The Transvaal.

Manawatu Herald, 31 March 1900, Page 2

The Transvaal.

NATAL. Information from Natal shows that the enemy's big guns have been removed from the Biggarsberg hills, where Commandant Louis Botha has been posted. The Boers are, however, also reported to be massing in entrenched positions along the Biggarsberg range. It is reported that the Boer waggons at Newcastle are packed in readiness for a retreat into Transvaal territory. The statement is made hy\ the 11 Daily Telegraph " that twenty thousand Free 9taters, under Commandant De Beefsi df Har'rismithj are guarding nine ot the passes in the Drafcensberg mountains. - OLLIVIERS'S COMMANDO. Commandant Ollivier's Cpiesberg column, with 800 waggons, by a forced march from Maseru, reached Clocolany some eighteen miles north of Ladybrand. The men, who were prostrated with the march, resisted two days. It is feared that many have escaped the British forces operating in that part of the Free State. Commandant Ollivier's force is reported to be now in the direction of Senekal, a hundred miles north-east of Bloemfontein, and about forty miles south-east of the Boers' main position at Kroonstad. POSITION OF THE ENEMY. The latest information from the front shows that Commandant Grobler with a commando of six thousand Boers from Colesberg, is posted midway between Bloemfontein and Kroonstad. KRUGERS PREPARATIONS. Reports from South Africa state that President KrugeaHfas caused the British mines on we Racd to be undermined, and a similar course adopted with regard to the British owned buildings at johannesberg. GENERAL JOUBERT. The London newspapers describe General Joubert, the commander-in-chief of the Boer army, as being superior to his surroundings, and regret the absence of his influence in the coming settlement. CONCEALMENT OF AMMUNITION. A grave at Dronfield was found, when opened, to contain 73 cases of dynamite. General Clements's troops found a nine-pounder Maxim gun in a well at Koffyfontein, on the Reit river, to the north-west of Fauresmith, and also three loads of ammunition in alleged graves. DISAFFECTION IN THE WEST. Two hundred of the rebels in the Prieska district, (on the Orange river in the north-west of Cape Colony) have submitted. The remainder decamped on the appearance of the British troops. Eight hundred rebels are reported to be entrenched at Upington, a town away to the westward along the Orange river, about eighty miles from Prieska. KRUGER'S APPEAL. The reply of Russia to the Note sent by the Presidents of the Boer Republics to the European Powers, asking for mediation, shows the greatest regret at inability to comply with the request made. It further explains that had the Presidents applied to the Powers before telegraphing to Lord Salisbury, there was reason to believe that England could have been approached. The rebels, however, would have been the same, as mediation would have been impossible after Lord Salisbury's categorical statement on the subject. "The Times," commenting on Russia's reply to the Presidents' Note, says that perhaps it is the unkindest sent, acidulating Platonic sympathy with an intimation that the Republics had looked the wrong way, but that it would have made no difference if they had looked the right way. THE FREE STATE. Major-General Clements's force has occupied Jagersfontein and Fauresmith, in the south-west of the Free State, unopposed, receiving a cordial welcome from the inhabitants. General Clements has appointed new magistrates at Jagersfontein and Fauresmith. MAFEKING. Colonel Baden- Powell on the 13th inst captured an entrenchment of the enemy, killing twelve of their number. A report has reached the War Office that Mafeking was safe on the 26th inst. THE BOERSThe " Daily Telegraph " lowers its estimate of the number of Boers in Natal to ten thousand. , COLONIAL SUPPORT. The joint cablegram from the Aus tralian colonies to the Secretary of State for the Colonies (the Right Hon. J. Chamberlain), expressing a determination to support the policy of the British Premier in regard to thfe Boer Republics to the last man has been a further blow to those who sympathise with the enemy. . , CONTRABAND OF WAR. I Mr G. Pott, consul for the Transvaal at Lorenzo Marques, the capital of Portuguese East Africa, has been fined two hundred guineas for indirectly importing heliograph and other contraband goods for his Government. MISCELLANEOUS. A force of 400 Boer^s has occupied Paapkuil, forty miles north-west of Kimberley. They are recruiting from rebels in the Herbert district.

A troop train overturned at at embankment on the Victoria road, owing to a subsidence of the railway line 4 Nine soldiers were injured, and there were many miraculous escape. A large quantity of shrapnel and machine gun ammunition has been found on farms at Springfontein, in the southern portion of the Orange Free State. One hundred Boer prisoners at Simonstown are suffering from typhoid fever. ' ' < i Heavy rains have fallen throughout South Africa, and many of the camps have been converted into swamps. Transvaalers are looting the farms of Free Staters, and attributing the outrage to the British. Two Boer prisoners at Simon's Town have succeeded in escaping. Transvaal Boers have arrested Commandant Prinsloo, who had ' retired to his farm. Mr Michael Davitt, MiP";, one Of the very exttenie members of the Irish Anti- British party, has arrived at Dela* * j goa Bay, in Portuguese South Africa. The Boers are reported to have destroyed the shafts and machinery at the Dundee colliery, in Northern Natal. It is stated that they have expressed their intention to destroy all -the other mines. The London Daily Chronicle states that four hundred Free Staters threaten the railway - edirimuni'eatiori neat" Jacobsdal in the north-west qUaftef of the State east of Spyfontein, « SIR ALFRgD M.ILN£R. Sir Alfred Milner, High Commissioner of British South Africa, who was recently announced as being In communication with Lord Roberts, arranging terms and conditions of surrender ot Free Staters and the administration of the country, has arrived at Bloemfontein, where Lord Roberts is stationed. 1 IMPERIAL COMMISSIONS. ; Lieutenant M. E. Lindsay, of the first New Zealand contingent, has I received a. commission in the Seventh Dragoons. THE YEOMANRY. A strong column of Imperial Yeomanry has been sent to Griquatown, where rebels are causing trouble. The column will afterwards proceed on to Mafeking, co-operating with Lieutenant-General Methuen's Warrenton column. \ *'ij