VERY LATEST.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2952, 26 November 1900, Page 3

VERY LATEST.

I Oils tDITSON. I

TRANSVAAL.

SEVERAL SCRIMMAGES,

SIR A. MILNER AT PRETORIA,

A FRENCH SYMPATHISER WITH A"

BIG SCHEME,

United Press Association —Per Electric Telegraph—Copyright. Received 9.27 -a.m., November 26th. LONDON, November 25. General Smith-Dorrien destroyed the township of Dullstrom, owing to the residents harbouring and supplying the enemy with stores. Colonel White, in the Petrusburg district, rescued ■<* party of police who were surrounded, inflicting great loss on the Boers. During a midnight raid on a Transvaal farmhouse, a Hussar, seeing a Boer rise, rushed forward and received in the stomach a fatal shot intended for Major-General Broadwood. Sir A. Milner has established his final headquarters at Pretoria. PARIS, November 25. M. Henri Rochefort has appealed for an international subscription of 40,000,000 francs to equip 250,000 men to assist the Boers. MR KRUGER IN PARIS. POPULAR RECEPTION. " > Received 9.38 a.m., November 26th. PARIS, November 25. Mr Kruger had a demonstrative reception at Paris. M. Crozier, one of the officials of thd Foreign Office, introduced Mr Kruger to such Ambassadors as were present, welcomed him, and handed him numerous -addresses. The President of the Municipality in welcoming him declared that the good wishes of France accompany him on his European mission. Mr Kruger replied that the greetings he had received throughout France indicated the conviction of the nation in the righteousness of the Boer cause. The Boers had not ceased to demand arbitration. A flood of oratory followed, but the keynote of the addresses was “ good wishes on your pious pilgrimage through Europe.” The thoroughfares and balconies were crowded. Mr Kruger was cheered along the entire route, and flowers were thrown him everywhere. A new cry of “ Vive ITndependence ” was conspicuous. There were no extra flags on public buildings. Order was excellently maintained. Mr Kruger alighted at the Hotel Scribe, and was welcomed by Mr and Mrs Eloff, the Princess Matbilde, and Princess Jeanne Bonaparte. The Dutch national hymn was sung. In the afternoon, Mr Kruger, with an escort, drove to the Elysee, and was received with military honours, President Loubet and M. Delcasse giving him an audience of ten minutes, afterwards returning Mr Kruger’s visit. Semi-official newspapers state that there were no speeches at the audience, that merely compliments passed, and nothing of a political nature was said. France, those newspapers say, may congratulate herself on the Government’s tact in satisfying the public, at the same time not offending Britain. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, November 26. The Defence Department are advised from Adelaide that Corporals W. M. Mor rison and S. R. Palmer, both of Taranaki, are the men with these surnames on board the Harlech Castle. The message also states that Trooper McGregor is on board, but the Department states that no man of that name left with the First Contingent. THE BURNING OP FARMS. The following is extracted from the letter of a trooper in Kitchener’s Light Horse to a> friend.' in Dunedin, written from near Vredefort (about 60 miles north of Kroonstad) on September 28th: Afteh Rhenoster Kop there was a lot of aimless marching—aimless to us, because, of course, we know nothing as to what is in the wind, and see only what occurs under our noses. Then we were put on to the farm-burning racket. It’s a redhot game. Ido nob like it. Last week we burned two farms about eighteen miles from the railway line, and took a day over each. It \ appears that they were regular little field bases from which raids were made on the line. Of course that state of things could not be permitted to go on, and presently the brigadier got them on his little list. In these farmburning cases the modus operandi is always the same. The detachment comes in on the homestead from all sides at once, the last 200 or 300 yards as hard as the horses can lick. Then the interpreter trots to the front, and there is a palaver in Dutch .the end of which is always that the inmates get half an hour to remove certain personal effect*, and then the house is fired in a dozen places. Of course we have to wait till the very last. Meanrime the women stand round and ciy piteously, and the poor little kids- look on with open mouth and wonder what it is all about. At one of these places an old man hobbled out, and a. great harangue in Dutch, but it was no h°; I notice the fellows who hang back in the rush are generally well to the fi< nt when the looting begins. At onei P - they commandeered the Sunday ~ ’ which had just been put on the table. Perhaps you cannot blame hungry mel L 0 that, but what is the sense of bug the photos out of the frames and getting away with the family album, as one fellow was trying to do when an officer s opp him. ‘I may say that the officers a clown on this looting; but of couise an officer’s eyes cannot be everywhereone of these places two of the gnls made iin effort to get out a little cottage pian , hut the interpreter-a regular hardened citizen —told them to put it luck. 0 ever .our captain noticed the occurrenc , and allowed them to keep it.

A letter published at Home says : -1 be war lias proved a. veritable gold inmc the Free Staters, who, now that ue a in full occupation of their country, -u literally making fortunes out o ,us and around Bloemfontetm and Kio< the following extraordinary slate of H'ing. exists : At all the farms the women aie in possession, making butter, baking 51 ’ and selling it to our troops at exorbitant prices, while the farmers themselves' a e awav with their commandos trying to . their wives’ best customers. In tli e to ' v "’ the Dutch storekeepers have sold rig it out of everything at double prices, and now they are sitting on their stoeps all day, smoking contentedly, but anxiously ing fresh consignments from Capetown . me Port Elizabeth. It was said of the tailors in Bloemfontein that they had hooked so many oredrs that they bad lost all conti o of their work, and were absolutely in a state of chaos. The results arising iom I all this muddle were comical in the extreme ; as officers’ servants came in, wrangled amongst each other over t ic garments, 11,11$ then retired, carrying o with them whatever they could get. But

whether the garments went to the rightfiu owners or not, the tailors insisted upon getting their pay in every case. Dutch farmers and storekeepers are making twice as much money now as ever they did before.

The compiler of curious facts, says the “ Chronicle,” when he comes to deal with the Boer war, will need to devote a special chapter to the pardonable rivalry for the first honours of the campaign. The most dramatic feat of the war, perhaps, was the hoisting of the Union Jack over Pretoria, anad it is interesting to note that this was done by a man who is often described as the richest man in England —the Duke of Westminster. It is the first notable thing the young duke has done since his accession, and he well deserved his reward —a‘cigar, handed to him by Lord Roberts on behalf of a lover of the weed at Home. The flag at Bloemfontein was hoisted by Viscount Acheson, a son of Lord Gosport—though the honour has been claimed for Lord Herbert Scott. The first man to enter Mafeking on its relief was “ Karri ” Davies, who received £SO from a Liverpool merchant as his reward. It is pleasing to know that Davies is an Australian, as was the first man to enter Bloemfontein —Mr Donohue, a “ Daily Chronicle ” correspondent. The first colonial V.C. was Trooper Morris. So far nobodv has succeeded in winning the £25 offered in Melbourne to the man who would first lay hands on President Kruger.