The Timaru Herald. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1899.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 3123, 1 December 1899, Page 2

The Timaru Herald. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1899.

The news from the seat^of war on, ' the western side of ( 'the enepay's territory has during" t'fi'eij^asii Few days been of a highly satisfactory . character. If the reverse on the eastern side of the Transvaal, when about two battalions of splendid ? Imperial troops were compelled to i surrender, cast a deep gloom over L the British people at Home, and indeed throughout the Empire, we are sure that these recent successes will be hailed with the utmost de- [ light by every loyal subject of the , Queen. Since the commencement I of the war the cablegrams from all parts of Houth Africa have been of I such a scrappy and disjointed , character that it has often been difficult if not impossible to under- ' stand what has been, or what ( has not been, done. Now, however, [ we have news that any person of . ordinary intelligence can comprehend. We need not give the

dates, but three engagements of considerable importance have been fought, and on each occasion the Boers, though offering a most stubborn resistance, have been driven from carefully chosen positions, at least one of which was deemed by the defenders to be almost impregnable. Belmont, Draspan (Grasspan), and the Modder will henceforth be names held m strong and glorious remembrance by the British Army. The " action on the Modder is the last of the three, and some particulars regarding it will be found m the Herald this morning. A cablegram from Capetown states that General Lord Methuen has officially reported that on Tuesday last he defeated 8000 Boers after desperate fighting lasting for ten hours. "It was," says His Lordship, " one of the hardest and most trying fights m the annals of the British Army." At the first glance a critic might be inclined to pronounce that there is a touch of bombast m that description as coming from a British General ; but we may be well assured that Lowl Methuen was not thinking of his own achievement, but was solely anxious to pay a well merited tribute to the heroism and constancy of the officers and men under his command. The remaining 1 words of the message are as follows :— " The Boers were strongly entrenched, with a number of heavy guns, outflanking being impossible. The British Artillery and the Naval Brigade specially distinguished themselves." Thus the position had to be carried by a direct attack from the front, and probably the enemy were posted on a ridge or a succession of ridges, as was the case at one of the two previous engagements. The meaning of these victories, especially of the last of the series, is that Kimberley will be relieved m the course of the next few days. Unless we are greatly mistaken, the successes mean even more than the relief of Kimberley, and will rapidly lead up to the relief of other important posts to the northward. We feel confident that tjje British Arms will now experience nothing m the shape of a reverse until the whole of the western theatre of operations has been cleared of the enemy. When Mafeking has been relieved the next step will be a march to Pretoria, but what will be the line of operations we do not care to predict. No doubt Sir Redvers Buller has his plans already cut and driel. j