The Transvaal.

Manawatu Herald, 28 August 1900, Page 2

The Transvaal.

1 BRITISH PRISONERS. Lord Roberts has proposed to President Kruger that he surrender the British prisoners now at Nooitgedacht in the Eastern Transvaal, and that they be sent to England with a pledge to take no further part in the war. Mr Kruger is considering the proposal. HOSPITAL MANAGEMENT. The Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the condition of the military hospitals in South Africa, and the treatment of the sick and wounded has commenced its sittings at Capetown. The evidence taken so far shows that the Woodstock, Greenpoint and Maitland hospitals were admirably' managed, but red-tapism created difficulties in the provinces. COMPROMISING CORRESPONDENCE. The society newspaper " Truth " publishes copies of letters written by its proprietor, Mr H. Labouchere, M.P., to Mr Montagu White, who was Consul-General for the Transvaal in London before the outbreak of the war. These letters were found at Bloemtontein. " Truth " also publishes a characteristic letter to Mr Chamberlain. Amongst the correspondence found at Pretoria, from British members of Parliament, were letters from Mr John Ellis, Liberal M.P. for the Bushcliffe Division of Nottingham, and Dr Gavin Clark Liberal M.P. for Caithness, at one time Consul-General for the South African Republic. These letters, which were written

ten days prior to the outbreak of hostilities, recommend President Kruger to seize all passes for the frontier, although it was admitted such a step would have a bad moral effect in Great Britain. CARDNA SHOT. Lord Roberts confirmed the sentence of death passed by court-martial upon Lieutenant Hans Cardna, of the Staats Artillery, who was implicated in the recenty-discovered Pretoria plot. Cardna has been shot. j FIGHTING NORTH OF PRETORIA. The troops under LieutenantGeneral Baden- Powell fought an engagement at Warm Baths station i some miles north of Pretoria. One hundred prisoners were rescued and twenty-five Boers were captured, including a German artillery ' officer and Captain Van Dermerwe, a Free State artillerist. TIDINGS OF DE WET. In crossing the Magaliesberg heights towards Orange River Colony, General De Wet abandoned his. waggons and followed a bridle- path # The previous hard marching of Lieutenant-General Baden-Powell in heading off De Wet is much praised. BOERS RAIDING NATAL. News has been received that the Boers have blown up the railway line in two places in Northern Natal — at Coetze's Drift, eighteen miles south of Laing's Nek, and also south of Newcastle. A Boer gun on the Transvaal side of the Buffalo river commands the town of Dannhauser, twenty miles to the southward of Newcastle. POSITION OF BOTHA AND HIS BURGHERS. The Pretoria correspondent of the 11 Standard " says that the Boer lines extend in a north-westerly direction from Belfast, on the Delagoa Bay railway, to the Crocodile river, thus covering the entrance to the bush veldt, where thousands of cattle are located. General Louis Botha, the Boer Commander-in-Chier, has 2000 men entrenched at Dalmanutha, on the Delagoa Bay railway line, midway between Belfast and Machadodorp. There are also 5000 of the enemy spread over the country separating the two last-mentioned townships, which are about fifteen miles apart. Eighteen guns have been conveyed to the eastward through Nooitgedacht. MISHAP TO BULLER'S TROOPS. General Buller is now at Leuw Kloof, six miles south-west of General Louis Botha's position at Dalmanutha. He reports that through a mistake on Thursday evening, two companies of the Liverpool Regiment, while advancing in a hollow out of sight of the main body, were surrounded by the enemy. The casualties were 10 killed, 46 wounded and 32 missing. Seven other casualties occurred at Leuw Kloof. General French's cavalry is moving east of Machadodorp.