IN CAPE COLONY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11551, 15 January 1901, Page 4

IN CAPE COLONY.

The South African war presents a series of surprises—in a double sense. Two months- after the war was supposed to be closing, after troops were being ordered home, after Peace Day celebratioQS were being arranged, our amazingly active enemies are still in the field. More than that, they have carried the war down into Cape Colony and forced Capetown itself into preparations against surprise. The explanation is simple. There are no longer sufficient supplies available in the annexed colonies, and the irreconcilables have moved southward', primarily for food, and secondarily in the hopes of arousing the Cape Dutch. 1 But simple as this explanation is, it must be confessed that the war is dragging on to tiring length and calls more urgently than ever for strong suppressive measures. The news that the loyalists are everywhere arming and training, that the Dutch are generally quiescent, that military warning against rebellion has been plainly given, make it reasonably certain that there is no real danger. . But there is now no longer any doubt that if resistance does not speedily cease, the policy of rendering "untenable" districts which aid and comfort the guerillas will have to. be resorted to. This would speedily cause a collapse of the present phase of resistance, and it is really in the interest of the Boers themselves that it is earnestly to be hoped that their submission will render such extreme steps unnecessary.