LORD METHUEN'S CAPTURE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 9400, 9 April 1902, Page 1

LORD METHUEN'S CAPTURE.

DETAILS OF THE ENGAGEMENT.

(Per R.M.S. Ventura at Auckland.)

SAN FRANCISCO, March 29. A despatch from London dated March 16, says that the War Office has received the following communication from Lord Kitchener, at Pretoria : — Lord Methuen has sent me a. dictated despatch by the staff officer, by which it appears that the particulars previously given, are inaccurate. The rear screen of the mounted troops was rushed and overwhelmed at dawn. There was a gap of a mile between the ox and mule convoys. The mounted support to the rear of the screen, which Methuen immediately reinforced by" all the available mounted troops, and a.section of the 38th Battery, maintained themselves an hour, during which the convoys were closing up without disorder. In the meantime two hundred infantry were being disposed to meet the attack which was outflanking the left of the rearguard. The Boers pressed the attack hard, and the mounted troops were attempting to fall back, when the infantry got completely out of hand, carrying away with them in the rout the bulk ,of the mounted troops. Two guns of the 38th were thus left unprotected, but continued in action until every man, except Lieutenant Nesham., was wounded. Nesham was called upon to surrender, and upon refusing, was shot. Methuen, with two hundred NorthumberlgSiffl Fusiliers, then found himself isolated, but held on for three hours. During this period the remaining infantry, namely one hundred Lancashires, with some forty mounted men, mostly Cape Police, who had occupied a kraal near the waggons, also continued to hold out against the repeated attacks of the Boers. By this time Methuen was wounded, and tlie casualties were exceedingly heavy among his men. The ammunition was mostly expended, and a surrender was made.

The party in the kraal still held out —and did not surrender until two guns and a pom pom were brought to bear on them, making their position untenable. It is confirmed that most of the Boers wore our khaki uniforms, many also our 'badges. Even at close quarters they could not be distinguished from our men. It is clear that the infantry fought, well and the> artillery kept up the traditions of their regiment. In addition to the members of the Cape Police already mentioned, a few parties of Imperial Yeomanry and of Cape Police continued to hold their ground after the panic had swept the bulk of the mounted troops off the field. It appears that Methuen was shot while attempting to bring up the mounted corps, and that his horse was killed. After the surrender General Delarey rode up, and treated Lord Methuen with the greatest courtesy and consideration. He ordered his return to Klerksdorp under the care of his own nephew and a medical officer.

A correspondent of the Daily Mail pays tribute to General Delarey's humanity, and describes him as "a brilliant fighter and a born leader, who brings no bitterness nor racial feeling to his task, and who sternly represses any excesses on the part of the burghers." Further evidence of the ability of the Boers to penetrate the blockhouse lines is contained in a. despatch from Orange River Colony, which describes Commandant Mentz's attack on the night of March 10. He crossed the Heilbron-Wolverhock line at Gottenberg. One Boer advanced firing. Two pickets returned the fire, killing the Boer and his horse. The Boers then cut the wire fence and drove in a. mob of loose horses, which broke down two hundred yards of fence. Mentz then dashed through with three hundred Boers, and the pickets were powerless.