THE BOER WAR.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 23 September 1901, Page 4

THE BOER WAR.

[per press association—copyright.]

London, September 20. Seventeen Lancers were killed, including Lieut. Philip Leslie Russell, of Carningham, Yictoria. The official despatch states that a superior force at Vlakfontein, 15 miles south of the waterworks, surrounding them, captured two guns of the A Battery and a company of Mounteds escorting

■them. The only details Lord Kitchener has 'or the Vlakfontein reverse are that a lieutenant was killed. Columns are pursuing the enemy. A strict investigation of the affair has been ordered. < General Humor’s New Zealanders captured twenty of the Kruitzinger commando at Eouxville. A proclamation has been issued enforcing the Fugitive Officers’ Act in the Transvaal. Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman, speaking at the north-east Lanarkshire bye-elec-tion, declared that the annexation of the Boer Republics must be upheld. The Standard and Daily Telegraph, commenting on the recent reverses, question the wisdom of sending guns with small detachments, and running the risk of being outnumbered. Tne papers admit that unfavorable odds are occasionally inevitable from the military standpoint owing to the character of the country and. the scatteredness of positions and forces, the result of the guerilla tactics of the enemy. The Times and Morning Post warn the

Government 'hat the nation has long since realised the necessity of a fight to a i finish, and the nation is entitled to hare the responsibility brought home to those hlauieable for the fact, which is only realised intermittently.