CONDENSED CABLEGRAMS.

Manawatu Herald, 18 March 1902, Page 2

CONDENSED CABLEGRAM S.

The Transvaal. DE LA REY RELEASES HIS PRISONER. Lord Kitchener reports from Pretoria on Thursday“ Lord Methuen was brought to Klerksdorp to-day, doing well.’’ Speaking in the House of Commons Mr Brodrick said he presumed Lord Methuen has been released. This statement was received with cheers. " The Times ” states that Lord Methuen’s wound appealed to General De la Key’s humanity and chivalry, and he declined to accept the responsibility of inflicting the torture that would have been inseparable from conveyance in a jolting waggon over rough country. "The Standard” rejoices that Lord Roberts’s testimony in the House of Lords to the Boer Generals’s humane attributes has been justified. Other papers state that General De la Rey, besides exhibiting moderation and courtesy to his prisoner, showed a true judgment of the nation wherewith he is dealing. COMMANDANT KRUITZINGER. Commandant Kruitzinger’s trial has been postponed because the evidence is incomplete. BLACK TROOPS. Mr Brodrick, replying to Mr Wins* ton Churchill in the House of Commons, said the time'had not yet come to consider the employment of Indian troops in South Africa. LORD METHUEN. Lord Methuen received a Martini wound in the right thigh. The femur is fractured. General De la Rey, at the moment of his capture, caused a message to be despatched to Lady Methuen stating her husband was safe. The “Daily Mail” states that the Government thanked General De la Rey far his kind treatment of Lord Methuen, and it is understood will shortly give some proof that it recognises his chivalry. PURSUIT OF THE ENEMY. Lieutenant - Colonel Cox’s Australians pursued Mentye’s commando, which broke the Heilbron-Wolvehosk blodkhouse line at Gothenburg. One man was killed and five captured. The rest escaped in the direction of the Wilge river. Colonel Fanshawe’s column is pursuing. Sixty Boers were driven through the Kudu Pass in the Drakensberg Mountains in the direction of Innersdale. Yeomanry and police are pursuing. “ The Standard ” says the Boers scatteied before the westward drive. Fifty were captured. Mr Steyn accompanied Da Wet across the railway line westward. General Botha is retiring eastward before Major-General Bruce Hamilton. He made several unsuccessful efforts to cross the Heilbron-Wolvehoek line of railway, during which fourteen ot his men wore captured.

LORD WOLSELEY,Lord Wolseley sailed for South Africa on Saturday on private business. A MILITIA DRAFT. Lord Roberts inspected on , Salisbury Plain, eleven hundred militia who are being sent to South Africa. BRITAIN’S OPTIMISM. Mr Seddon’s offer of : more troops has met with a warm response hereContinental criticism is increasingly impressed with Britain’s resolute optimism, Australian fealty and New Zealands’s fervour. THE SIXTH CONTINGENT. The Premier has received a cablegram from Major Pilcher, at Capetown, in which Major Andrews, commanding the Sixth Contingent, states that the following officers have been recommended for the D.S.O. for good work in the field while under command : Captains Stevenson and Tucker, Surgeon-Captain E. J. O’Neil (Dunedin), Lieutenant Tudor, The following have been recommended for the Distinguished Conduct medal: — 3290 Corporal Walter Thorp (Te Kuiti) and 3618 Sergeant Thomas Harris (Christchurch). THE SEVENTH CONTINGENT. Colonel Porter, Commander of the Seventh Contingent, writes to the Town Clerk at Auckland, returning thanks for the Christmas comforts forwarded to the contingent. He adds however: —“ I regret that the gifts have not yet reached us—they are somewhere on the railway lines. No doubt they will be received in due course. The contingent has been constantly in the field operating against De Wet since the beginning of January, and is away irom means of transport.” MESSAGE FROM LORD KITCHENER. The Premier has received the following cable from Lord Kitchener,

dated Pretoria, March 15th Referring to your telegram re Tenth Contingent, I cannot express sufficient thanks for the great help given and offered. There are none I would sooner have with me in the field than the gallant New Zealanders. The first ship of the new contingent arrived- today.” “THE TRUSSING INCIDENT.” It will be remembered that a week or two ago sensational accounts were published in a number of New Zealand papers of something approaching a mutiny in one of the New Zealand regiments now in South Africa. It was stated that certain members of the regiment referred to bad been trussed to gun wheels by way of punishment, and that their comrades had thereupon forcibly released them and carried them off. On these reports being brought Under the notifle ot the Premier he at once, through the Governor* instituted inquiries as to their truth. He has now received from Lord Kitchener a cablegram stating that the sensational statements are unfounded, and that a fuller report on the occurrence is following. MISCELLANEOUS, The Government has engaged the trainer of Sir Blundell Maple, the wellknown sportsman, to purchase re mounts in Hungary. King Edward, in holding an investiture at St. James’s Palace, took advantage of the occasion to hand to Sisters Bidmeal, of Adelaide, and Nixon of Sydney, Royal Red Cross badges. The newspapers comment approvingly on Mr Seddon’s view of the Tweebosch reverse. _ The remark is made that his spirit is worty of some of the heroes who fought at Vrede; Latest. CAPTURE OF TWO LAAGERS. Colonel Park’s mounted coloama captured two laagers and twenty-five Boers in North Middleburg, the outcome of long night marches. NATAL REBELS. The Natal Treason Court has completed its sittings. It tried 500 put of an estimated 800 Natal rebels. The aggregate fines amounted to £22,000, Court-martial will deal with future cases of tresson. REINFORCEMENTS. Arrangements progressing indicate that the 21st Lancers, and nth Hussars will accompany 6000 Yeomanry who are starting for South Africa in