THE TRANSVAAL WAR.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4297, 5 March 1901, Page 7

THE TRANSVAAL WAR.

CABLE NEWS.

EXITED WMSSfI ASSOCIATION. —BY ELECXBIO TKLEGftAPH.—COPYRIGHT. i i

030 WET’S LATEST ESCAPE. TUG RAIDER AGAIN OX THE WING. LON DON, March 3. General Do Wet's invasion of Cape Colony lias elided. Mon and horses aro swimming the river whore it widem- near Colesbcry The river is not minimi' rapidly, ll.oii’.'h in hood. ( l! cc-i ve. I March .'l, 0.02 a.m.) LONDON, March 4. ft lin n.'.pii on that Major-General Hickman. on Eobrnary 20th, inflicted li'.viremi General Do Wet’s commando in I lie vicinity of Zand Drift, whore two Moors were drowned in attempting to cross the river. The attempt was then abandoned by tlic main body of the enemy. Colonel Plumor then pursued Do Wot eastward, and troops were imrricu via Hanover road to' C’olonbcrg to tr>- and intercept Do Wet’s flight. Desultory skirmishing took place at various points in the direction of llnmelfontoin. Colonels Haig and Bothtmc arrived there on the 28t.h ult., but the invaders had already gone. Mr Ste.yn and General Do Wet, with fifteen hundred men, swam the river at Lilliflontoin, near the Colosberg bridge, on the 28th ult. The current carried many of them down a considerable distance. The enemy, nevertheless, removed five carts and waggons, and two ambulances, but abandoned a number of horses, carts, maps of Cape Colony, and clothes. .Many Boers were s ccn on the other side of the river riding off in a, seminude condition. Nino men of Nesbitt’s Horse, firing from cover, wounded some of the swimmers. FIGHTING WITH HERTZOG. (Received March 5,0.3 d n.rn.) LONDON, March 4. f'clone l Thornoyeroft, after a running Ughl, l isting two days, galloped through and dispersed eight hundred of Commandant Tfert/.og’s commando. A quantity of jewellery and other !■; ;.i was captured. Captain J. Dallimoro, with fifteen Victorian Bushmen, surrounded thirty Boors on Friday, and captured them all. MURDER OF A NATIVE. (Received March 5, 0.35 a.m.) LONDON, March 4. Three Boars murdered a native who was the principal witness against twenty prisoners indicted im treason at Waterkloof. SIR ALFRED MILNER. j LONDON, March 3. | Sir Alfred Milner’s sudden departure! from Capetown for Pretoria, is believed i to he connected with the supposed ne-: potiations between Lord Kitchener and i General Botha. ■ 1 CAPTURE OF SCOUTS. ; LONDON, March 3. ! It is announced that eighty of Kitchener's Fighting Scouts who were attacked by a superior force of Boers surrendered after a prolonged fight, in which they sustained twenty casualties. The report is interpreted as referring to Colenbrauder’s Scouts, a force recently raised on the Rhodesian frontier. BACK FROM THE WAR. i A NEW ESTIMATE OP DE WET. INVERCARGILL, Meardi 4. By the Mokoia ten invalided soldiers, ex Chicago, arrived this afternoon, and ■are being entertained by Bluff people)! to-night. They are ; —Mathieson (Kitc’u-; oner’s Horse, who belongs to Winton), j A. Austin (Kimberley Light Horse). Lan-i caster (South Australian Light Horse), Spencer (Third Contingent, still on crutches, his foot having been shattered), Sergeant Watson (First Contingent). Privates Wyse, Wallace, Brown, Woodward (Fourth Contingent), Wall, Mackay, Wamcn, Dignan and Corporal .Tones (Fifth Contingent): also Mathieson (a Natal railway guard) aiid Dr Auklaud (attached to the Imperial troops). All looked well, the voyage havingsefc thorn up. Wallace, a Wellingtonian, had boon wounded, and was a prisoner. Ho speaks highly of his treatment at the hands of the Boers and their women nurses. Ho says the colonials thought' n lot of General Botha and Do La Rey, but “detested De Wot, whom they regarded as a revengeful sneak who was always up to mean tricks.”

DEATHS FROM ENTERIC,

The Premier has received advice of the death at Pretoria from enteric fever of Private J. P. Roberts, of the New Zealand Rough Riders, and of Pri- : vate A. W. Dudley, of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles, on the 25th_ and28th February respectively. Private j Roberts was a son of Mr Roberts, C.E., of Nelson, and Private Dudley, cf the Second Contingent, was a sou of Mr O. T. Dudley, of Christchurch. THE' SEVENTH CONTINGENT. NAPIER, March 4. Corporal Emerson, who was in the First Contingent, has been granted a commission in the Seventh. He is a son of the late Inspector Emerson. The Wellington men of the division are being medically examined by Sur-geon-Major Burns. Good progress was made yesterday with the examinations, and it_ is anticipated that to-morrow they will bo brought to “a conclusion. Captains Johnston and Hamer and Lieutenants Cameron and Davies have been appointed to the Seventh Contingent, retaining their present titles. Sergeant L'Estrange has been promoted to a lieutenancy in the contingent. Lieu, tenant Aitkon.Connell. who came down with the Auckland division, has also been appointed to the contingent nith the rank of lieutenant. Corporal Courts, of Stratford, who served with the FTst Contingent, has been appointed to a captaincy. Staff-Sergeaut-Major Macdonald, wboi is superintending the drill of the men. himself as greatly pleased! with .their aptitude and oagnomess fori learning drill-duties. The men are an exceptionally well-behaved lot, and there has not been one case of abuse of leave nor of complaint to any .of the' officers. Drill is still confined to squad and company excrcrv* on foot, there being

: very few horses yet in camp. A draft of fourteen arrived last night, and it is i anticipated that thirteen more will aii rive this morning, making a total of I close on fifty in the_ lines. It. is not i li’.ejy that a beginning will he ' made ! with mounted drill before the end of the week at tho earliest. I The Nelson Company for the coatinI gout arrived in camp last night to tho i number of thirty-four. They wero ! posted by tho sergeant-major as fo!- : follows :—Fourteen to the Auckland 1 section, ten to Canterbury and ten to i Otago. The parade state of ’-ho camp. is now as follows -Auckland, vighty; Wellington, ninety-five; Can ter jury, ' , eighty; and Otago, seventy-nine: tcf tal. 334. Tho preponderance of W, Ilington men is accounted for by the fact that there are a number of probationers included in the state. It is probable that several of thc.se will be passed out by tho examining officers. j