THE TRANSVAAL CRISIS

New Zealand Times, Volume LXX, Issue 3862, 4 October 1899, Page 6

THE TRANSVAAL CRISIS

BOER, ACTIVITY. a TRANSPORT OF TROOPS.' USE OF RAILWAY FACILITIES. GERMAN HOSTILITY TO BRITAIN. A LEADING WESLEYAN’S VIEW. PRETORIA, Monday. Mr Meyer (Chairman of the First Volksxaacl), Commandant Cronje and Messrs Weilback and Schalk Burgher will be the chief Boer leaders. General Joubert, Commander-General, is not expected to remain at the front. Commandant Pronsloo will command tile Orange Free State forces. All the residents of Johannesburg, including the British, have been commandeered (called upon for military service) by the Transvaal Government. President Kruger has decided to continue’ working the Crown Reef, Robinson, Bonanza and Ferreira mines. The Transvaal Government is assuming control of the lines of the Netherlands Railway Company. All the trains are actively employed in the transport of Boer troops, and especially in conveying them towards the Natal frontier. It is feared that the Boer troops will get beyond the control of the authorities. The jurisdiction of the civil Courts in the Transvaal has been suspended. President Kruger declares that his troops will act strictly on the defensive. The Boers at Volksrust have sent back incoming passengers by the railway from Natal over the border to CharlestownThe Johannesburg down mail train has also been stopped. DURBAN, Monday. Charlestown, the terminus of the Natal Government railways on the Transvaal border, has been deserted. Twenty thousand ' Boers are now encamped along the Natal border. They boast that they will sweep the English into the sea. Commandant Cronje has tried to incite Baralonga, a Bechuana chief, to light the British, i ' Colonel Sir W. P. Symons commands eight thousand regulars and 2300 volunteers, stationed chiefly at Dundee and Ladysmith. It is believed that he will be able to act on the defensive until the Indian contingent arrives. CAPETOWN, Monday. The European and Capo mails now go to Natal by sea instead of overland from Capetown. LONDON, Monday. Reports from Capetown state that Joshua Joubert, a son of the Boer Com-mander-General, has been placed in command of the troops at Laing’s Nek, and Commandant Cronje commands 2000 men near Malmani, on the Bechuanaland border. If an army corps is sent from England, as now contemplated, the British forces in South Africa will number 68,000 men. ' Dr Leyds, the diplomatic representative of the Transvaal in Europe, predicts, that the Transvaal Executive will declare war to-morrow. The telegraph line between Natal and Johannesburg is interrupted. The : “Daily Chronicle” says that President Kruger. intends to appeal to the Queen and Lord Salisbury fo£ peace. In the opinion of the same paper false pride ought not to deter the Boors from renewing the offer of the seven years’ franchise, and of the appointment of a joint Commission of Inquiry. , The German newspapers have adopted a tone hostile to Great Britain. This is partly attributed to the loss by German firms of orders for guns for the Transvaal, and partly to a desire to extort concessions in Samoa. The Rev Hugh' Price Hughes, the well-known Wesleyan minister, refused to sign Mr W. T. Stead’s peace manifesto, stating that he was convinced that President Kruger had been plotting for years. MELBOURNE, Tuesday; ' The conference of the military commandants of the Australian colonies 'to make arrangements for sending a fed oral contingent to South Africa has been unable to arrive at any definite scheme. It Ais understood that the representatives of the various colonies differ in regard to 'details. Six George Turner, Premier of Vic toria, is to ask Mr Chamberlain, Secretary of State for the Colonies, whether Great Britain will accept Australian assistance, and, if so, in what form it should ba rendered. The question in abeyance is whether the offer should be a joint one or whether each colony should make a separate offer. BLENHEIM, Tuesday. Eighteen members of the Marlborough Mounted Rifles have volunteered for service in South Africa, _ and several horses have been presented by Blenheim residents.