OUR ARMY IN CAPE COLONY

New Zealand Mail, 8 February 1900, Page 25

OUR ARMY IN CAPE COLONY

THREE GOLtuaNS MOVING. LONDON, January 30. The military situation is being eagerly discussed by the British press, and various suggestions are offered by military critics as to- the possible line® on which the scheme of attack might be re-cast. There is a growing opinion in the country that the most feasible system of strategy is orte which would involve a general invasion of the Free estate from both south and the west. The suggestion is that an advance in force should be- made into the southern part of. that Republic from De Aar (in the soudirv/eet, situated on the trunk line or railway, seventy miles south of the Orange river); and • again from Naauwpoort, the junction of the crosscountry railway with i-iie main lino into the Free State from Port Elizabeth and also toe base of Lieutenant-General French s present, operations around Qolesberg. At the same time. Lord Methuen’s , column, it is proposed, instead of pressing northward to- the immediate relief Ox Kimberley, should turn eastward, and march upon Jacobs dal, of Free ■ bt&te town a few miles-from his present camp beyond tcie Modder river, and toence continue his march into the Transvaal. _ e , function of Lieutenant-Generals ® r *ncb. and G&tacre, whose columns are now on the southern frontiers of the hree State, would be in the meantime to drive the Boers northward—the forN 6 ® by. way o-f Norvals Pont (the crosGrange river on: the Naauw-poort-Bloemfoatein railway), and the . by way of Befefinlie, the first town - Free State on the easternmost runway, which has its coastal terminus at East London. j , CAPETOWN, February 1. interest is now centring largely upon XL a °s^ he L a P art Cape Colony, fAr/X 6 tir f 6 columns under Lieu-tenant-Geaerab Kelly-Kenny, Gatacro ana D rench are- operating, with the evi-_-“s_ a. of preasing forward at an nf A. a X- e acros3 the southern boundary of the Free State. • e , di , s P La 7 °f British power is havflP- a - sa b‘ftary infiuence upon the setmj 1 j- W X at , wra , s lately one of the - most digaKecieot parts of the colony. ® station on the east-and-which was occupied by X^oilit-AH^" 3 ?' 6 a I6W da ya ago, thus General T§ communication with "'assnrpri i-ily-Kenny's forces—the renew fnr '■ V3 'r 3 X farmers are now forming iiew corps of the colonial forces. ' coffinlX-jvi e lG'-Kenny’.s engineers have t n -& Rebuilding of an impor‘ie BoiTw'SSy’S. ****■ WM ° h DRIVING back the enemy. • v: olrß BOYS again in' action. The "February 4. ..with '-a ' Z Jf Infantry, guides and of Rimiiigton’s ‘ Guards baxrt sqila^rdn ’’Ox the - Life t'inant-Geh.A, the hills on-Lieu-flanb and n ‘ -'-joneb a extreme right In <S d^ UDied 3e^r a l positions engagement the New Zea-

landers alone rushed a kopje, expelling the enemy. • ENCIRCLING COLESBERG. LACK OF EFFECTIVE ARTILLERY (Received February 6, 0.15 a.m.) >• CAPETOWN, February 5. With. regard to the operation of* General French’s - army in Northern Cape Colony,'lit appears that his forces have enclosed seven thousand Boers in the hills around Colesberg. The lack of naval guns is severely felt by the British troops.