THE TRANSVAAL CRISIS.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXX, Issue 3826, 23 August 1899, Page 6

THE TRANSVAAL CRISIS.

EXODUS FROM THE GOLD CITY.

ADDRESS TO THE QUEEN. CARTRIDGES FOR THE FREE STATE. PRETORIA, Monday. General Joubert, Vice-President of the Transvaal Executive, and. Com-mandant-General of the Republic’s rorces, has issued an appeal to Queen Victoria for consideration of the position of the Republic. In this document, which occupies six printed columns, he urges her Majesty not to permit a small and weak State, which has repeatedly reiniouished , its rights and striven to live at peace with the British, to bo overthrown owing to the misstatements of unscrupulous persons. , (Received August 23. 0.35 a.m.) PRETORIA, Tuesday.

At a meeting held at the Johannesburg railway station, and attended by four thousand persons, disapproval was expressed of the continued exodus from the citj i Pfes'Jont Kruger’s reply to Mr Cliainberlain’s proposal for a .ioint inquiry into the franchise and other questions has been handed to Mr Couyngham Gresne, the British agent in Pretoria. It is not a complete acceptance of the Brit-’sh proposals, and propounds a. fresh scheme. BLOEMFONTEIN. Monday.

President Steyn, of the Orange Free State, has sent a pacific redly to various resolutions passed at meeting:; held in Holland in reference to the Transvaal trouble. CAPETOWN. Monday. A consignment of a million cartridges is being conveyed from Port Elizabeth for' the Orange Free State. Indignation has been expressed at the Cape at the action o! Mr Schreiner. Premier of Cape Colony, in allowing it to be sent to Port Elizabeth. Mr Schreiner, in reply, says that tlut permit under which the transport is taking place is dated 14th July. If permission had been refused, the cartridges would have been sent via Delagoa Bay. The steamer Koenig has arrived at Delagoa Bay with the expected 2000 eases rf " mis for,-the Transvaal. The British forces at, Buluwavo arc commanded by Colonel Badcn-Powell, and are drilling daily. CAPETOWN, Tuesday.

The newspapers here contrast Mr S"broincr’s conduct in regard to the cartilages for the Orange Free State' with,. Sir Gordon Sprigg’s patriotism in .oomnectiflfa noth similar consignments prior to the Avar of 1881. MR RIDER HAGGARD’S APPEAL In a letter on the Transvaal crisis, Mr Rider Haggard, the well-known author, says : “From the Zambesi to the Cape millions of eyes, most of them those of oiir own - subjects', are watching very kcemv for the issue of the struggle between the great White Queen and the Boer President. ' The people of India arc watching also, since, relying upon our protection, many of these have gathered at Johannesburg, where* they are kennelled like dogs without an owner. Then there are toe Outlanders, those tens of thousands cf them who can scarcely hope th become wealthy, but who are earning an honest living at their various trades and occupations. What havcwve not already sacrificed to the Boers in addition to an enormous expenditure of money ? They have cost us a war with Secocoeni and a war with the Zulus, in which hundreds of Englishmen lost their lives. Thsy have cost us honour,-also, since to thein, in spite of promises, we have handed •.velour old friends and allies, the Swazis, a large portion of the territory of the Zulus, and all those poor natives whom at the annexation in 1877 we took under our protection. If we are to keep oiir prestige, one of two things must happen either President Kruger must give way completely and without reservation or we .must force him to the act. The third alternative, practically, appears to be that we should haul down our flag, desert our brethren and the natives, march cur forces out of Southern Africa, as the Romans inarched out of Britain, and leave the inhabitants of that turbulent country to settle their differences as they like: which/after a bitter eivSl war wherein many of the tribes must become involved, they would do, as I believe, by the establishment of a Republic not too friendly to this country or its citizens.”