The Transvaal.

Manawatu Herald, 28 October 1899, Page 2

The Transvaal.

All the cruisers mobilised for manoeuvres are preparing to be placed in commission. The naval preparations now, in r.rain are so obviously beyond the necessities of the South African !ffi:uity that it is an op-^n secret liar the Bi'ish Government feara ■'rave complication 1 ? with other lowers before many weeks are past. Lieutenant-Colonel Yule, upon whom the command at Glencoe levolv'ed, ha 9 retired to a position ■sixteen miles south of Dundee without ppeing the enpmy, and should have effected a junction .with General Sir George Wbite last night. In ord^r to oover Lieutenant - Colonel Yule's movement?, General Sir George White engaged a large Free State commando, which wag nrongly entrenched seven miles west of Ladysmith in the direction >f Dundee. The British silenoad the enemy's artillery. Many of the Free Staters fled westward. Lieutenant Colonel Yule, has fleeted a junction with General Sir G-orge White's force near Ladysmith. . : The destruction of a railway bridge at Waschbank has isolated Glencoe. Waschbank is an hour's journey by rail from Glencoe junction. There are faint hopes that MajorGeneral Sir W. P. Sytnons, who was wounded in the groin at the battle of Gencoe, will recover. The " Daily Telegraph's " corres. pondent states that Commandant Cronje has left a small commando before Mafeking and has proceeded to Kimberley. ' j Russian newspapers contain laudatory references to the bravery of the Britisn troops in the recent bitMes in South Africa. Sir Godfrey Lagden, British Commissioner for Baeutoland, has re" parted to Sir Alfred Milner, British Commissioner for South Africa, that intrigues and threats of Free Staters •ender it difficult to keep the Basutos under control. The trouble in the Transvaal is -i ceiving an immense amount of attention from the American press. The Press Association issued, a statement to the effect that as soon as the garrison had been sufficiently strengthened at Natal the Trans- . vaal Government would be called upon to accept a new Convention already drafted, guaranteeing the intpgrity of the Transvaal Btate, bub providing for the demolition of tha forts and limiting the armed force of the Transvaal to a number deemed sufficient to maintain internal order. This is paid to be an official hint as to the next move of the British Government in case Mr Ktuger con» tiqueq obstinate.

The repelling of Free Staters by G-mTiil Sir George White on Wirdaesday was a trivial* affair, but cbp engagement at Reiifontfio on the previous day was of a serious character.

In it Lieutenant-Colonel E. P. Wilford, of the Ist Battalion (28th Foot) of the Gloucestershire Regiment was killed, and six other officers were wounded.

Fourteen men on the British side were killed, and 95 were wounded.

The War Office has been unofficially informed of a misadventure which befel some of the British troops after tbe battle of Glencoe.

According to the report a equadron of Lhe 18 h Hnssars, wi:h Li; ntenant Colonel B. D. Mulur (in command), nnrl two other officers. were out off during their pursuit of the enemy, sfod captured.

Probably eighty prisoners a), together were made by the Boers.

Four officers of the Dublin Fosiliers and two others are also said to be in the hands of the enemy.

Other accounts say that thirty Hussars, commanded by a sergeant, reached Lady ami th after a perilous ride, during which Boers hotly pursued them from Glencoe to Modderapruit. Five hundred horse 9 belonging to the Boer army were captured afc the Battle of Elands Laagtp.

Major-General Sir W. P. Symons, who was wounded at the battle of Glencoe, ia doing well. The bullet has been extracted from his groin.

The Ist battalion of the Border Regiment has arrived at Capetown from Maltar.

A strong Naval Brigade has been despatched to the Cape frontier. .