THE TRANSVAAL WAR

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1523, 28 February 1901, Page 31

THE TRANSVAAL WAR

' DE WETIN' *= DISTRESS. A DESPERATE POSITION. LONDON, February 2b. _ A Reuter’s message states that it is reported at Capetown that after the engagement at DiseUfontein General De Wet crossed the Orange River in a boat, fleeing with a handful of followers. Major-General Pf inner' reports that Colonel Owen, with detachments of the King’s Dragoon Guards, the Victorian Imperial Bushmen and the Imperial Light Horse, on Saturday captured De Wet’s fifteen-pounder and pom-poms. The Boers are in Full retreat, and are dispersing. ■: They are being vigorously pursued. Fifty prisoners and. some carts aud ammunition were captured. There were rio- British casualties. Other reports state that De Wet on Friday thrice failed in. attempts to cross the Brak and Orange rivers. Major-General PI timer ou Saturday chased De Wet from Kameidrift towards Hopei own. ..Fancying that the British were exhausted, Be Wet laagered ui the evening. Colonel Owen then charged and captured the enemy’s artillery. The Boers fled, leaving their horses saddled and their cooking pots full. Mr Bennett Burleigh states that Colonel Owen also l captured' a Maxim gun, The Boers are scattered in small bodies, De Wet’s party being reduced to tlitee hundred Mr Steyn told the Boers, many *cf whom were dismounted and -shoeless, to shift as best they could and return to the Orange River Colony. Mr Steyn and De Wet took 300 of the best horses and crossed, the railroad at Kfankiul, sixty. miles, north of De Aar, early on Sunday morning, going eastward. ■ _ ... ' Colonel Thoraey croft and -others, wit a fresh horses, 'are closely pursuing the fugitives- . 'General French reports .that - on Friday be occupied Piefc near the Swaziland frontier. v f The troops are now guarding tae rron-t-Five thousand Boers are treating in graftered disorganised parties. The pursuit is much hampered by continuous heavy rains . . General French gives the following list of losses inflicted to the 16th inst: 282 Boers known to he killed, and wounded m action ; 56 taken prisoner ; 183 surrendered ; one fifteen-pounder. 462 rifles, 160,000 rounds of small ammunition, 3500 horses, 74 mules, 3530 trek oxen, 18,700 cattle, 155,400 sheep and 1070 wagons and carts captured. The British had-five officers and 41 men killed, and four officers ana 108 men wounded. . The Boers stubbornly defended for six hours a strongly fortified position, extending a distance of ten miles, at Hartbeestefontein.

There was much ' fighting at close range, and the 'Boers only retired when both their flanks.'were turned. All their cattle were captured. , Lord Kitchener states that ‘ Greneral E»© Wet's invasion of. Cape Colony has completely failed. Lord Methuen captured at Brakpan 1300 cattle and 1000 sheep. /A party of Imperial Yeomanry surprised and captured a Boer post at Bethlehem,. bayoneting five of the en“Bhe following further casualties in recent engagements are reported: Severely - wounded —Lieutenant Mann, Sergeant Ross, Privates Carbide, Davis, Siddle and Stevens, Victorian Bushmen; Privates Strickland and Bohtso, Westralian Bushmen: Privates Bourke and Onus, New South Wales Bushmen; Corporal Mayne, Queensland Mounted Rifles. , Baron Strafchcona entertained oracers of i‘Strathcona’s Horse who are returning to Canada. ~ TEarl Roberts, General Bailor, Lord. Lansdowne and Mr Clianjoerlai.n weie present.' Mr- Chamberlain, in the course or a speech, said that t-he action of the colonists in volunteering for active service had had an en-onpo usly far-reaching result. It was difficult to limit tne numhers of colonists who were willing to serve. While the Empire had such noble sons she could defy the. four corners of the cai’th. It is estimated that the Boers lost a thousand killed, wounded and prisoners' during January, over two hundred dead being actually counted. Their losses for February up to the present are estimated at 800. The Imperial Government supports the proclamation issued by Lord Kitchener -prohibiting the circulation of newspapers and books calcinated to encourage; ,the Boers, i,u continuing their A military tribunal ad Johannesburg has sentenced two burghers who.. were

captured while attempting tc enter that town to be shot for espionage. An explosion on the track stopped the mail train from Natal to Johannesburg near Heideberg on the 20th. Three hundred Boers who were in hiding fired on the train and wounded five passengers. British troops- arrived and repulsed the enemy. Lieutenant Morrison, of the Canadian Artillery, declares, that the “New York Sun” garbled lxis letters from the front. The pro-Boer journals in England copied the gabled accounts, and the Conciliation Committee founded by the Right Hon Leonard Courtney reproduced them. The “Daily Chronicle” exposure has led to the withdrawal of the pro-Boer pamphlet and a projirise to publish Lieutenant Morrison’s letters in extenso. Lord Kitchener is in the Eastern Transvaal. Four hundred Boers on Saturday attacked Fish River railway station, twenty miles north of Cradock, in Western Cape Colony. The garrison, consisting of forty men of the Lancaster Regiment and a few Cape Police, made a gallantdefence until an armoured train arrived to its assistance. The Boers lost sixteen killed and wounded. Lord Roberts, Commander-in-Chief. is giving private owners of horses in Great Britain end the colonies the same chance as'dealers in selling to the War Office. LONDON, February 26. Mr Bennett Burleigh, correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph,” states that the Orange river is still flooded. Beers are trekking east and north. British columns, forming a wide cordon from Orange River Station to Norval’s Pont, are closing in. The only means of escape left to the Boers is to swim the river. General De Wet and 1 Mr Steyn are close to Petrusville, about midway between the towns of Orange River and Philipp olis. Boers who have been taken prisoners admit that General Botha has received a crushing blow. Accompanied by two thousand men, the General is retreating in the direction of Komati Poert. In the House of Commons, the Right Hon W. St. J. Brodrick, Secretary of State for War, stated -that ninety-nine Courts of Inquiry had been held regarding twenty cases of British surrenders in South Africa. The inquiries resulted in the dismissal or the placing on half-pay of ten officers, and the inflicting of penalties on others. Mr Brodrick added that cases which involved court-martials would be made public. The steamer Tongariro will convey a thousand yeomanry to the Cape. Twenty thousand civilian guards have been enrolled in Cape Colony. Private A. Harrison, of the Second New Zealand Contingent, died of enteric at Naauwport. Private Harrison was a son -of Mr E- T. Harrison, of Coljl- - Feilding. Lieutenant Wilfred Chesney Wilson died of'wounds received in the engagement at Hartbeestefontein. MELBOURNE, February 26. Lieutenant Wilfred Chesney Wilson was a son of the late Sir Samuel Wilson, and went to South Africa last year. BRISBANE, February 25. A cable has been received from Capetown accepting the offer of fifty cyclists to go .with the Fifth Contingent. It is expected the contingent will getaway on Saturday. SEVENTH CONTINGENT. AUCKLAND, February 26. The sixty-six men who form the Auckland quota of the Seventh Contingent left Onehunga yesterday for Wellington by the Rotoiti. A large crowd assembled on the wharf to witness their departure, and all present sang “Goa Save the King.” Cheers were given for the departing troops, and for the boys at the front, and “Home, Sweet Home” was sung as the ship moved off, followed by the firing of the ship’s guns, , NAPIER, February 25. Trooper Peterson one-of the returned members of the Fourth Contingent, and who was injured bv the British after escaping from the Boers at Nooitgedacht, has been accepted for the Seventh Contingent. The ten men chosen here for the Seventh Contingent left for Wellington this morning. 'Nearly 100 applications were received for enrolment. GISBORNE, February 25. The Gisborne section of the' Seventh Contingent, numbering twelve, with two emergency men, was despatched to Wellington by the Te Anau last night, in charge of Sergeant-Major Finn. The men were given a great send-off, the City Band playing them to the steamer. WANGANUI, February 25. The Wanganui section (ten men) of the Seventh Contingent were entertained at luncheon to-day by the Mayor, and left by express train for Wellington, receiving a hearty send-off. DUNEDIN, February 26. The Southland section of twenty-two men for the Seventh Contingent arrived this evening, and will leave morrow, with the Otago men, for Wellington. INVERCARGILL, February 25. , Southland’s twenty-two for the Seventh Contingent have been selected, and will leave to-morrow for Wellington.

There are six men among them from local volunteer corps, but the majority are from rural districts, and are, if anything. a better stamp of men physically, than those who went before.