The Transvaal.

Manawatu Herald, 9 June 1900, Page 2

The Transvaal.

PRETORIA. A force of twenty-five thousand British soldiers had hemmed in Pretoria at the time of its surrender. Lord Roberts, in an official tetegrairi sent to the War Office on Tuesday, says : — " Just before dark on Monday evening we had driven the enemy back from most of their positions. " Lieutenant • General Hamilton's Mounted, Infantry followed^the Boer forces within two thousand yards of Pretoria through which the latter re* treated hastily. Colony De Lisle, commanding the Second Corps of the Colonial Brigade sent an officer to demand the surrender j of the town in my name. "General Botha's messengers towards midnight awoke me with a letter in which he proposed an armistice for the purpose of settling terms. " I replied that I would gladly irieet Botha in the morning, but would not discuss any terms, as the surrender must be unconditional. " I asked for a reply by daybreak as my troops had been ordered to march at daylight. " Botha replied that it had been de-. cided not to defend the town. He trusted that the' women and children and property in the town would be protected. " Our troops advanced next morning and during the march three principal Boer officials carrying a flag of truce brought an ultimatum that Pretoria surrendered unconditionally. | The time of entry was then arranged. " Mesdames Kruger and Botha, wives of the Boer Commajoder-in-Chief , have remained in Pretoria, [ " Some of the British prisoners have been removed, but the majority are still at Watervaal, outside the town. " One hundred British officers who had been prisoners are now in Pretoria. Those I have seen are looking wejl." ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION. Lord Roberts cables that the occupation of the cjty has been most satisfactory, he having been much more enthusiastically received than he had expected. THE X MARCH PAST. In his report to the War Office announcing his entry into Pretoria, Lord Roberts says that the principal square of the city was lined by the Grenadier Guards.

Only a small portion of the cavalry and mounted infantry brigades participated in the march past, being occupied outside of the city. THANKS FROM THE PRIME MINISTER. Lord Salisbury has deipiis'ied the following cable message to Lord _, Roberts :— " I earnestly, congratulate ■ you on this crowning result of you strategy and the devotion of your gallant soldiers. The Qneen expresses her gratification at the occupation of Pretoria." RETREAT OF THE 80E33. During the fighting prior to the occupation of Pretoria the British shells damaged two of the enemy's forts. The Krupp guns alone answered, but when the howitzer shells roared overhead and dropped in the suburbs, the capital capitulated. Commandant General Botha's 'men and the commandoes under General Delarey retired .sullenly but in good order in the direction of Lydenburgi. . Several tnousand of them took an oath *.o struggle to the bitter ond. RECENT CASUAETIES. The casualties to Lieutenant-Genera* lan Hamilton's column while fighting; towards Flordia, on the journey to Pretoria, were twenty-four killed and 114 wounded. The Gordon Highlanders were the principal sufterere. REJOICING IN ENGLAND. ■ There have been great rejoicings throughout . Great Britain over the surrender of Pretoria, but no mad enthusiasm. CAPTURE OF YEOMANRY. News has been received of the cap* ture by the Boers of a battalion of British Yeomanry commanded by Colonel Spragge. Lord Roberts has telegraphed to the War Office as follows :— " I regret to report that the battalion was compelled to surrender on Thursday to a very superior force. " On hearing that the battalion was attacked, I ordered General Methuen i to hasten to its assiistance. 11 Methuen received my telegram at 9 o'clock on Friday morning, and marched forty-four miles in twenty-five hours, and attacked between two and three thousand Boerst . .^ " For five hours a running tight wip kept up, the enemy being comptbtojjr routed. " I trust the Irish Yeomanry will soon be realeased." - _ The English newspapers, commenting on Lord Methuen's feat, eulogise • bis splendid march and fine action. . The seriousness of the situation arose from the menace to the communications inasmuch as the Highlanders and Major-General Clements Brigade. had been . sent to assist LieutenantGeneral Rundle. Moreover, the daring nature of Lord Roberts's main advance is rendered 4* more conspicuous by what has transpired. me number of men who fell into the bands of the Boers in the capture of Colonel Spragge's battalion was 464. INVASION FROM ALL SIDES. „ Lieutenant-General Sir Archibald Hunter and Major-General BadenPowejl are marching in the direction >{ on the Mooi river, about eighty miles west by south of Johannesburg. Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Carrington, with the bushmen of the Rhodesian Field Force, is operating in the north, near the Limpopo dyer. The gap between the two 'divisions mentioned above is filled in by Colonel Plumer's force, which since the relief of Mafeking, has been free to operate with the invading armies. Three hundred men who surrendered to Sir Archibald Hunter at Lichtenberg, fifty miles east of Mafeking, bave been sent to Vryburg. WELL PROVIDED WITH CASH. Mr Bennett Burleigh, correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, states that President Kruger, when leaving Pretoria for Middleburg, removed two 'millions pounds in cash. The Government officials have not been paid their salaries for May. EASTERN REBELS. The rebels in the Ficksburg district :>n the Basutoland border/^f fbe Oiange River Colony, are anxibtfs to secure terms.