The Transvaal.

Manawatu Herald, 9 November 1899, Page 2

The Transvaal.

FIGHTING AT LADYSMITH.

By means of a pigeon expres j service Sir George White baa ba«n able to communicate with headquarter* and affird General Sir Redvers Bailer some information regarding he progress of reoent events at Ladysmith. The Gommander-in Chief has learned by this means that on Tbarsdiy the 69th Battery of Royal \rtillery" effectively shplied a laager r.hat has been constructed by Free State burghers on Briter's Hill. Thia op&rition was performed without loaa.

Oo the following day, Friday, a detachment of the s oh Lancer*, with the Imperial Light Horse (a regiment of volunteers recently raised in Natal), engaged the enemy for several hours to the south-west of the town, with slight loss.

An unofficial account of their proceedings has been published, in which it is asserted that the artillery fire of the British caused a panic in the Free State oamp, which was eventually stormed and captured by the srh Lancer?.

on Fort Wylie, which protected the railway bridge over the Tugela river. It is feared that Colenso has been occupied by the enemy: Thu Dutch residents in the neighbourhood of Pietermaritzburg report that a bloody battle was fought between the opposing armies. Many Boers are said to have fallen in the encounter.

The Boer army is now in occupation of the points of vantage around Lidvemith.

At the time latest information was received from the front the enemy were mounting fresh guns in order to preas on with the bombardment f tha po-u ? on. Thp saf'ty of the town now largely depends on the ability of the Naval gunners, with their four quick firing cannon and lyddie sheila, to keep down the enemy's fire.

So far they have achieved wonders in this direotion.