PROSPECTS OF PEACE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11955, 2 May 1902, Page 5

PROSPECTS OF PEACE.

CONSIDERED FAVOURABLE. TREATMENT OF REBELS AN OBSTACLE. FINAL MEETING OF DELEGATES. By Telegraph.—Press Association.— (Received May 1, 10.47 p.m.) London", May 1. Tee prospects of peace are considered favourable, but it is believed matters in connection with the treatment of rebels are still an obstacle in the way of a settlement in some quarters. The delegates are consulting the commandos in rotation. The final conference of delegates will be held at Vreeniging. on the railway line north of the Vaal River, on the 25th to discuss terms of surrender. THE BOER DELEGATES. MB. SCHALK BUBGEK. Mr. Schalk Burger is acting-President of the Boer " Government," a position to which ho was appointed after Mr. Kruger's flight to Europe. A decent kind of Boer is Schaik Burger. He is a general, but not much of a fighting man. Rather peacefully inclined. A warm side for Uitlanders, too. After the Raid he clamoured in the Volksraad for the appointment of an Industrial Commission to inquire into the Inlanders' grievances. lie pot it, and the report of the Commission found that the Uitlandors had grievance*. Schalk Burger then came to be looked upon as the hope of the British residents of the Transvaal. He was held in high favour by them. That was enough for the Krugcr gang. Dr. Leyds, on becoming acquainted with the report of the Industrial Commission, left Europe hurriedly for Pretoria. Arrived there, he had frequent consultations with Mr. Kruger on the Uitlander question. He brought Maehiavellism to bear, with the result that the old President turned upon Schaik Burger and told him that, by signing his name to a report which showed that the Uitlanders in, the Transvaal really had grievances, he proved himself a traitor. In spite of what Kruger thought, Schalk Burger put up for the Presidency, but lie could do nothing against, the Kruger gang. The old man was re-elected, and Burger Iwcame Vic*;. President. It is said that he had a hand i in planning the initial Boer successes in Natal. When things went awry with the Boers the " traitor," as Kruger called nim, never thought of seeking refuge in another country, but decided to see the end of the trouble." | LUCAS I.UJVER. A great fighting mail was Lucas .Meyer, but somehow he has not shown to great advantage during the present war. On the contrary, the Transvaalors still in the field hold to this day that by his bungling* he lost them the battle of Dundee. Meyer can fight best against savages. When, after the death of Cetawayo, Usibipu objected to Dinizulu as chief, t,ho latter appealed to the Boers for help. Lucas Meyer led the Boer force, routed Usebipu, and as a, reward he and his fellow farmers were awarded 3000 square miles of land in North-west Zululand. They established a, republic, and Meyer became the president. But he did not enjoy this honour long. The republic lasted only ■a year. In an interview which General Botha accorded to a French war correspondent, published in the Gaulois, the Chief Commandant was reported to have said that he learnt the art of war from Lucas Meyer. But that wa3 at the beginning of the war, when Meyer was still considered a. great Boer general. The Chief Commandant may have another opinion now. DR. REITZ. Dr. Rcitz is the ex-State Secretary of the Transvaal Republic, having succeeded Dr. Leyds when the latter thought the position of an ambassador accredited to all the Courts of Europe, save that of St. James', was one more in consonance with the aspirations of a man of his genius. Reitz was originally President of the Orange Free State. He comes of a German family, was a schoolmate of Mr. Cecil Rhodes, and was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple. Let this be said of Dr. Roitz: He did not hate us with the hatred of Kruger. On the contrary, he thought Kruger's anti-British policy was all wrong. But, then, what could he do with Kroner's gang plotting at home and Leyds scheming in Europe? It was a ease of accepting the. inevitable. He is probably the best-educated Boer in the country, and liked to deliver lectures to his less intellectual brethren. Frederick the Great is one of his heroes. His wife is in Europe. There are eight or nine little Roitze?—all boys. Their principal plaything is a Mauser. MR. SBOOH. Not so well known is Mr." Krogh. He was a prominent Boer official, Attorney-General, but his work was more departmental than political. It is said that he had none of the rabidncss of the Kruger gang, and, though a member of tl»e oligarchy, did not favour its high-handed methods of running a Republic.