THE TRANSVAAL WAR

New Zealand Mail, 21 February 1901, Page 24

THE TRANSVAAL WAR

AN ENGAGEMENT PENDING. LONDON. February 12. The “Standards” Pretoria correspondent states that great consternation exists among the Boer leaders on the confines of Swaziland. They fear they will be compelled to abandon a huge convoy and guns or risk a general engagement. LONDON, February 12. There are indications that Swaziland (has long been prepared as a last Boer refuge. A GREAT MARCH. LONDON, February 12. Major-General De Lisle, w 7 ith a force of Australians, has broken the record for marching. The troops marched to Willis ton, in Western Cape Colony, a distance of seventy-two miles in fortyeight hours, passing through desolate, waterless country. The Boers have gone to Vanwykvaler in search of water and forage. LORD ROBERTS’S DESPATCHES. MAJOR ROBIN MENTIONED. LONDON, February 13. In the recently published despatches of Lord Roberts, he mentioned Major Robin, of the New Zealand Mounted Infantry, as having distinguished himself. Lord Roberts also mentions the following colonials: —Captain Amt ill and Corporal English, New South Wales • Captains Reed and Brown, Queensland. The Field-Marshal also states that the assistance rendered by Surgeon-Major Fiaschi, of the New South Wales Medical Corps, to the sick and wounded was efficient. The New South Wales ambulance service, which was most valuable, deserved special attention.

FRENCH AGAIN SUCCESSFUL. TWO HUNDRED PRISONERS _ TAKEN. LONDON, February 13. General French last week attacked the Boer laager at Ermelo, in the eastern Transvaal, and killed forty of the enemy, besides taking two hundred prisoners and capturing a great number of cattle. He also recovered some of the fifteenpounder guns' lost at the battle of Coienso in December, 1899. FIGHTING IN CAPE COLONY. LONDON, February 13. Details of the fight at Klipplaat Junction, north-west of 'Port Elizabeth, on the 6th show that twelve men of the 7th Dragoon Guards, twelve Westraliauo. and three Mounted Police carrying oespatehes, encountered several hundred Boers. The British, oocupying two small kopjes, gallantly replied for hours to the heavy rifle fire, four WAstrahar.s preventing a flanking movement until the Boers made a wide detour, completely surrounding them. >. At sunset two hundred of the enemy, trader cover of a heavy fire from the mam body, charged, overpowering and capturing the British, who, after being stripped of their arms and other belongings, and complimented on their bravery, were released. The Boers admitted that they had. five men killed. GENERAL BOTHA’S MOVEMENTS. LONDON, February 14. General Botha is apparently seeking refuge in the Pongola bush, south of Swaziland and in the extreme southeastern portion of the Transvaal. He has tens of thousands of cattle, and his •onvoy extends for miles. The Queen of Swaziland, has informed Lord Kitchener that she desires to prevent the Boers entering her territory. LONDON,' February 15. General . French is driving a. large force of the enemy in the direction of Piet Retief, near the Swaziland frontier, south-east of Ermelo, and prevented them breaking back. The Inniskilling Dragoons charged the enemy,- killing five and wounding six, and capturing a large number of waggons and cattle. DE WET’S RAID INTO CAPE COLONY. LONDON, February 15. Three hundred and fifty men of General De Wet’s commando on the 12th inst. occupied Philipstown, thirty-five miles north-east of De Aar junction. The small garrison of Yeomanry defended the gaol, while Lieutenant Ilenniker and sixty of the Victorian Imperial Bushmen rushed and occupied a kopje commanding the town. The firing continued all day. A force under Major Granville Smith and two qnadrons of Victorians under Major L. E. Clarke arrived in the evening, and the Boers retired to the northeast. LONDON, February 16. Commandants. Haasbroek and Woest, commanding a portion of De Wet’s force, with, two hundred vehicles, crossed the Orange river by the Zand Drift, sixty-iive miles north of De Aar, west of Philippolis, on the 9th inst.

They were repulsed at Philipstown and Petrusville, thirty-five miles within Cape Colony, on the 12th. There was brisk fighting on the r2ln and 13th. The enemy used a fifteen-pounder captured .from the British, the snrapnel bursting splendidly. Subsequently Colonel Piumer.s forc e of Australian Bushmen arrived with a pompom, and extricated a lorce ox 200 Imperial and South African Light Horse, who were hard-pressed by Commandant Haasbroek twenty miles west of Colesburg. The British casualties were light; the enemy’s heavier. In pursuing the Boers westward Colonel Plumer captured a Maxim gun and a great portion of De Wet’s ammunition train. LONDON, February 16. The “ Daily Mail ” states that on Thursday General De Wet and Mr Steyn crossed the railway between Houtkraal and Potfontein, twenty-seven miles west of Philipstown, and about a similar distance north of De Aar, and destroyed two culverts. Colonel Crabbe, following De Wet, captured fourteen waggons and some prisoners. Major-General De Lisle’s force of Australian Bushmen was aceordpcl a frenzied welcome at Calvinia, where Boer cruelty,- vindictive exactions and wanton destruction of property recalled the’worst scenes of the early cam., paign in Natal. The Boers who lately evacuated Calvinia are splendidly mounted, and are travelling north-eastward in the direction of Kenhardt at the rate of sixty miles a day. [Calvinia, in Gape Colony, is about 290 miles west by south of De Ar.j

General De Wet’s action in shooting the envoys from the Boer Peace Delegation, and the action of the raiders in looting their friends homesteads in Cape Colony, is having the effect of alienating Dutch sympathy from the Boer cause.

Before the Boers left Calvinia they flogged several officials for not revealing arms. They also flogged a Magistrate named Buk, and shot native drivers. A number cf native drivers were captured, and shot elsewhere.

MISCELLANEOUS. LONDON, February 12. The British authorities at Bloemfontein are inviting tenders for supplies cf clothing and boots Tor distribution amongst the Boer refugees. The Netherlands Government has asked Mr Kruger to reside elsewhere than at The Hague. The natives in the Leydsdorp district have risen against the Boers, owing to the cruel exactions of the Transvaalers. Commandant Sarel, Colonel Eioff (Mr Kruger’s grandson), and four other Boer prisoners seized a. fishing boat at St. Helena, but failed to secure oars, and were discovered and arrested. LONDON, February 13. Piet De Wet, brother of the famous General, is visiting Capetown with a view to inducing the leaders of the Afi ikahder Bond, to co-operate in securing peace. ~~ Lieutenant-General French lias captured a. convoy of fifty waggons and fifteen carts, and forty-five prisoners in addition. The British had no loss. Colonel F. Seheromhruoker, member for King Williamstown in the Cape Assembly, is raising a corps of loyalists.

A number of German farmers are cooperating with Major-General Brabant’s regiment of irregulars. The Boers on the Basutoland frontier have retired northwards from Ficksburg to Fouriesburg. Extensive thefts ’of military stores have been discovered in Natal. Six railway employees have been arrested. An hotelkeeper and several storekeepers are implicated. LONDON, February 14. The Boers captured two trains near Belfast, on the Delagoa railway, about 115 miles east of Pretoria. After robbing the passengers, they started the trains so that they came into collision, and the engines were smashed. LONDON, February 17. In the House of Commons, Mr Balfour said the Government intended to appoint a committee of both Houses to inquire into the question of pensions for the widows and orphans of soldiers who had lost their lives in the war in South Africa.

General French has captured a number of Boers, including General Louis Botha’s secretary. Mr Potts, Consul for the Netherlands at Delagoa Bay, whose exequatur was recently withdrawn, returns to Delagoa Bay in a private capacity. Major-General Smith—Dorrien has occupied Amsterdam, near the Swaziland border, and thirty mile-, north of Piet Retief. An armoured train with a Maxim killed nineteen Boers who were trying to destroy the railway during the night at Edenburg, 50 miles south of Bloemfontein.

The Australian Bushmen performed most of the fighting during the march of Lord Methuen’s column from Kuruman, in Bechuanaland, to the Transvaal border. They captured several convoys, but had much difficulty in capturing one which was entrusted, to the care of expert women drivers. Colonel Aytoun (Queensland) and Colonel Knight (New South Wales) have

been discharged from hospital, and have resumed duty. MELBOURNE, February The Federal Minister for Defence (Sir John Forrest) has received a cable from the Imperial authorities asking to be allowed to recruit a thousand mounted constabulary for South Africa within the Commonwealth. No terms are stated. . , Another batch of invalided soldiers have arrived from the Cape by the Nineveh. Amongst the number are Captains Bartlett and Gregory, Sergeants Fox and Cromer, of New Zealand. MELBOURNE, February 14. The transport Argus has sailed witn 500 horses for the contingents. ihe men will get away on Friday. MELBOURNE, February 15. The Fifth Contingent sailed to-day m the troopship Orient. The troops marched through the principal streets amidst large crowds, who displayed much enthusiasm. Two hundred and fifty volunteers .or the Marquis of Tullibardine J s Scottish Horse, and twenty-four of the Dragoon Guards, who formed part of the Imperial Representative Corps, and have been ordered to join their regiment in South Africa, also departed by the Orient

SYDNEY, February 17. Sir William Lyne lias informed the Imperial authorities that the Government could not agree to the proposal to recruit a thousand constabulary _ for South Africa. Victoria has sent a similar reply. The Queensland Government saw no objection to a quota ueing raise.d in that State BRISBANE, February 13. The Government, in offering a further contingent of troops, stipulated no number. If the Imperial authorities send a itoamer they will endeavour to fill it. BRISBANE, February 17. The Government has been unofficially informed that the offer of another contingent has been accepted by the "Wa?* Office. The Imperial authorities greatly appreciate the offer. ALBANY, February 17.

The troopship Cornwall had line weather on the voyage, except on Wednesday night, when a, heavy blow was experienced, and the horses were knocked about considerably. Two horses died of pneumonia ; the rest are in fine condition. The troops came ashore, and the officers were entertained at the club. Troopers Butt and McCutcheon have been invalided and sent to the hospital. HOBART, February 14. The Government’s offer of 120 additional mounted men for South Africa has been accepted. Lieut. Colonel Watchorn will command the contingent. PERTH, February 14. The Government has decided to send a sixth contingent of the same strength as the fifth. ADELAIDE, February 14. Replying to a query, Lord Kitchene; has informed the Government that the service of the new contingents will be for one year or until the end of the war.

THE POSITION OF AFFAIRS IN CAPE COLONY. CAPETOWN, December 18. The expected has happened, and the borders of the colony have again been crossed by the Republican forces, in spite of Lord Kitchener’s assurance that De Wet’s attempt on the colony had failed. The optimistic colonist takes the sanguine view that they have only crossed the river to get possession of the large quantities of stock which have been driven into the colony from the Republics, and that these once secured the Republicans will retire. That is certainly the best that can be hoped for — but there is another possibility which must be faced, and it is this. The' feelings of the Dutch colonists of the Cape of Good Hope have been harrowed by the wholesale burning of the farmhouses, by the treatment of the women and children in the Republics, and by the stern refusal of England to accept anything but unconditional surrender. For more than a year now in the border districts they have endured the terrors of martial law, and a specially-constitu-ted Court is noiv sitting to try the ringleaders of the rebellion of a. 3' ear ago—the word “ ringleader ” being specially made so elastic as to include a, youth aged eighteen. Under thes© circumstances, is it to be wondered at that they are most disaffected even if they have not risen en masse ? They have not done so for two reasons:—l. Because they have n ! ot a leader. 2. Because they have not the arms and ammunition. But if the colony doe® rise, will not the task under the circumstances be too much even for Great Britain? To us here it seems that they have only to devote themselves to destroying the lines of railway to' the north from the coast ports of the colony to render Lord Kitchener’s position untenable, as Botha is more than strong enough to prevent any traffic worth speaking about from passing over the Natal and Delagoa Bay lines. Meanwhile the local loyalist is by no means pleased at finding that in spite of the enormous army in the field and of the official assurances that the “war is over,” that only a, few marauding hands remain to be dealt with, and that steps have been taken to deal with those bands, a force of something like 500 men can march into- the colony vithou + any opposition whatever. One cannot sufficiently pity the Dutchman who, while ' sympathising intensely with tli e

Republicans, wishes to remain true to his allegiance. Once more he is at the mercy of an armed commando from the Republics, with, however, this t,sni ic'd on—that this time he has to deal with men rendered desperate.

THE CASE OF SIR HENRY COLVILE. The strange case of General Sir Henry Col vile grows stranger as the days pass, writes >ir Henry Lucy from London to the “Sydney Morning Herald/’ Having come to London to demand further and; fuller inquiry into the charges brought against him, he finds the doors of the War Office shut in his face. Jn accordance with the regulations requiring that a general officer quitting his post shall on arriving in London report himself to file Adjutant-General, Sir Henry on Monday called! at the War Office, and was informed, not that Sir Evelyn Wood was out. or was busy, but that he coaid not see him. General Colvile, as was shown when, called upon to resign, no refused, is not a man to be trifled with, The charge against him is that marching under Lord Roberts’s commands. to Heilbron, he disregarded a cry for succour from the commander of 500 Yeomanry beleaguered at Lindley, who emiseqajently surrendered to the Doers. General Colviie's reply is that he was under peremptory order from Lord Roberts to be at Heilbron on a particular day, and that had he turned back to help the Yeomanry at Lindley he would have disobeyed orders and upset what he understood to be a far-reaching plan of campaign turning on his punctuality. In military circles it is whispered that Lord Kitchener is at the bottom of the business, and that if Colvile had turned back to help the Yeomanry at Lindley he would have been cashiered for disobeying Lord Roberts’s orders and disorganising a scheme that required his presence at Heilbron on a. particular day. Colvile served under Kitchener at Paardeberg, and in the despatch he contribi.ted to the history of that disastrous engagement did not studiously minimise his chief’s recklessness of the lives of his men. There may he nothing in this. Evidently something is needed to explain the circumstances how, after inquiry, a distinguished officer is permitted to return to his command in Gibraltar, and, a short time after, nothing fresh having cropped up as far as he has been notified, is suddenly dismissed. The episode, which for a day engrossed public attention, is painful enough in its private relations. It is even more serious in the light it throws on the conduct of the war in South Africa. We find detachments understood to be moving in concert in pursuance of a minutely ordered plan of battle straggling about the country blindly feeling for each other. Colvile categorically states that at one crisis two telegrams despatched to him on the same day by staff officers.

avowedly dictated by Lord Roberts, conveyed diamet-Staally opposite instructions. As soon as Parliament meets an attempt will be made to obtain the appointment- of a committee to inquire into the Lindley affair. If all said oy home-comers from the seat of war b© true, such inquiry, fearlessly conducted, will go far to show how it comes lo pass that we have entered on the new century still fighting the simple Boers.

RETURNED TROOPERS. THE KARAMEA’S CONTINGENT The steamship Karamea, with Lieu-tenant-Colonel Newall and thirty-four time-expired and invalided New Zealand soldiers, reached Wellington shortly after noon on the 14th, and was berthed a few minutes before 15 o’clock. As Lieu-tenant-Colonel Newall left the ship’s gangway he was met by the Hon W. C. Walker, Lieutenant-Colonel Collins ana the principal officers of the local garrison, who gave the commander a hearty welcome. Amongst those who were waiting to greet Lieutenant-Colonel Newall was a son of Lieutenant-Colonel Collins, whom the former last saw lying wounded on a South African kopje. The meeting was naturally a, very warm one. On board the Karamea, the men, being formed up on the upper deck, Major Owen welcomed them back in the name of the Commandant. He also said that the Mayor of Wellington was out of town, but on his return he would no doubt be willing to help anyone who required assistance. He invited them all, in the name of the Ministry, to a luncheon at Searl’s Hotel to-day. At the conclusion of the present war, it was intended, Major Owen said, to call together the returned members of tne New Zealand contingents at the centres of their different districts, where welcomes on a large scale would take place. The Mayors of the various centres were, he said, co-operating to that effect. Following are the names of Avho returned by the Karamea : x/ieu-tenant-Golonel Newall, Wellington; Trofiper F. E. Morrison, Blenheim; Trooper A. H. Brown, Nelson ; Trooper C. A. Gill, New Plymouth; Trooper H. Sommerville, Woodville; Trooper F. Valentine, Inglewood; Trooper W. H. Cook, Christchurch; Trooper C. E. Smith, Ashburton; Sergeant G. A. Ross, Dunedin ; Trooper Vv . Clunie, Napier; Trooper R. Hopkins, Napier; Trooper E. Hunter, Invercargill; Trooper C. A. Hertzeil, Taranaki; Trooper I. Jackson, Auckland; Trooper R. Lean, Havelock; Trooper W. McDougall, Wairarapa; Trooper P. Popham, Middlemarsh; Trooper W. Rud-

dell, Wanganui; Trooper C. H. Retter, ■Wellington; Trooper H. A. Stevens, Wellington; Sergeant W. Greggs Dunedin ; Trooper I. Cameron, Gisborne; Trooper Dormer, Auckland: Trooper H. I- Harris, Gisborne; Trooper T. R. Horne, Methven; Trooper A. Hayward, Taranaki; Trooper R. R. M. Moeller, Wellington; Trooper D. I. Macauley, Dunedin; Trooper R. Riddell, Dunedin ; Trooper I. Regan, Auckland; Trooper W. N. Gibson (8.A.A.P.), Wellington ; Trooper N. W. Kane (Roberts’s Horse), Auckland; Trooper A. G. McDonald (Brabant’s Horse), Auckland; Trooper W. B. Roland (Brabant’s Horse) Auckland; Trooper P.. W. Tait (Kitchener’s Horse), Wellington. Sergeant. Challis (Fourth Contingent), of. Invercargill, and Private R. Searle (Fifth Contingent), of Oamaru, were left in the Hobart Hospital. Private Stevens is on crutches, the lower part of his right leg oeing paralysed. At Zeerust he was struck by lightning, which paralysed the whole of his side. Fortunately, the paralysis has partially left him, and there i.s every hope that he will yet quite recover. Those of the men who have no friends in Wellington are being billeted at the Permanent Artillery barracks.