THE TRANSVAAL

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2903, 28 September 1900, Page 2

THE TRANSVAAL

Unhid Press Association —Per Eleitno Telegraph—Copyright. Received 11.20 p.m., September 27th. . LONDON, September 27. Sixteen Canadian officers and 319 men have left Capetown bound homewards. Two 12-prs belonging to the Q Battery are among the guns found at Crocodile River. PROSPECTS OF FARMERS IN SOUTH AFRICA. Received 1 a.m., September 28th. ADELAIDE, September 27. At the request of a member of the Council, the Governor has made enquiries into the prospects of farmers in South Africa. He has ascertained two facts, not to allow farmers to go at present or be ruined,, and second not to, go to Rhodesia, but to the Orange Colony. Sir A. Milner, in a letter to the Governor, promises to supply him with any information available in regard to the prospects of fanning and its conditions. Per Press Association, WELLINGTON, September 27. The Premier has received the following cablegram from the High Commissioner at Capetown, dated 26th instant:—“Newcombe is progressing favourably, and sails for England to-day in the Dunera.” Mr W. H. Skinner, of Wellington, 'has received news of the death of his son Harry in Moi River military hospital on 2nd July.. Trooper Skinner arrived at Natal at the outbreak of the war and joined Thornycroft’s Mounted Infantry. The cause of death was fever, which mb contracted after the capture of Laing% Nek. He was well known in amateur theatrical circles in Wellington. The balance-sheet of the Wellington Mqre Men Fund Committee shows that the total subscriptions amounted to £7286. Tire committee has a balance of £570 in the bank.

Trooper C. Brown, in a letter to his parents at Temuka, says;—“l am much disappointed in Mafeking. ' Frckn what I had heard about it, I expected to see a largeAown, but it is not as large as Temuka. •If the Boers had been anything like soldiers they would have taken the place in the first week, for there was nothing to stop them, considering there were no forts whatever about the place when the first attack was made. Now it is wonderfully fortified, and all the work was done at night.”