In 1882 he became landdrost of Utrecht, and shortly afterwards proceeded to Zululand, where he crowned Dinizulu as king, and obtained from him tho tract of country where he established the new republic "of Vrvheid. This waS afterwards incorporated with the Transvaal. In 1894 he entered the Volksraad, in opposition to the Kruger Government. He was asked to contest the Presidential election, but withdrew in favour of General Joubert. Mr. Lukas Meyer has always been considered as a member of the enlightened party, and regarded by many as a future President. For some time past he has been chairman of the First Yolksraad.

CAPTAIN ALEXANDER OFFERS HIS

SERVICES. [at telegram.—rnEsa association.]

Wellington, Monday. Captain Alexander, private secretary to tile Governor, lias cabled to the British War Office, offering his services for the Transvaal campaign. The regiment in which the captain holds his commission is the 14th Foot West Yorkshire Regiment. The 14th Foot is to leave England for the Cape this week, and should Captain Alexander's services be accepted, he intends going to the front by the quickest possible route. AN AFTERMATH BANQUET. [by TELEGRAPH.— association.] Wellington - , Monday. Mayor Blair this afternoon entertained the visiting Mayors, members of the City Council, and committee who carried out the demonstration in honour of the contingent, at McNab's Garden. The speeches all more "■ Loo j-oierencn t.Jip. «%**<! were tinged with sentiments of patriotism. Mr. Dockerill, Mayor of New Plymouth, remarking upon the large quota furnished by his district, said there were hundreds more I willing to go if they could have been taken. The members of the Demonstration Committee were complimented upon the way they had organised the festival, which undoubtedly, even allowing for the one or two little hitches mentioned in previous telegrams, was a remarkable success. REFUGEES' RELIEF 'FUND. [by telegraph.—press association.] Wanganui, Monday. At a meeting held to-night for the formation of a patriotic fund in connection with the Lord Mayor of London's fund for the refugees from the Transvaal, the Mayor presided, and there was a representative gathering. It was resolved that £50, the balance of the Wanganui-Hawke's Bay flood fund, bo devoted to the patriotic fund. Thirty-seven pounds were subscribed in the room, with promises of more. £100 are to bo wired to Sir A. Milner to-morrow. From all appearances the fund will reach at least £500 in a very short time. WITHDRAWALS AT THE LAST MOMENT. PRIVATE REASONS ASSIGNED. One or two men who had actually sigvd on the strength of the contingent were allowed to withdraw at the last moment lor private reasons. This was apparently the reason for the rumour that some had deserted. The final return shows that nine officers and 204 non-commissioned officers and troopers, with one doctor and one veterinary surgeon, left in the Waiwera. THE FLAG FOR THE CONTINGENT. The military authorities refused to a "' Jlv ' citizens to present a flag to the coiyin&ent, on the ground that it would be against the regulations". They also vetoed ii proposal that Mrs. Seddon should unfurl the flag on board the Waiwera. The flat; was handed to the Mayor with a request !o present it on the men's' return, or dispose of it in some other suitable way. The Mayor accepted the charge, expressing a hope that if an opportunity occurred it might yet be given to the men, and if not it would find a home in a town hall and remain there as an emblem of the good-trill of the citizens. He thanked the donors for the interest they had taken in the matter. AUSTRALIAN CONTINGENT. By Telegraph.— Association.-Copyri?lit. Sydney, October 23. The Medic has left Sydney. She ships the contingents from the southern colonies at Melbourne. Mr. Lyne says the sailing of the Kent on Saturday first ensures that the Now South Wales contingent will be the first colonial troops to land. FOOD FROM AUSTRALIA. Sydney, October 23. The Government has offered the War Office to ship 200,0001b of tinned meats by the first steamer to the Cape. HORSES AND FOOD FOR SOUTH AFRICA. Brisbane, October 23. Fifty horses have been purchased for South Africa. A tender has been accepted for 3000 cases of pressed beef. SOLDIERS' VIEWS. Sydney, October 23. A' South African war veteran says the success at Glencoe is highly important, as it gives the British command of the coalfields. He considers that the heaviest fighting will be when the British attempt to force .the passes through the Drakensberg Mountains. Another veteran considers the position at Mafeking critical. The town, he says, is in the centre of a great bare plain. Its. only defence are works, a mile in circumference, and there will be no time to make them strong,.