THE TRANSVAAL.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9912, 30 November 1899, Page 3

THE TRANSVAAL.

Received November 30, 10.20 a.m. LONDON, November 29. Earl Halsbury, Lord High Chancellor, has been removed from the Irish Magistracy and chairmanship of tho Tipperary Council for moving a resolution congratulating tho Boers on their fight at the battle of Glencoe. SYDNEY, November 30. A letter from a well-known Australian, secretary of tho Johannesburg Gold Mines, gives a graphic description of affairs thero just before the outbreak of hostilities. Ho left Johannesburg the dajr martial law was proclaimed, and claims that he was the last to get away. The station was filled with drunken, armed Boers, swaggering and cursing worse than our army in Flanders, with shouts of "bastards" and other insulting terms. They presented loaded Mausers at the faces of the passengers, and tried to compel the refugees to sing '■Rule Britannia." To their everlasting credit, ono with a cornet played "God Save the Queen," which was taken up by all aboard the train as it moved out, amidst the yells aud curses of the Boers. A rousing British cheer was sent back as an answer. Describing the crossing from the Free State to British territory, the writer says as the train moved on to Norval's Point . Bridge, it seemed as if by magic "God Savo the Queen" was struck up, and he never heard singing like it. The station was just over the bridge. On the flagstaff streamed the dear old flag. It was greeted with cheers, such as only » men can .give who have not seen it for years and who have suffered because they claim it as their own. Every man* and nearly all the women came trooping out of the carriages, coal trucks, and cattle trucks, and grouped themselves around it, singing "Rule Britannia."