WITHIN THE TRANSVAAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11243, 12 December 1899, Page 5

WITHIN THE TRANSVAAL.

THE VEIL LIFTED.

3 THE BRITISH PRISONERS AT

PRETORIA.

POSITION IN JOHANNESBURG.

Through the courtesy of a correspondent, says the Capo Times of November 8, wo havo been supplied with a copy of the Standard and Diggers' News of October 23, which gives an interesting glimpse at tho Transvaal from within, and lifts tho veil which has surrounded Johannesburg and Pretoria for tho past fortnight. Tho following is a summary of tho news which it contains

THE CAPTURED HUSSARS. The Boor version of the capture of the Hussars after the battle of Glencoo is as follows About 80 Ermelo burghers, who wore placed in charge of the cannon under Lieutenant-Colonel Trichardt, came into conflict with 255 Englishmen, who had apparently fled from Dundee. The Ermelo burghers were strengthened by tho addition of some 60 Pretoria burghers, under General Erasmus. They drove tho English near to tho house of Mr. Maiitz, and thence into the cattle kraal, from which point they opened a sharp firo on the Boers. At this juncture Lieutenant Do Jagor arrivod with a Krupp gun. Tho second shot fell near the kraal. With tho third shot a bomb was landed in tho kraal, and wrought great damage. The English then yielded. Among the prisoners is Colonel Moller. Two .of our men were slightly wounded, Fanio Minaar in the arm. The wounded among the English were apparently numerous. They at onco asked for [factors. Tho English were provided with Lee-Metford magazine rifles. Tho place whero the fight took place was just above the Glcncoo coal mines. Tho Ermelo men were commanded by Commandant Grobler. Tho number of prisoners is 243. The British loss was as follows;— KILLED. Private Michael Malonoy (Dublin Fusiliers). Private Miohaol Tyrrell (Dublin Fusiliers). Private Shrubwold (18th Hussars). The British wounded were: Sergeant Hill (King's Royal Rifles). Trooper Epps (King's Royal Rifles). Corporal Miller (18th Hussars). Trooper Davis (18th Hussars). Corporal Irving (18th Hussars). Trooper Parker (18th Hussars). Trooper Wier (18th Hussars). Trooper Callaghan (18th Hussars). Trooper Allison (King's Royal Rifles). The prisoners state that their camp was completely scattered by heavy firo, presumably from General Lukas Meyer's commando. They took to flight, and lost their way in the thick mist, falling suddenly upon Commandant Triohardt's commando. Twenty horses were shot. The British force consisted of a squadron of 18th Hussars, 2nd Dublin Fusiliers, and Mounted Infantry of the King's Royal Rifles.

THE PRISONERS AT PRETORIA. The following telegram from Pretoria appeared in the Diggers' Nows of tho 23rd ult.: —This (Sunday) forenoon 179 men and nine officers of the 18th Hussars, Dublin Fusiliers, And King's Rifles, captured on Friday, near Dundee, were brought to Pretoria. They entrained at Dannhauser under a burgher oscort, the men in 10 covered trucks, the officers in a first-olass carriage, and two wounded in a separate van. Although an enormous crowd was at tho station, including mounted burghers, town burghers, and a posso of police, there was no demonstration whatever, the reception being conducted in funeral-like silence, the utmost order and decorum provailing. Tho wounded were first conveyed to the hospital by Red Cross officers, and tho rank and file marchod through the streots to the racecourse, passing near the Presidency «n route, undor a mounted burgher escort. They oamp on the spot where tho Jameson troopers were confined nearly four years ago, every attention boing shown to tho prisoners under the circumstances. . . . The officers looked well, some of them smoking cigarettes on leaving tho train. The prisoners sleep under the grandstand, where there is ample covor. •. The officers have a separate building, and, upon giving their word of honour pot to attempt to escape, will have

the run of the whole enclosure. Fifty town burghers guard the place. The names of the commissioned officers aro:—lßth Hussars, Colonel Holler, Major Grorillo, and Captain Pollock; Dublin Fusiliers, Captain Lonsdale, Lieutenants C. Mesurier, - Garvio, and Gumshard; King's Royal Rifles, Lieutenant Majendio, and Lieutenant Shone (Army Veterinary Department).

THE BOER DEFEAT AT ELANDS LAAGTE. According to tho Diggers' News, the Boer forces at the Battle of Glencoo only numbered 600. These aro some of the headlines to the account of tho : —Genera' Meyer's Fight—A Terrible Combat—Burghers Under Heavy Firo— Over Nine HoursCavalry Charge Repulsed— Lion of Vryheid's Stand—Maxim Gun Captured—Camps Raked With Shrapnel Grappling at Close Quarters—' Fortunes of War—Burgher Forces Retire— in Full RetreatGeneral Mortally Wounded— British Losses— Great Mover's Gallant Seven Hundred—Assail Six Thousand Men— so on. Tho reverso at Elands Laagato was fought, according to tho same authority, between a thousand burghers and 6000 British. " Our (that is, the Boer) loss is estimated at 50 killed. That of the English nt approximately 600." Tliero is a good deal more of similar stuff about all the fighting that has occurred. General Cronje, for instance, wired: "Will effect the downfall of Mafeking on Monday. Only one result is possiblo, and tho surrender of the town is inevitable."

THE FORT DENUDED. One effect of tho operations in Natal has evidently been to take away the garrison from the fort on Hospital Hill. Guns and garrison have been sout post haste to tho Natal base. Lieutenant Von Dalwig, with a fow men and ono gun, now occupies the fort. Lieutenant M. J. van Dam has been appointed Special Commandant of Johannesburg in succession to Commandant Schutte. Meamvhilo tho police havo apparently been clamouring to bo allowed to enter stores and " commandeer" any articles that tlioy may find useful. Four men were arrested on the 22nd, three of them being special police, for looting untenanted residences. Dr. Krause, the Public Prosecutor, has, according to tho Digger?' News, received personal instructions from tho President to prosecute looters with the utmost rigour of the law. As regards the actual position in Johannesburg, a study of the Diggers' Nows reveals several interesting facts. No natives or coloured people aro allowed to bo ou* in the streets between tho hours of seven p.m. and fivo a.m. without special permits, contravention of this regulation being visited with a maximum fine of £5 or 14 days' imprisonment, with or without 15 lashes. Whito persons aro not allowed out after nine p.m. or before fivo a.m., subject to a penalty of £10, or eight days with or without hard labour.

A»LIQUOR EDICT. It further appears that a very stringent liquor edict has been issued. The terms of tho edict did not appear in tho Diggers' News of the 23rd, but from what is said about it, it seems that tho sale of liquor at pttblio bars has been practically entirely pro-, hibited. Hero is an extract from the same journal: "Tho methods pursued by certain members of the Detectiva Department and others attaohed to tho Town Special Polico Corps aro certainly open to criticism. On Saturday afternoon (October 2) detectives named 0. J. McCaim, J. W. do Jager, C. Grobbelaar, and James McCann descended to tho Frascati Buffet and asked for liquor. They were denied, but on subsequently urging that they required it medicinally they wero supplied. Frascati's proprietor was then informed that ho had been trapped, and in pursuance of a clause in the proclamation, which proscribes tho confiscation and destruction of all drink discovered at places suspected of having infringed tho edict, the establishment was ransacked, and all liquor found was removed. Bail of £500 was subsequently imposed on. Mr. Martin." As much as £1 10s is being offered for a bottle of whisky, and the suburban field cornets aro besieged with women and others who claim that brandy is necessary for them as medicaments. "As a matter of fact," says tho Diggers' News, "now that tho commandoes have left there is no longer any danger of alcoholic excesses."

ARRESTS OF BRITISH SUBJECTS. A paragraph in tho same issuo of tho same paper reports that: "On Saturday and yesterday tho number of arrests only totalled 21. The most important of these was P. H. Morkel, minus a permit. Accused stated he was 45 years of age, an Afrikander by birth, and a speculator by occupation. He was arrested by Detectives P. do Kock and G. Hardy as being a colonial Afrikander, a subject of Her Majesty the Queen, and therefore liable to imprisonment and expulsion." Judging from casual remarks made in various portions of the paper, a large number of similar arrests have been made in Johannesburg.

LOOTING A BOER. ( A funny account of a tragic affair is that afforded by a little Irish private of the Fusiliers, authenticated by his captain, who laughs every time the incident is mentioned. "I kem up to a house," he said, with a smile on his brown corrugated face, "and there was a Boer back to me, wid his rifle pushed through a hole in the stonewall. I brant; mc rifle to ready and sez, ' hello, me man,' and the sick luk uv him ud make an army mule lay. 'Dhrop it,' I sez, 'and turn out your pockets or I'll blow a hole arthough you. Gar on.' He dhropped it quick, a little Welshee slide tiling wid ind of bullets pushed into it. 'I've got more cartridges in me overcoat,' he sez ; 'wait an' I'll get it.' ' Nivver mind yer overcoat,' I sez, 'but come wid me, and' I gev liim over to the corporal, and' tnk his horse to hide, and' there was the captain behoind me laughing fit to split. I wint into the house, and there were the owner sittin' quiet readin' the paper, an' not knowin' there was a sojer near him.' 'How dar ye come into my house,' he sez. ' Nivver moind arguin',' I sez, and I wint rummagin' about, pokin' a clane handkerchief into the sleeve o' me tunic, an' fitting on the pick o' three watherproof coats. Where ivor I wint he kem walkin' behoind, saying 'oh, there's nothin' there ; there's nothin' there at all.' 1 Will you go out the door V says I, losin' me temper, ' or will you go in bits up the chimney?' Anyways, I had no luck. I thried three overcoats for nothing. One man of the Lancers got a hatful of money in the only wan he went troo. Don't be talkin' about overcoats." It is a pity to have to tell the sequel. The desire for loot was so strong upon the bold Fusilier that next day he was found in an officer's tent, whisky, it is believed, being the object of the raid.

YULE'S FAMOUS MARCH. TOMMY ATKINS AND HIS BEER. The special correspondent of the Melbourne Argus writes -.—Brigadier-General Yule's march from Dundee to Ladysmitli will rank as one of the achievements of the campaign after the fighting. J shall never forget the appearance of that column as it came into Ladysmitli, the gallant Fusiliers, conspicuous by the square green badges on their helmets, having the place of honour as rear guard. ( The khakee had changed in colour from yellowish brown to dirty red, and upon officers and men alike were brown blotches of mud where they had thrown themselves upon miry ground whenever the whistle sounded for a brief five minutes. " Good luck to you, boys ; we're glad to see you safe back," shouted crowds on the pathways, and at intervals cheers were given for the fighting fusiliers. " I suppose you can do without work for a day or two ?" I said to one stalwart soldier, who, with a click of brogue, answered," Shoore, we're as fit as fiddles, and whin we get about three pints o' beer in us we're ready to go out agin tomorrow." There was no difficulty about the first pint, and though to the moralist and teetotaller it may be a saddening admission, yet the fact is borne in upon one every day that next to the British ensign and the honour of his corps, the thing that stands highest in the estimation of Tommy Atkins is " beer." You may praise him and cheer him-, but if you wish to find your way straight into his graces make it beer. Amongst those who marched with the British column all the way from Dundee, was a young Melbourne cricketer named Morton, who one time was also a member of the Argus composing staff. He watched the whole of the fight at Dundee lying in the shelter of the rocks closo beside one of the British guns. After they had silenced the Boer artillery he started at 10 minutes' notice to march 60 miles with the troops.

I Fusiliers will do it, sir," said Captain Connors, and the Fusiliers did it grandly. A little knot of men got racing together for first place with the Royal Irish ahead of the main line, and had they lived to reach the ridge there would have been Victoria Crosses for some of the Irish Fusiliers, but all save one man, who owed his life perhaps to the fact that he missed his foothold and fell, died near the summit. Captain Connors fell as he was leading his men lip the slope, which was so sharp that they had at times to hold on to the grass tussocks. "Go oil, boys," he said, " I'll see you tomorrow"—and he will see them perhaps on that to-morrow when the Dublins answer the bugle cull for the last parade, for the brave Irish captain died with a bullet through his body on the iron-sown slope at Tarana Hill. 'Although Glencoe has got so fair a start, and will be hard to shift, in the end this fight mil be officially known as the battle of Dundee, smco it was fought close to tho town of Dundee, and really some miles distant from the military camp at Glencoc.

A LETTER FROM NATAL. Mr. E. Harrow has received a letter front a relative at Reitfontein, in Natal, in which the writer says: —" I am ashamed to think that I have not written to you for some weeks, but my daughter lias been seriously ill, the Boers' at the same time all round Reitfontein. She got better suddenly, and was removed the day before the Boers took possession. The day after sho left they came and took 200 fowls, all forage, of which there was a large quantity, besides all clothes they could find in the house. Happily, they did not damage the house itself. The fight took place on the hill behind the house. 'Tenta Inyone' (the name translated is, ' Touch tho Bird Hill'). Had it not been for the 10,000 troops sent from India it would be a poor look out for Natal to-day. As it is a third of the colony (including our coalfields), is in the hands of the Bool's. If troops do not come soon all the Natal and Cape Boers will rise to a man. A great number of people havo sons gone to the front, and aro naturally very anxious. The Natal volunteers have shown great bravery."

WAR ITEMS. The Bloerafontein Express represented tie battle of Elands Laagte as a brilliant victory for the Boers, stating that the British lied into Ladysmith. It also stated that General White was killed, and that certain documents were taken from his dead body. The Boer big gun, with which it was hoped to demolish Mafeking, proved anything but a success. It weighs 20,0001b, and had to be drawn by 16 oxen and 20 mules. The tremendous recoil threw the gun out of gear ever}' time it- was fired, and after using it for two days the Boers gave it lip.

A Coleuso telegram in a Cape paper of November 3 says: —The Boers know they are playing a desperate game, and intend playing it in a desperate manner. Too much vigilance and too much preparedness at all points of attack cannot therefore be exercised. It is possible they may prefer to harass and cut off Ladysmith rather than try to take it by attack.

A telegram from Mafeking, dated October 26, says:—Just after lunch a dare-devil episode occurred. Corporal Tolcher, of 0 Squadron, Protectorate Regiment, had left his blanket and patrol tin at tho lime-kilns, about a mile east, when the troops retired on the town the other day. About one o'clock lie sallied out alone, without asking leave, to get his kit. Taking a pocketful of ammunition he got into range and commenced potting. Several of his chums saw this, and half-a-dozen sailed out to help, and in ten minutes half-a-dozen rifles had shifted 100 Boers from the lime-kilns. They ran helter-skelter to then' horses, for tho party were within 300 yards.

One evening at Elands Laagte some of the Boers spent a merry evening with a number of Englishmen at the railway station. The field cornet sugested they might as well have a concert, andjio asked an Englishman named Ganthorpe to play and sing, both Dutch and English joining in the chorus of " They All Take After Me." It's a j funny world," said the field cornet. " Hero are the Dutch and English at war, and we're all enjoying ourselves together." Early on Saturday morning the British made their appearance, and one of the first men killed was the sentimental field cornet of the international concert. A shower of Lec-Mefr> ford bullets suddenly rattled upon the station buildings, and a party of Boers who were in barracks there rushed out. Tin field cornet turned to see whence the shot? came, and at that moment a bullet passed through his head.

WAR FUND. The following additional subscription! have been received by the Mayor for South African war fund: Thomas Ching, £2 2s; Captain oaring, £1; Auckland Post Office (per Mr. Biss), £2 2s 6d; Coronmndel school, 17s; Maraetai school, sd; Ness Valley school, 2s 9d; Rangiaohia school, 7s; Te Rore school, 10s 7d; Otorohanga school, 10s; Opotiki school, £1 Is 7u; Otara schoil, 13s; Drury school, lis fad,; Waharoa school, 2s 6d; Kaitara school,. 6s 9id; Horahora school, 9s; Paiaka and Pah schools, 3s 3d; Whangae school, 2s 6d;. Te Pahi, No. 2 school, £1 2s 6d Waitangi school, 3s Id; Turua school, ss;' Waiwera (upper) school, 3s 2d; Parawai school, 8s; Hukatere school, 4s 2d;, Netherton school, £2 9s sd; Wlnngapoua school, ss; Pukekawa school, 3s 6d: Hautapu school, 2s 7d; Omaru school, '1s 6u ;i Maungaturoto school, Is 3d; Tokatoka No. 1 school, 3s Id; Manukau Heads school, Is lOd; Marlborough school, 2s; Awatoma school, 2s 2d; Pongakawa school, 2s 2d; Amodeo Bay school, lid; Pollok school, 2s 6d; Patumahoe school, Is 6d; Arapohue school, 2s 6d; Papakura Valley No. 1 school, 4s 8d: Karamu school, 2s 6d ;j Weymouth school, 3s 8d; Waimamaku Valley school, Is; Papakura Valley No. 2 school, 3s 7d; Rangiahua school, Is 7d; Upper \v aihoti school, Is lOd; Otumoetai school, 6s lid; Orua Bay school, 3s 7d;. Fairbum's Road and Takahue schools, 2s 3d; Pakaru school, Is 2d; Orurti school, 2s; Mullet Point school, 8d; Kohukolm school, 7s 6d; Hamilton West school, 123 6d; Waitetuna school, ,2s: Port Albert school, 4s sd; Waiau school, 6s; Ellerslie school, 6s sd; Pakuranga school, 7s Id; Oropi school, Is lid; Matakana school, 12s; Katikati No. 3 school, 2s; Purua School, Is 6d; Wayby school, 3s lid; Tatarariki school, Is sd; Whakahara school, Is 4d; Makotu (East Coast) school, Is 8d; Kuaotunu school, £1; Huanui school, 5s 2d; Tauranga school, 9s Id; Mangapai Nos. I and 2 schools, 3s 8d; Mercury Bay school, £1; Hoteo North' school, lis 9d.