The Transvaal.

Manawatu Herald, 28 April 1900, Page 2

The Transvaal.

BLOEMFONTEIN. Lieutanant-General lan Hamilton's division, of which the colonial brigade of Major-General Hutton forms part, has advanced eastwards from Bloemfontein and occupied the waterworks. As the Boers held neighbouring hills, the brigades of Major-Generals Smith Dorrein and Hector Macdonald were despatched to the support of General Hamilton. The Standard's correspondent estimates that there are three thousand ! Boers in the hills south-east of Bloein- , f-mtein, and that they hold entrenched positions.

The Fourteenth Brigade (MajorGeneral Maxwell) has also moved eastward from Glen Siding, eight miles north of Bloemfontein, seizing the hills covering Kranzhraal, and also the waggon bridge on the road that crosses the Modder river in this vicinity. General Maxwell's movement cuts off the northward retreat of the Boers ?.'.:>- g f '.3 main Bioemfoutein-Wiuburg road. In connection with General Hamil ton's advance eastward, LieutenantColonel Alderson, commanding the first corps of Major-General Hutton's Brigade, advanced southward to Leeuwkop, while Major-General Dickson, with the Fourth Cavalry Brigade, a battery of Royal Horse Artillery and the New South Wales ambulance, moved from Springfield against the Boers in the neighbouring hills. The Battery shelled a Boer force which held a kopje to the south-west nf. the Bloemfontein waterworks, witb the result that the enemy were dislodged. M ij' 1 r-General Dickson's columli also part ; cipafed in the operations further south. RETiiEAT OF THE ENEMY. As a result of General Hamilton's advance eastwards, the enemy have been everywhere defeated. They are now in retreat eastwards— in the direc- j tion of the Basutoland frontier. . I RELIEF OF WEPENER. | In the course of his advance to- j wards Wepener, Brigadier-General has lost twenty-five men wounded. ' A report from the Wepener district states that the Boers are so numerous there that it took them two days to cross the Caledon river. Major-General Hart's Brigade forms the advance portion of General Brabant's division. The latter is immediately confronted with a force of eight thousand Boers, in addition to which there are thirteen thousand Boers elsewhere in the Wepener district. Major-General Hart has issued a strenuously-worded proclamation to the inhabitants of Rouxville, forty miles south of Wepener, against committing, abetting, or screening hostile acts, under pain of the severest penalties. Under cover of a heavy shrapnel fire from four guns, the Boer forces engaged in besieging Wepener made a determined attempt t> storm the northern position held by Colonel D^lgety's garrison. - Gallant resistance wts offered by the Cape Mounted Rifles and other South African troops, with the result that the assailants were repelled. When foiled in their main attack, the enemy recoiled, and extending in open order across the flats, kept up a heavy rifle fire at long range, the fusillade lasting for hours. The third contingent of New Zealand troops— the rough riders, commanded by Major Jowsey— form part of the column which is advancing under General Brabant to the relief of Wepener. The corps received its baptism of fire on Sunday last, in the engagement then fmght at Boesmankop, twenty miles south of the beleaguered town. It took part in the clever flanking movement already reported as having been made by the combined forces of Generals Brabant and Hart, and as having compelled the enemy to fall back. The colonials expressed great delight at having the opportunity / participating in the action. At latest advices the relief columns on the way to Wepener were steadily advancing towards the town. Lord Roberts has reported to the War Ofiice that Lientenant-General Pole-Carew's column has occupied Roodekape, after an enga rem.rit that resulted in heavy loss to the enemy. Lieutenant General French's force has arrived at Dewetsdorp, where Lieutenant-General Rundle's division has bee-i blocked by the Boers since Friday last. In consequence of this accession to tbe British forces, the enemy have been obliged to evacuate their position. Brigadier Brabant's advance to Wepener was unopposed. The loss suffered by Colonel Dalgety's force during the defence of Wepener was 33 killed and 132 wounded. FRENCH'S CAVALRY. Lieutenant-General French, in pursuance of Lord Roberts's instructions to sit astride of the enemy's line ot retreat to the north, crossed the Modder river at Valsbank. The Boers, who had in the meantime been alarmed of the danger threatening their rear, quitted Dewetsdorp, Major-General Sir Herbert Cher inside's troops occupying the town un fjposed. The Boers around Wepe ler, to the number of 4500, also fled, going in a north-easterly direction along the Ladybrand road, taking their ox waggons with them. Genoral French's cavalry was at latest advxes racing to intercept the retreating commandoes. HAMILTON'S BRIGADE. Major-General lan Hamilton has succeeded in clearing all the kopjes in the vicinity of Bloemfontein. His forces have passed eastward, and are now nearing Thabanchu, in order to check the retreat from Wepener and Dewetsdorp. It is stated that fifty thousand British troops are now operating to the east of Bloemfontein and enveloping rhe Boer forces under Generals De Wet and Ollivier. PRESIDENT KRUGER'S MISCALCULATION. President Kruger, it is understood, imagined that Lord Robert's army would have to remain stationary for another month awaiting the arrival of remounts. BRITISH PRISONERS. Mr Mitchell, who was engineer at the Pretoria waterworks, has been expelled from the Transvaal, and has arrived at Durban. He states that the place where the British prisoners are kept is unfit for habitation^ The majority of them have to sleep in an open tin hospital which has no flooring. There are, he states, 180 sick among the number, who are without the services of a resident doctor. Disease is

■-■■■■---■■■■■-■■--■■■■■-■■----------I rampant amongst the captives. The wat.-"- used by them is black and muddy, and the Transvaal Government had declined to accept a gift of water by refusing to furnish tanks. Sympathisers at Pretoria have, it is announced, subscribed £3000 to be spent on bedding comforts and food for the prisoners. MAFEKING. It is reported that the force of Boers which, under General Snyman, is conducting the siege of Mafeking, has been reinforced by the arrival of burghers who have hitherto been fighting in Natal and in the districts to the south of Mateking. Three hundred native women who were shut up in Mafeking have made good their escape through the Boer lines of investment. A number of Fingo cattle-raiders were treacherotir'; lured out of Mafeking by the Bier , and twenty-six of them killed. The inhabitants of the town are reported to be in a d^sp indent condition They are now deoendent uoon oaten bread made from husks. The casual ties to the garrison up to the end of March show a total of 368. SYDNEY LANCERS. When be decided to advance upon Sanna's Post (thirty miles due east of Bloemfontein), Lieutenant-General lan Hamilton ordered a" detachment of 140 New South Wales Lancers to occupy a square kopje overlooking the Watervaal Drift, one of the crossings of the Modder river. The New South Welshmen accomplished this task after meeting with the fire of some sharpshooters. TRAITORS REGISTERED. In the various districts held by the British the authorities have in their possession lists of the colonial settlers who have committed acts of rebellion against the British Crown. The total number of name6 thus registered for both Cape Colony and Natal, is stated to. be about twelve thousand. MISCELLANEOUS. Lord Roberts has prohibited the circulation of the Dutch Afrikander press organ "Ons Land, which is controlled by Mr Hofmeyer, the leader of the Afrikander Bond. The Times of Natal states that a Boer plot was frustrated at the beginning of the war to explode a transport conveying two thousand troops. The policeman Jones, who gained notoriety over the murder of Edgar at Johannesburg, in the troubles that preceded the present war, was killed in battle at Modderspruity The Afrikander Bona is angry at the result of the trial of the Sunnyside rebels. Mr Hofmeyr, its leader, declares that Mr Solomon, AttorneyGeneral in the Schreiner Ministry, is a < traitor for prosecuting. .