CONDENSED CABLEGRAMS.

Manawatu Herald, 15 December 1900, Page 2

CONDENSED CABLEGRAMS.

The Transvaal. THE SURRENDER AT DEWETSDORP. Details of the recent capture of the British garrison at Dewetsdorp by General De Wet, show that the defenders suffered terribly from thirst, as the Boers cut the water supply. So great wa» Ibif privation ttH that

the soldiers' tongues swelled for want of moisture. | The enemy's snipers crawled into i close range and kept up a persistent cross fire, which was very destructive, sixteen out of one gun detachment being killed. The plucky defence was praised by General De Wet to the officers after j the surrender. Mr Steyn admitted 'hat the Roer losses exceeded those of the British. i MILITARY OPERATIONS. Major-General Settle has occupied Eden burg. Twenty thousand sheep, seven hundred cattle, eight hundred horses, many vehicles and thirty prisoners were captured. A strong force of Boers under cover of a dense mist attacked a body of mounted infantry at Barberton, on the Delagoa Bay Railway, on the Bth inst., and was at once repulsed. Later on. the enemy got to close quarters, and three Britishers were killed and rive wounded. Thirteen are missing. RETURNING TO PRETORIA. The families of Government officers at Pretoria will shortly be allowed to return. This indicates an early termination of resistance. LORD ROBERTS. Lord Roberts, Lady Roberts and Miss Roberts have sailed from Capetown for England. Lord Roberts, in accepting a sword of honour at Capetown claimed that the war had welded the Empire together. He complimented the admirable workmanship of the colonial contingents, and said he was confident the spontaneous, unanimous outburst of patriotism over the war was not ephemeral. THE BOND CONGRESS. Sir Alfred Milner, replying to an Afrikander deputation, agreed to forward to England the resolutions carried at the Bond Congress held at Worcester, though, |be said, the annexation of the Boer Republics was irrevocable and overwhelmingly supported throughout the Empire. He cond joined the wild exaggeration at the Congress with regard to the conduct of the war and the ill-treat-ment of women. Further resistance on the part of the Boers was not, he declared, morally justifiable. The men still in the field were being ted on lies. GENERAL KNOX STILL IN PURSUIT. Major-General Knox has been engaged in a running fight with General De Wet. The British, under Major-General j Knox, pursued the Boer leader and his commando to New Halvetia. The enemy is now moving towards Reddersburg, where a British force is in waiting. DESTRUCTION OF COMMUNICATIONS. A Boer commando of three hundred with two guns, destroyed five miles of railway between Alkmaar and Nelspruit. ihe communications with Barberton have afco been cut.