IN THE TRANSVAAL.

New Zealand Mail, 8 February 1900, Page 53

IN THE TRANSVAAL.

MOURNING AND DEER GLOOM. j SCARCITY OF FOOD. ■ TREATMENT OF• BRITISH f V • PRISONERS. ' - ( - (Special to the Gape "Times.”) ® ■ DURBAN. Januaryl2. t A lady who has just- arrived'-from * Johannesburg, and who -is in a-position y to know what is going on, states’'-that i* there is great' poverty among" the g burgher class of Boers. There :io plerfty of mealie meal, tea and sugar, Q but fresh or -tinned meat is un obtainj able: Burgber women' and children are l virtually starving, seeking charity '-from 3 foreigners in town. The scenes witnessed at the railway j station on the departure of the men g for the front, particularly the last batch j of commandeered police, were pathetic,c The men. were-i blubbering; women tea.rrj. ing their hair and wailing, said -children h screaming. One policeman * was so overcome that he said he would not go, 0 arid was threatened with physical ;pung* ishm-'-nt. -In ..order to-, obtain freshmen * the-. Beer comnmidersrthad to commaihA deer with threat® .or shooting . x-down ;* those who Johannesburg -ity self i« desciibed as being like a -disusod b cemetery. All the large stores.;: and many of the ■ smaller have -.been looted. ••• . : . ;•. ,i The lady says that the Boers.- are i- heartily sick of the war, and'* their o losses have ; been abnormally.,heavy, e Among themselves- they are . appalled dat the immense loss-of life among their d troops. From what she. gathered'from g the most intelligent burghers, the,Boere !, killed up.to the nreseht... iotsd-.,, q.bout !. 4009, exclusive of wouhd<ed sdld iprisous ©re.

It is reported that one of the daily sights of Pretoria is the confinement of one or more of the British prisoners of war in . the stocks, for what offence, if any, docs not appear. Passing through the Transvaal cn his way to Delagoa Bay, a released prisoner was struck by the fact that- almost all the Boer women were in mourning. Throughout the Republic black was the prevailing tone of dress. The cheerfulness which characterised the public at the outset of the war is no longer apparent, and a deep gloom lias settled down over Pretoria and other towns through which he passed.