CONDENSED CABLEGRAMS

Manawatu Herald, 27 February 1902, Page 2

CONDENSED CABLEGRAMS

The Transvaal. COLONEL EVANS’S DEATH. Details of the death of Colonel ; Evans show that a hudred volunteers

belonging to a composite regiment surrounded four Boers in a farm house at Vryheid. Colonel Evans approached the door and demanded their surrender. The Boers opened fire, killling Colonel Evans and Major Blunt and wounding a third man. Three of the Boers were captured, the fourth escaped. RECENT FIGHTING. Particulars which have come to hand of the recent capture of 164 Boers at Nooilgedacht, by Colonel Park's mounted force and a body of. National Burgher Scouts, show that the troops under Parks, Williams and and Uimston, surprised three of Trichardt’s laagers, but the members of the Boer Government and the notorious train-wrecker, Jack Hindon, escaped. Twenty of Trichardt s force surrendered at Middleburg, and Colonel Williams captured 38 more on Saturday. Commandant Ross, with three hundred followers, attacked the Frank-fort-Vrede blockhouse line on the night of the 19th inst. The Boers, who were on the south of the line opened a heavy fire at 120yds, and Ross drove a herd of cattle against the wire fence connecting ths blockhouses. Many of the Boers travelled away northwards, but several were shot.

A skirmish took place in Cape Colony westward of Beaufort West on the 18th, when Van Heerden, a notorious rebel; and Commandant Hugo, were wounded and captured. Hugo afterwards succumbed to his injuries. SLANDERS REFUTED. An Afrikander meeting at Graaff Reinet, which was attended by the Hon. Mr Maasdorp and many members of the Bond, protested against the slanders uttered against the army, and passed a vote of confidence in Mr Chamberlain, Lord Milner and Lord Kitchener. Similar meetings were held at Middleburg and Aliwal North. STRENGTH OF THE ENEMY. Commandants Christian Botha and Britz, with eight hundred men, are south of Brauwkop. The Boers practically hold undisputed possession of the country north of the Delagoa railway line, and are harvesting all their crops. The “ Times ” says the troops are insufficient to deal with the whole of the country and suppress the enemy. CASUALTIES AMONGST NEW ZEALANDERS. Private John Kirkwood, of the Seventh New Zealand Contingent, has been killed at Rietspruit, and Corporal John Ashton slightly wounded. War Office correction Private Walter R. Davis, Seventh New Zealanders, died of wounds'at Charlestown. Deaths from enteric-Private Basil Steanhaus, Sixth New Zealanders, at Charlestown; Private John H. Wright, Seventh New Zealanders, at Heilbron. MISCELLANEOUS. Many Free Staters propose to cross into Natal to avoid the Orange Colony blockhouses. Van Dernwe, son of a member of the Bond, has been sentenced to five years' imprisonment for joining the Boers. Mr J. Hay, American Secretary of State has refused to ask for passports from the British authorities to enable Dr and Mrs Thomas, of Chicago, to distribute money at the concentration camps. The sentences of death passed on a Murraysburg farmer for joining the enemy, and on two Graaff Reinet rebels for marauding, have been commuted to penal servitude for life. Loyalists members of the Cape Assembly are asking that an Imperial Indemnity Act, and other measures necessary for the peace of the country should be passed. A small meeting of the Peace Arbitration Association has authorised Messrs F. A. Channing, T. Shaw, and H. Wilson, Liberal members oi the House of Commons, to petition King Edward, in the interests of the peace of South Africa, to. save the life of Commandant Kruitzinger if he be sentenced to death.