CONDENSED CABLEGRAMS.

Manawatu Herald, 7 June 1900, Page 2

CONDENSED CABLEGRAMS.

The Transvaal.

PRETORIA

It is reported tbat the wildest confusion and panic exist at Pretoria. There has been a general collapse of Governmental functions since the stampede of the officials. The foreign attaches have started fcr

home

General Lonis Botha, the Com-mander-in-Chief, reached Pretoria on Wednesday night, and report »d having engaged in three days fearful fighting, which fct»d proved disAdvantageous to his troops

The latest engagement had been at Orange Grove (where Lord Roberts had arrived on the previous Saturday), the object being +0 cover the despatch of supply trains and waggons for Leyd .nburg.

A meeting of ten thousands burghers was held in the city, at which the fiery speeches of General Louis Botha md General Lucas Meyer rekindled the spirit of resistance, and it was resolved to fight to the last.

The Boer Commander-in-Chief has proclaimed martial law.

Pretoria is furious at President Kruger's desertion of his people and his action of taking all the available bullion with him while the officials were unpaid.

A council of military commandants ':as assumed Government function-, having decided to resist the British advance.

An undated Pretoria telegram, cabled from Delagoa Bay on Monday and believed to contain later information than the preceding communica tion, states that Pretoria has been in vested by the British without resis f ance, and that the Burgomaster wiii surrender when summoned.

Lord Roberts is silent, the War Office having received no information on the point, but it is believed that a great enveloping movement is in progress.

LORD ROBERTS.

In a report cabled to the War Office on Saturday, Lord Roberts stated that all was then quiet at Johannesburg, and that many Boers were surrendering their arms and horses. A few cannon^ were left by the enemy in the fort that overlooked the town. One six-inch howitzer and two Krupp.guns were captured. Commandant Botha, ot Zoutspanberg, together, with a field-cornet and ioo men, were captured around Johannesburg. A force of Queenslanders on Wednesday last captured a Craesot gun and twelve waggons containing military stores and ammunition. GENERAL FRENCH. On Thursday General French's cavalry had reached Irene. Heavy firing has been going on in the direction of Moddersfodtein. BATTLE AT SENEKAL. Farther information has been received with regard to the operations in the Orange River Colony, north-east of Bloemfontein. It appears that on May 2gth the troops under Major-General Sir Henry Rundle attacked a strong position held by the enemy at Senekal about forty miles from Wimburg. The attempt to silence the Boer guns failed, and then an eftort was made to outflank the position. This movement was greatly hampered by immense grass fires which had been kindled. The Grenadier Guards in moving to the attack showed splendid bravery, marching through flames and billows of smoke, and once in order to escape burning charging the enemy in' the face of a hail of bullets. - v The battle is described as having been one of appalling gr?ndeur. The Boer requested' the use of a British ambulance. They admit having had fifty killed and many wounded. During the engagement Lieutenant Quilier rescued many wounded from the burning grass although Boers fired explosive bullets at hirm

GENERAL RUNDLE'S COLUMN

An extensive schema of operations is in progress against the Boers to thf eastward of the railway line in Orange River Colony, from whom attention was partially withdrawn while the main advance was being made into the Transvaal.

As reported last week, Heilbron, the town forty-five miles north-east of Kroonstad, and at the end of the branch railway, was temporarily abandoned by the British forces and re-occupied b^y the enemy. The Eighth Division, under Lieut.General Sir Henry Colville, was despatched to recover it, for whicb purpose it set out from Ventersburg, thirty miles south of Kroonstad. The distance form Ventersburg to Heilbron is about seventy-five miles and all along the line of march resisttance was offered by the eneny.

Latest reports, however, announce the arrival ot tbe column at its obicctivc. In the various engagements the British., column lost eight men killed and four officers and thirty-two men wounded. The heavy guns of the naval artillery rendered valuable service, driving the Boers frtrm various strong positions at which they sought to prevent the advance of the column.

The troops behaved in a most soldierly manner throughout the trying march. It is stated that Lieut*-Gens*al Rundle's object in engaging the enemy at Lindley was to draw them off the town.

By this -Jperation he relieved a threatened force of Yeomanry, who as a result were enabled to retire in safety. The enemy's forces in the battle numbered four thousand, and their front extended for six miles. The casualties sustained on the British side were chiefly owing to an accidental firing ot the vegetation of the veldt, which caused more exposure of the troops that would otherwise have been the case. SEIZURE OF A DYNAMITE FACTORY. The dynamite factory at Modders ; i ! fontein is reported to have been seized jby tbe British. It is also reported that General Delarey, who has the keys of the factory, ' has surrounded the buildiqg. LEAVING. Mr Reitz, wife of the Chief Secretary of the Transvaal, has sailed from Delagoa Bay in the German steamer Bundersrath, taking £150,000 in bar gold. STEYN. The burghers at Vrede, in the north-east of Orange River Colony, are

watc'aing President Steyn in order to prevent his escape from the territory. FIGHTINOTHE REBELS. The recent attack on the GriquaJand rebels at Farderspurt, near Douglas, on the Orange river, sixty iw.l s south west of Kimberley, was ; -.nningly planned and daringly executed. The Yeomanry were r-.-rj 'rably cool and courageous during i.i>2 action. Several of Sir Charles Warren's staff were wounded. A number of noted Griqualand sharpshooters were killed. IN THF. EAST. Latest advices c^ncernir?^ the operations of the British troops in the cast oi Orange River Colony show that Major-General Sir Henry Rundle's troops are now at Hibernia, and are^in touch with Brigadier-General Brabant's force. The Boer commandoes are retreat•ng from Beth'v'hem, to the north east if Senekal, the scene of a recent Native chiefs report that the • ers e trekking northwards fiom 1 .'»urg, near Ficksburg, where _.<_neral Rundle and Brabant were stated to have surrounded miles of country occupied by the. enemy, whose capture was regarded as imminent. IN THE WEST, A German Jew named Herman was in command of the rebels who were defeated by the force nnder Colonel Adye, of Queensland, at Khei, 120 miles west of Kimberley. Herman ; was killed after having treacherously used the white flag. About a hundred Boers wenj, captured by Colonel Adye's column. BADEN-POWELL. Major-General Baden-Powell's farce from Ma-eking is advanoing npon Rustenburg, a town almost in a direct line between Mai "eking and Pretoria, and within about sixty miles of the I latter city. j KRUGER. ' President Kruger has sent a tele* j gram to America stating that he would fight to the bitter end. BOER FINANCE. A correspondent of Reuter's Agency J states that the object ofa visit paid to ! Delagoa Bay by the Boer officer j named Eloft and Dr Heymann Is to j arrange for the safety of a large quantity of gold which is being shipped to Berlin.