CONDENSED CABLEGRAMS.

Manawatu Herald, 21 April 1900, Page 2

CONDENSED CABLEGRAMS.

— « The Transvaal. GENERALS CONDEMNED. Despatches to the War Office from Field-Marshal Lord Roberts, General Sir Redvers Bailor and Major-General Sir Charles Warren, concerning the operations incidental to the capture and abandonment of Spionkop during the recent attempts to reach Ladysmith, have now been gazetted. Lord Roberts in his despatch, while acknowledging the gallantry of Colouel Thorneycroft (who assumed commaud of the attacking force after MajorGeneral Woodgate had been mortally wounded) severely condemns that officer for his inexcussable assumption of responsibility in ordering the retirement of his troops. Lord Roberts also holds that Sir Charles Warren was guilty of errors of judgment and want of administrative capacity, and blames him for not personally visiting Spionkop at the time of the crisis. The Field-Marshal also condemns General Buller for showing a disinclination to. assert his authority as see what he thought to be best was done. Lord Roberts considers that General Butter's wide flanking movement by Action Homes was well devised and it ought to have succeeded, but Sir Charles Warren thought the route too long, and tried a more direct necessitating the occupation of Spionkop. General Buller, says Lord Roberts justified Colonel Thorneycroft in the evacuation, but the position would have been tenable if General Buller had exhibited a properly organised system. The newspapers in commenting on these revelations express grave con cern and applaud Lord Roberts's wholesome severity. Some of the journals anticipate that General Buller will resign. IN THE FREE STATE. Another commando ot Boers, six thousand strong, is reported to be marching southward in the direction of Bethulie, one of the railway stations on the Orange river. Lieutenant-General Rundle, with the Eighth Division, Major-General Chermside (Fourteenth Brigade) and Brigadier - General Brabant (Cape \ forces) are trying to intercept the column.

MAFEKING. Lieutenant Smitheman of the Rhodesian Regiment, who is attached to the column with which Colonel Plumer is attempting to relieve Mafeking from the north, has Succeeded in penetrating the Boer lines of investment, and returning to Colonel Plumer's camp. The enterprising officer left the town on the sth inst., and he report?, that on that date all was well. Commandant Snyman is bom barding the western defences of Mate king with five guns. The garrison i? holding out with a gallantry that extorts the admiration even of the besiegers. The garrison at Mafeking was known to be well and resolute on the nth inst. RECOVERY OF TREASURE. In connection with the seizure by the Boers during the siege of Kimberley of Mr Frank Smith's diamond mines at Barkly West, about twenty miles from Kimberley, it transpires that Mr Day, manager of the mines, saved all the available diamonds, and concealed them in tin boxes and gaspipes. These he buried at a spot known only to himself, and they have been recovered since the relief of Kimberley. PLUMER'S FORCE. Information has been received that the casualties suffered by Colonel Plumer's force of Rhodesian Horse, which has been making an attempt to reaoh Mafeking from the north, numbered 70 up to March 31st. Many of these are only slightly wounded. WEPENER. Lord Roberts reports to the War Office that Wepener was still sur rounded on 17th (Monday), but th attack was half-hearted. The Boers, say the despatch, ar anxious with regard to their northern lines of communication. The Eighth Division, under MaprGeneral Sir Charles Rundle, via Red dersburg, with Brigadier-Geneial Brabant's brigade, and Major-Generri Fitzroy Hart's column supporting via Rouxville, are advancing to the relief of the garrison. Violent rains are, however, delaying the march of the relieving torces, but Lord Roberts hopes they will soon make their pressure felt. Brigadier-General Brabant occupied Rouxville on the 15th, and made several important arrests. BOER PRISONERS. i When the Boer prisoners disembarked from the British transports at ! Jamestown, St Helena, they were. played into Deadwood Camp by a 1 drum and fife band. Amongst the number was Colonel Schiel, who was lodged at the citadel. The British soldiers and sailors sang " Rule Britannia " aad " Soldiers of the Queen." ARRIVAL OF REMOUNTS. Three thousand horses, to be used as remounts, have been landed at Capetown since Fjriday, last. THE NEW ZEALANDERS. Trooper George Heenan of the firs f contingent of New Zealand Mounted Rifles (formerly of the Southland Rifles) is seriously ill with typhoid at Winburg, to the north west of Bloemfontein. Trooper Heenan was one of the seventeen New Zealanders captured at the Doornspruit ambush on March 31st, and is now a prisoner of war in the hands of the enemy. A CALL TO ARMS. The Boers are circulating in Cape Colony an impassioned appeal to the Afrikanders to rise. AUSTRALIAN BUSHMEN. The troopships Atlantian, Maplemore and Euralyua have landed eleven

hundred Australian busbtnen at Beira* Tbc men and horses are in splendid condition. The first base camp of the force will be at Marandellas. MISCELLANEOUS, Bugler Melville, of the New Sontfa Wales Lancers, has been missing since the battle at Karee Siding north of Bloemfontein. , A body of two hundred Trans* vaalers made a determined attack on a party of Orpen's Horse on the 13th at Dopaspoort. The British had two killed and one wounded. The Boer losses were heavy, and they have since applied to the British for ambulance assistance. HELP FOR PLUMER. A force of one hundred mounted police have left Salisbury, in Northern Rhodesia, to reinforce Colonel Plumer's column, which has been attempting to reach Maf eking from the north. ROBERTS AND BULLER. The withholding of Lord Roberta's censure of Sir Redvers Buller and Sir Charles Warren in connection with the capture and abandonment of Spionkop during the advance to Ladysmith, and the fact that it has now been published, is considered to be the immediate prelude to further important charges. The " Standard " says that after Lord Roberts's censures of Generals Buller and Warren and Colonel Thorneycroft, the Government ought to act. The German Press insists that the recall of Generals Buller and Warren is the logical result to be looked for from the Field Marshal's censures. GERMAN NEUTRALITY. A semi-official announcement has been made that it will be useless for Mr Fischer, the peace envoy of the Boer Republics, to visit Berlin. BRITISH PRISONERS. Information has been received that me hundred and fifty British prisoners are ill at Pretoria. GALEANT DUBLINS. The first and second battalions of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers have started homewards form South Africa, having been sent back owing to the depletion of their ranks. BOERS IN THE SOUTH. A force of Boers, three hundred strong, is approaching Smithfield, about forty miles north-east of Bethulie, on the Orange^, river, and about twenty-five miles west of Rouxville, which was occupied by Brigadier- General Brabant's troops on the 15th inst. ROBERTS'S MARCH. The special correspondent of the Sydney "Daily Telegraph," in an article describing the march of the British columns from the Modder river to Bloemfontein, relates the hardships -uffered by the troops, and is enthusiastic in his account of Lord Roberts's Villiant generalship. He says that beside the advance to Bloemfontein, Lord Roberts's other famous march, f rom Kabul to Kandahar, was a mere circumstance. / The writer also states that Lord Roberts's reception from the English citizens of Bloemfontein, who were the only residents left in the city, was most enthusiastic. The departing burghers had commandeered almost everything that they could carry away before they left. DELAY IN FORWARDING SUPPLIES. A want of railway trucks is delaying the transport of^supplies to Lord Roberts's army. There are two thousand patients in the field hospitals at Bloemfontein suffering from dysentry and enteric fever. MESSAGE FROM MAJOR ROBIN. The Premier has received the follow* : ng cable message from Major Robin, commander of the first New Zealand contingent, now at Bloemfontein:— Saddler Aitken, who was wounded in, l he leg, has recovered, and is now at Capetown. A native who has escaped Vom the Boers reports that seventeen ■>f our men who were captured are veil. The second contingent (Major "radock's) is expected to join us this veek. Lieutenant Chaytor (Blenheim) 5 ill of fever. Lieutenant Lindsay has .•brained a commission in the Seventh 3ragoon Guards. COLONIAL COMMISSIONS. The Governor has received the foljwing from the Adjutant-General, War Office, dated London, 18th April :— Messrs Wood, Holderness and Russell, New Zealand ' local forces, have been appointed to be second lieutenants in the First King's Liverpool Regiment, Second Essex Regiment and First Northampton Regiment. They should proceed at once to South Africa, Burmah and Bengal respectively.