THE BOER WAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11949, 25 April 1902, Page 5

THE BOER WAR.

THE PEACE PROPOSALS.

A GOOD AUGURY. ■~ By Telegraph.-Press Aeßociatlon.-Cepyrisht. ■ . (Received April 24.' 10.11 pjn.) ■ ■ - London, April 24. > The. newspapers consider the fact that Schalk Burger, is accompanying Steyn and De la Rey on their visit i to the western commandos • a '■; good ■'.■ augury. THE ORANGE RIVER COLONY/ • DE LA REY'S BROTHER'A * ■ , PRISONER. ; :'.'..,ii TWENTY BOERS CAPTURED.! '" (Received April 24, 10.11 p.m.).' t ' London, April 24,-' , General Rochefbrt's prisoners in the recent engagement include, General De la Roy's brother. ' ; . A laager at Kroomdraal, ia the Orange River Colony, was surprised. Five Boers were killed and ,20 captured. IN THE TRANSVAAL. ; GENERAL BRUCE HAMILTON'S OPERATIONS. & SWEEPING MOVEMENT. 1 London, April 23. \ General Bruce Hamilton, who is' operating in the South-east Trans- 1 vaal, has, with seven columns, swept ' the country from Standerton in the> direction of the Delagoa railway? y line. The result is unknown, but it; is feared the Boers escaped. ;

A lieutenant-colonel of Yeomanry, writing from the front to a member /of the House of Commons, says:"Lately 1 am glad to say my gallant regiment and I havebeen taking part, in a series off successes, fj; which, I fancy, ai» without parallel in the war. I refer, of course, to the victories of Bruce Hamilton's columns. Wo have had a; hand in every one of them, I am proud i to,' say, and since December 3 have \ accounted! for between 800 and 1000 Boers. Of ooursa it has entailed tremendous work and torrifio night marches, generally three a week, one week four, great distances in bad 'Weather ;jj hampered by heavy rain, frightful thunderstorms and swollen rivers; ; frequently lying,; out in this sort of thing,' never with more than one blanket apiece, and frequently* none at all. And then the first thing that greets us is a lottor to the Times, saying' everything out hwe is slackness ,and want ■; of mobility. It does not hurt us, because we are aware that the huge \ bulk of the English people know it is not true, and we can, therefore, afford to laugh. ;I ' have I never seen hard work more eagerly done or groat discomforts more cheerfully borne. Our chief individual capture has been General Erasmus—quite a nice old ; fellow. Ho! sees what utter fools i they have been. ; -1£; he can only arrange matters with Lord Kitchener, he wants to fight on our side :• now, r and so it is with them all; directly; they are caught and see how well they j are ; treated by us (for the men fraternise with Brother Boer and make him as comfortable•: as they can), the first thing they seem to i desire is that all the rest should be caught: and the war ended.. Erasmus thanked u«: most profusely, and it is my firm belief that the greatest of all the various kinds 'of < ' rot' which are talked at Home is the' idea"„ of race hatred in the future. The war will fizzle out; and why should the industrialdevelopment be delayed until it DOM, if the two things can proceed conjointly in inverse ratio ?" , ■ ~,„ *;i* ( THE FEDERAL CONTINGENT. (Received April 24, 10.11 p.m.) v London, April 24. ; The troopship Templemore, with »■ portion of the Australian continr gent, has arrived at Durban. ' , * GERMAN " COMFORTS" FOR ■ ,'; THE BOERS. ! London, April 23. A German consignment of " comforts" sent to Bloemfontein for the Boer refugees was found to consist Jargely of filthy, unwashed, 'left-off-clothing. Eight ladies who were unpacking the articles were" made seriously ill.

RETURNED TROOPERS. . Albany, April 24. ■• The troopship Manchester • Merchant has ■ arrived from Capetown with 291 returned; soldiers. ' '•" ■ , INVALIDED NEW ZEALANDERS. [BY TELEGRAPH.— ASSOCIATION.) Wellington, Thursday.' A cablegram has been received by the Go-' vernor stating that Lieutenant Lascelles, ol Napier, is not dangerously ill. Privat* Walker (Auckland) is progressing favourably. The condition, of Lieutenant Neill (Dunedin) is unchanged. Private C. 0. Skilling (Eighth Contingent) is dangerously ill from peritonitis, at Klerksdorp. Private J. Helms (Southland), Sergeant Beasley (Wangamii), and Private C.. Kelland (Kacgitata], are still dangerously ill from enteric A. Harvey (Eighth), and Wm. Howard (Sixth Contingent) have developed fever. Privates Patrick Lee, Wm. Grant, and Wm. Whitler (all of the Eighth Contingent) are still dangerously ill from; injuries received in the railway accident. ','. .