THE TRANSVAAL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXIV, Issue 7692, 8 December 1899, Page 1

THE TRANSVAAL.

By Electric Telegraph.— Copyright. (PER TJHITSD PRESS ASSOOIAWOM) Received December 8, at 0.37 a.m..Dukban, December 7. -General Joubert is at Volksrust under medical treatment. Commandant Wilhelm Schkafkberger replaces him. Liadysmith is excited, and cheered at the prospect of relief Three heavy guns are bombarding the western defences at a 4000 yards range. Bations have been reduced, and sickness is prevalent. .Large bodies of the enemy are moving in the direction of the Drakensburg Mountains, presumably returning to defend the capital. General Clery has assumed command at Frere, and established fl \sh signals with Ladysmith. Eleven Englishmen have been courtmartialled at Ladybrand for refusing to be commandesred. General Buller believes that the Boers lost 800 at Ladysmith on the 9th. It is evident that they will not admit the truth of their losses.

Capetown - , December 7. Colonel Baden-Powell reports that) Mafeking was all well on the 27th. Mr B. Robinson, the South African millionaire, considers that the Boers are weakening, and that the war will soon be over.

The Canadians and Australians form' a separate brigade under Lord Methuen. They entrained amid frantic enthusiasm. Sir A. Milner was present. Received December 8, at 1.5 a.m. Capetown, December 7. Major Scott Turner, who captured a Boer laager at Kimberley, after storming it, was unable to retain possession owing to the Boers receiving heavy reinforcements. Major Turner was wounded, and has since died. London, December 7. Mr Long, speaking at the Mercer's Hall ( said the Government were determined that the blood and treasure should not be spent in vain in the Transvaal. PERILOUS BIDE FROM KIMBERLEY TO DE AAR. De Aar Junction, October 24. Shis afternoon a haggard horseman and a blown horse crawled into this little town, making his way tremulously to the commandant's office. The man delivered a document to the officer in charge and straightway tumbled off his horse in a dead faint. The man deserved a warm welcome, and tender care was soon bestowed upon him, for he wa3 the loyal despatch rider who had brought news from beleaguered Kimberley for the officer commanding at Capetown, and thence for an anxious people at home. When the man left Kimberley on Sunday all was well. Although the town was closely invested by the enemy and every effort was being made to prevent eommunicition with the outer world, this man made an attempt to get through. He had long lived in the neighborhood and knows the country well. He had not got a mile outside the town when he was seen by the Boer scouts, who strove desperately to capture him. The chase was an exciting one, but the despatch-rider finally eluded his pursuers by hiding in some thick bush where he remained until nightfall. The night, fortunately, was fine, and the rider made his way to a solitary farm for the purpose of changing his horse, his own being pretty well done up already. The farmer was supposed to be friendly ; but he had heard that the dreaded "fire-eater" commandant Cronja was going to capture Kimberley, and he hesitated te help one of the predestined lo3ers in thp strungle. The despatch rider, without losing precious time in haggling with the farmer, rode right across country to another farm in his own district, where his sweetheart was living. Making his way cautiously to the farm, he attracted the girl's attention, and she came out to him with the intelligence that armed Boera were at that moment in the farmhouse kitchen. She rider thereupon pushed on southward until his fagged horse stumbled and fell and rolled upon him. The .nan struggled to his feet, and, in doing so, managed to tear ofr two of the fingers of his right hand. The injured hand bled profusely until he bandaged it securely with his pugaree. It was impossible to return to Kimberley, for every route lay through tho Boer lines, and the prospect of reaching Ue Aar seemed about as hopeless in the circumstances. The man, however, toiled slowly on until daylight, when he obtained a fresh horse from a farmer who was to be bribed, and finally reached here this afternoon so exhausted from lack of food and loss of blood that he fainted and fell to the ground. He had little to say of importance beyond the leading fact that "all was well at Kimberley." The Boers are investing the town, but appear to be afraid to strike, or are delaying their blow for some occult purpose. The residents of Kimberley are quite cheerful. Cecil Rhodeß moves about, saying very little to anyone. He Is dressed like a simple Afrikander farmer, and altogether, says my informant, *' makes a good-looking Boer."

THE BOERS' AEMY. The London Daily Telegraph correspondent in Hatal wrote on September 24 with regard to the Boer army as follows : —" Wiih reference to the Boer army, some curious have come over the border. A correspondent who can be trusted implicitly writes that three youths were commandeered close to Volksrust the youngest being a schoolboy only 15 years of age, the legal limit being 16. In spite of protests the boy was driven to camp and went off crying bitterly. Some of the recruits from inland districts were wild and uncouth beingß arrayed in rags and patches, and without boots or shoes. 'With these attractions were combined the external polish of uncombed bushy hair and beard, and skins rarely washed. Mausers and ammunition were all they possessed in many cases. During the Franco-German war the cry 4 We are betrayed !' became so common when troops found themselves in a specially hot position that certain officers gave orders to shoot any man who first cried ' Nous sommea trahis. In the Boer army when things go bad the cry is ' Huistoe, huistoe (To home, to home), and those patriots who would live to fight another day' disperse. officers' luxuries. In Pall Mall last evening (says a recent issue of the Daily Mail), outside the shop of Messrs Cobbett and Sons, there was a formidable breastwork of heavy well-filled wooden cases, 16ft in height, 20ft in length, and sfo across. . There were 400 cases in all. Each weighed 1001b, and each contained a wonderful assortment of delic-icies, which will be torwarded to South Africa for consumption by those officers of the Guards who are being sent to the front. Officers must eat as well as fight, and they take good care that their eating shall be as appetising as their fighting? Consequently they have ordered nearly L3OOO worth of the finest variety of provisions from Messrs Cobbett and Sons. This quantity will last them only two months. 1 he orders will be continued so long as the war lasts—and the officers think that it will last six months. They certainly do not intend to be deprived of a good table during their absence from England, and the contents of the cases would make many banquets of Guildhall magmficence There are cases containing what are known as ' necessities,' and they are marked «N' to distinguish them from the cases containing luxuries, which are marked Jj, bo that in the excitement of the war an officer will have no difficulty whatever in ascertaining whether he is eating a necessity or a luxury. ' Wines aDd spirits, preßßed beef, tongues, sausages, essence of coffee, compressed tea, tobacco, chickens, curried prawns, ourrlea

fowl, chocolates, curried rabbits, jams of every Kind made, all kind of soup and fish, ® sparklets' for instantly turning plain water into soda water—all these are bat a small proportion of the necessities and luxuries that the officers of the Guards will fight and win on.

I Plum puddings are to "be sent out to them for Christmaß, and it is ths earnest wish of every officer to have the honor of being the first to introduce a real English plum pudding to Mr Kruger on Christmas Day. The luxuries will be washed down with champagne and creme de menthe, and the necessities with ordinary wines and spirit;?. .ARMY REMOUNTS. The Governmect Kemounts Department (says the i aily Xitail) have given the necessary notice to a number of- noblemen, m?.sters of fox hounds, and others, to hold in readiness a proportion of the horses they had undertaken to supply in case of war. Prominent among the large owners having horses fit for service as cavalry steeds, officers' chargers, and troopers' mounts, who have received this notification are Lord Longford, Lord Portman, Lord Willonghby de Broke, Earl Yarborough, Lord Zetland, Mr Leopold de Rothschild. It has been ascertained that probably only a portion of the 1000 horses which might be requisitioned from the various hunts will fce called upon for service. Of the better class of horses thus requisitioned, it is likely that some will go with the Army Corp3, while the remainder will be used to replace horses I which have already been sent away. When the Government accepted the offer of certain horse-owners to contribute some of their animals in casa of- war, it became necessary to register each owner's horses and Btableß,-and to pay a sum of 10s a year for each horse in order that the Government might have the right to inspect the stuaa at: their discretion, and direct any changes I they might deem desirable. THE PREMIER'S SOLDIER SON. Lord Edward Cecil, the soldier son of the Premier, who is with Biden-Powell in Mafeking, is a Guardsman. He waa Lord Wolseley's aide-de-camp when he was in command in Ireland, and made himself very popular in Dublin society. Ho was attached to the Sirdar's staff from the beginning of the Dongola campaign to the capture of Khartoum, and, notwithstanding a good deal of illness, stuck manfully to his post. He does not look like a strong man. He ia tall and lanky, with a somewhat nnsoldierly stoop—the stoop that is characteristic of the Cecils. He is a pleasant fellow and a good comrade, and two of the special correspondents remsmber gratefully how he made good from his own belongings deficiencies in their equipment resulting from the accidents of desert campaign. NEW DETAILS OF THE FIGHT NEAR KIMBERLEY. London, October 27.—During the momentary lull in the fighting in Natal comes news from the western border, which temporarily shifts the scene of chief interest to the beleaguered British force at Kimberley. The sharp struggle there on Tuesday appears to have been the result of a sortie, with the view of surrounding the place. The British, apparently 500 strong, n:ei 700 Boers, and, according to the official aud other accounts, routed them after severe fighting, in which the armoured trains appear to have dona valuable service. The Boers were entrenched strongly seven miles northward, and the British brilliantly carried the enemy's position without serious loss.

Botha, who was among the killed, was a msmber of the Yolksraud and a iimcus Dutch fighter. He distinguished himself as a marksman at Brenkhorstspruit, when ths 94th British Regiment was mnwe.i down. Ha afterwards defended a farmhouse against the British. When he Eurrend red the farmhouse Botha was found with fire wounds and bathed in blood. London, October 30.—The censorship is more active than ever. According to the Daily Chronicle's correspondent, " the new regulations limit the number of words allowed to press messages to one-fourth the number allowed before.''' ' The Standard voices fhe general anxiety regarding Sir George White's position at Ladysmith, remarking the adaptability and able strategy of the Boers, for which they had not hitherto been given credit. It goes on to say:—" Their strategy is so well planned that it is impossible to doubt that it is the product of some officer trained in the best European school of war." In the first battle the Bosrs captured the Maxim of the 16th Hussars, but only after the entire crew of the gun withoat exception had been disabled. The survivors effectually damaged the eun. Only two officers of the staff of General Symons came off without a wound.

Again ib is asserted that the moment the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, reached the summit of the kopje at Glencoe the Boers showed a white flag and asked truce to bury their dead. The British artillery were ordered to cease firing, and the Boers took advantage of the opportunity to retreat en masse, otherwise they woflld have been decimated by the British fire. A Durban correspondent of the Daily Mail says It is reported on the authority of British residents in Pondoland that the Pondps are in communication with Durban, and that they are anxious to help. 'i he wife of General Jan Kock has arrived at Ladyßmith under a flag of trace to nurse her wounded husband. The body of s ir William Symons was buried without a coffin shrouded in the CTnion Jack. Among the papers found upon him was a telegram from Lady Symons congratulating him upon his success.

There is no fresh news from the western frontiers. The miners are still working at Kimbcrley, where there are provisions enough to last nine months. Cecil Rhodes has mounted and fully equipped a guard of 300 men, at a cost of 1.15,000 Before the British sortie Kimberley was apparently in high spirits, a* a despatch from there dated October 23 says everyone waß cheerful there at that time, and that a wedding was celebrated there that day. The despatch adds—" Great enthusiasm bas been aroused here by the news of the British success in Natal." Several farmers in the neighborhood of Kimberley have been noticed in the' ranks of the Boers. A letter from Father Rorke said 600 Boers, with 100 waggons, were laagered at Taungs. Mr Rhodes is cheerful, and gives dinner parties daily, at which luxuries are abundant. THB COST OS THE WAR. —WHO WILL PAY SHE BILL? London, October 23.—1n the House of Commons to-day the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Sir Michael Hicks-Beach) made a statement'on the question of the expenditures caused by the Transvaal war. As British colonies have been invaded, he considered it to be consistent with all the laws of war if, when it was brought to a successful termination, the taxpayer shoutd at anj T rate have to bear part of the cos-. The Transvaal was wealthy in its goldfields, and he believed, from the best information, that, under a pure aud honest government, it would be perfectly possible for the Transvaal to bear, not only the ordinary expenses of government and of providing for the maintenance of peace and order within the territory, bnt also to provide a reasonable sum towards the expenses of the war, with a reduction at the same time of the taxation of the goldfielda. HEAVY MORTALITY AMONG THE OFFICERS. London, October 2Sth.—The large number of British officers billed in the battles which have already taken place in Natal has brought out strenuous protests from many quarters against the ancient custom of British officers in refusing to take cover when under fire From the figures at Glencoe it is apparent that one out of every four men killed was an officer; whereas the organisation existß upon the principle that to every 25 men there is one officer It is evident that if the same ratio of mortality is kept up the British forces will become seriously undsr-officered. Among the enlisted men at Glencoe the proportion of billed to wounded was 30 to

156, while 10 officers were killed to 22 officers wounded, 'ihe difference in the percentage leads to the conclusion that) many of the officers were hit more than once, and kept on leading their men after the first wound. Emperor William's recent criticism of the British officers' refusal to take cover is now frequently quoted. -The feeling in the army iteelf is that though the regulations do not say the officers must not lie down it is such an old-established principle that it would take a brave man to inaugurate a change, and the adage of the British soldier, " Follow where an officer leads," is field still to be intensely trne, for, though the officers believe the personnel of the army is as good as ever, it has been the history of Great Britain that Tommy Atkins "needs more leading than any man in the world," so the spiiling of Great Britain's blood is likely to continue for the present. The proportion of casualties as a whole has caused a thrill of horror and sympathy throughout Great; Britain, for the people now begin to realise what a fight with a civilised enemy mean 3. Old soldiers point out that at the Alma, one of the bloodiest battles in Great Britain's annals, the casualties totalled only 6 per cent., whereas in the recent Boer engagements they considerably exceed that figure. A special despatch from Capetown to-day gives details of the defeat of 700 Boera by the British at Biverton, north of Kimberley, on Wednesday, in which the enemy was completely routed, with heavy loss, the British loss being three men killed and 20 men, including two officers, wounded. The Lancashire Regiment distinguished itself and the armoured trains did good service. The Boers were unable to withstand the splendid charge of the Lancaßhires, who cleared the hill occupied by the enemy at the point o£ the bayonet. The Boer losss3 are described as very heavy.