THE TRANSVAAL.

Western Star, Issue 1292, 27 February 1897, Page 2

THE TRANSVAAL.

London. Mr Chamberlain announced in the House of Commons that a message had been received from the Transvaal. Government claiming £677,938 for material damage resulting from the Jameson raid, and one million sterling in respect to damage to the country on moral grounds. He stated that the wording of the communication was ambiguous. Possibly the total amount claimed was a million, though he thought this was not so. The announcement was received with laughter. The London newspapers ridicule the claim. Before the House of Commons Committee, Mr Cecil Eodes admitted that Lord Rosmead was aware of the Rand movement. He was willing, if a rising had occurred, to proceed to the Rand and mediate with a view to gaining larger civil rights for the Hitlanders. Lord Rosmead was nob aware of the preparation for the Jameson raid or Mr Rhodes’s connection therewith, Mr Rhodes denujjjjtfprming the Chartered Company tors, except possibly Mr M'Guire, and he only cabled to Mr Harris, the London agent. He admitted his conduct was indefencible, except from the point of view that his object was to advance the interests of South Africa and the Chartered Company.’ He desired a federal union, leaving the Transvaal’s inclusion to decision by a plebiscite. He believed it was intended that the scheme of Mr J. B. Robinson, the South African mllionaire, for a republic should replace the larger scheme.