CONDENSED CABLEGRAMS.

Manawatu Herald, 13 October 1900, Page 2

CONDENSED CABLEGRAMS.

The Transvaal.

A COMPROMISING LETTER.

In the Legislative Assembly at Capetown a motion by the Hon. J. X Merriman (who was Treasurer in the last Ministry) deprecating the publication of his letter to ex-President Steyn without permission was negative by a majority of three. GENERAL BULLER. General Buller is returning to England. He will arrive at Pietermaritzburg en route for the coast on the 16th insti MR KRUGER. Mr Kruger lands at Trieste and travels overland to Brussels. FURTHER SURRENDERS. Two hundred and nine Boers have surrendered to a Portuguese force. MISCELLANEOUS. Lord Roberts intends garrisoning the smaller towns in order to stop raids and prevent the Boers obtaining supplies. , TIDINGS OF DE WET. The forces of Major-General Brabant and Colonel De Lisle have had a three days 1 fight with General De Wet, who had with him 1000 men and five guns. The enemy were dislodged from the hills near Vredepoort, and retreated in a demoralised state. The British casualties were slight. Smithfield, Rouxville, Wepener, and Dewetsdorp have been reoccupied by the British troops. A VICTORIA CROSS HERO. Captain E. B. Towse, of the Gordon Highlanders, who was blinded during a charge which he headed against the Boers at Mount Thaba on the ist May and who received the Victoria Cross for that action, has been awarded a special pension of £300 a year at the instance of the Queen. PROMOTIONS. Lieut.-General Sir George White, who commanded the British garrison during the siege of Ladysmitb, has been promoted to the rank of General. Major-General Sir F. Butler, who held local rank as Lieut.-General, has received substantive promotion to that rank. [Lieut.-General Butler was Commander of the Forces in Cape Colony prior to the outbreak of the war.] A TRIBUTE TO THE COLONIALS. Lord Roberts, while visiting Daspoort, thanked the colonial troops for their bravery and devotion during the recent battle at Elands River. ♦ The first train from Capetown to the Rand on the 17th will convey 400' miners. Forty-one battalions of militia, twelve battalions of artillery, and six corps of engineers, will be disembodied immediately. Troops lined both sides of the road for a mile from Lydenburg, continuously cheering General Buller as he passed on his departure for the Old Country.