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Manawatu Herald, 1 February 1900, Page 2

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SPIONKOP CASUALTIES. The incomplete list of casualtses at Soionkop are 24 officers and 32 nw killed, si officers and 120 men wounded, 6 officers and z men missing. Colonel Blomfield, of the SeixM Lancashire Fusiliers, who was severely wounded, was captured. The Cameronian Highlanders andKing's Rifles sustained 154 casualties. Continental military critics are scornful over the British strategy. They declare the Boer position is impregnable. The British must seek a new field of operations. Dr Leyds states the initial conditions , of peace-comprise a concession of tern- l!j tory and seaports. BOER SHELL FACTORY EXPLODES. A refugee, who from Johannesburg arrived at Durban, reports that a great shell factory, established by the Boers at Johannesburg, was wrecked by .nn explosion on January 20th with loss of life. The catastrophe imperils the supply of shells to the enemy. LADYSMITH. Pathetic heliograms have been re* ceived from Ladysmith. Soldiers and y townsfolk crowded the ramparts watching and waiting the cominjjl&f tlie relief force. FURTHER DETAILS OF THE SPTONKOP ENGAGEMENT. Further details of the. engagement of Spionkop has been received.

Desperate fighting took place throughout the whole of the day. Much of the conflict was waged in a thick midst. The Boer riflemen defended the edge of the plateau which was concealed further back on the tableland, a very strong defensive position. The enemy's guns commanded the whole of the ground which the British must traverse. Possessing the exact range they poured in a fearful fire upon the British regiments. The scen§ was a perfect inferno. The battle, surged backwards and forwards all day, though Bennett Burleigh, special correspondent to the Telegraph, declared that at the close the British had secured the whole commanding positions and commenced stioasrly to entrench themselves. General Warren's reinforcements, in crossing the open ground, lost heavily. The Boers, under the command of Louis Both, made frantic efforts to suddue the British attack. They repeatedly rushed into the open, pretending to flee, with a view to drawing their opponents. Some of the British were captured through failure of ammunition. The naval guns lent valuable aid. The British artillery was less advantageously placed then the Boers whose mass of guns took the British completely by surprise. GENERALS DUNDONALD AND LYTTELTON'S MOVEMENTS. Reuter's correspondent states that General Dundonald recrossed the Tugela River on Saturday and General Lyttelton's brigade still occupies its original position. Colonel Wildebois Marcuil, French Director of the Boer Army, has gone to Colesburg. A number of ambulances arrived at Pretoria via Delagoa. The men as soon as they arrived discarded their badges and were supplied with rifles. BRITISH AND BOER LOSSESThe Agent-General cabled finder date London, 80th January: — It is estimated that our loss at the Tugela during the last fortnight was 1400. The total loss up to date is 9000 (including 2700 prisoners of war and 850 death from sickness). Dr Leyds states the enemy's loss is only 1400 since the outbreak of the war. It is probably about 5000.