THE WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXII, Issue 54, 15 March 1900, Page 2

THE WAR.

LORD ROBERTS' MARCH ON THE FREE BTATE THE ENGAGEMENT AT DREBFONTBIM. MANY DEBERTED BOER FARMS. [Bi Elkotbio TmaaßAPtt-OopiMOKt.] LPEB PJUSW ASBOOIATION.J (Received 14,9.20 am.) M LoHD< "». Much 18. Mr. McOarty,a well-known aportomaD, who was serving with Kitobener'i Hoise, was killed in the engagement at Dreefontein. Iu order to assist the """""fonrfatL Lord Roberts ordered the capture and killiQg of stock during the advance. During his progress eastward Lord Roberts found many deserted Boer farms flying the white flag. Inallnok cases he ordered that nothing should oe touched. GENERAL FRENCH NEAR BLOEM. FONTEIN. HE SEIZES THE RAILWAY, (Received 14, 9,80 a.m.) London, March 18. General French has seized the rafl* way six miles south of Bloemfontein, and has cut the telegraph lines to tot northward. GENERAL FRENCH MEETS OPPOSI* HON. REINFORCEMENTS BEING BENT. (Received 15, 1.27 a.m.) London, March 14. Considerable opposition was offered to General French's occupation of the - dills commanding Bloemfontein. Lord Roberts is marching with the Third Javalry and a brigade of mounted MB w reinforce him. COLONEL UMPHELBrS DEATH. Received 14, 9.80 a.m. London, March 18. Lord Roberts, referring to the death of Colonel Umphelby and others, aid the wounds were generally serious owing to the Boers using expanding bullets. NEWS FROM MAFEMW6L REPORTED SAFE ON THE 6XR. PROGRESS OF RELIEF COLUMN. (Received 14, 9.80 a.m.) London, March 13. Mafeking was reported to be safe on 'the 6th instant. The northern relieving column, under Jolonel Plumer, has reached Lobatsi, 35 miles north of Marking.

THE GARRISON'S PROVISIONS SHORT. SICKNESS RAGING. THE BOERS RETREATING. (Received 15,1.27 a.m.) London, March 14, The garrison at Mafekiug are eating bread made from forage. The water supply is foul. The Boers at Lobatsi are retreating to Zeerust. Typhoid and diphtheria are raging at ; Mafeking, and the sufferings of women and children are terrible. , LIEUT.-GENERAL SATACRPB AREA. SEVERAL POSITIONB TAKEN BY BRITISH. .(Received 15,1.27 a.m. London, March 14. The British have occupied Boshof, Barkly East, and Aliwal North, Brigadier-General Brabant entered '.he Free State and occupied the hflle, after a sharp fight, in which then wen wenty casualties. GERMAN OFFICERB"mR~EBTEO. ' WITH ARMB AND AMMUNITION. (Received 14, 9.30 am.) London, March 18. , The Portuguese authorities at Lo- - 'eczi Marques, at British instigation, have reluctantly arrested four Gsmw ex-officers, who landed with anuaod ammunition. THE ATTEMPTED ESCAPE OF BOEt PRISONERB. :, (Received 14,9.20 a.m,) Capetown, March 18; The tunnel by which the Boer prison* era attempted to escape at Simonstowa was 25 yards long and was almost completed. It was excavated with tin dishes and cups, the debris being plaoed in sacks. The conspiracy was reraalei by one of the prisoners turning in* former. REBELS OPEN A GRAVE IN BEAMH OMLOOT. A STARTLING SURPRISE FOB THM,

Received 14, 9.85 a.m. ! London, March IS. The Daily Mail states that soma ' rebels opposing the British troop in ' North Cape Colony re-opened the mn of the Australian Trooper McLeod, searching for loot. On opening an adjoining grave the searchers found the bodies of six Boera, and hurriedly closed the grave again. THE PEACE. (Receired 14, 9.30 a.m.) London, Much 13. Mr. Fischer, Secretu y of State of the Orange Free State, and Mr. Wol.

marans, of the Transvaal Executive, are at Delagoa Bay. The Hon. W. P. Reeves, AgentGeneral for New Zealand, suggests that, if a Commission is sent to South Africa to study the question of a Federal settlement, Canada and Australia should be represented. The papers promised by the Right Hon. A. J. Balfour include a telegram from the Presidents, in which they state that Great Britain's prompt rejection of the Boer peace proposals proves that the existence of the Repablica as independent States wjll no longer be tolerated by Great Britain. There are indications that Great Britain's refusal of Boer overtures fer i peace was courted by the Presidents with a view of stiffening the rank and' file of the Boers, among whom there wen symptoms of vacillation. [

THE PRESIDENTS' REQUESTS. MESSAGES READ IN IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. STRONG REPLY FROM LORD SALISBURY. INDEPENDENCE WILL NOT BE AGREED TO. (Received 14, 11.28 pm.) London, March 14. . The Marquis of Salisbury, in the House of Lords, and the Right Hon. A. J. Balfour, in the House of Commons, read the telegrams from Presidents Eruger and Stern. They declared that lest it should wound their feelings they withheld the details of the overtores. The basis was the independence of the Republics, and the granting of an amnesty to participants in the war while the advantage was with their side in occupying defensive positions in the Natal and Cape Colony. Lord Salisbury, in replying to the messages, contrasted Great Britain's respect for the conventions entered into with the disregard shown for them by the Transvaal. He referred to the sudden and insulting ultimatum and the wanton and devastating invasion of British territory. For many years the Transvaal had in secret made vast preparations of a military character aimed at Great Britain, and had entailed the Empire in a costly war and the loss of thousands of precious Uvea. This calamity was brought about because Great Britain had acquiesced in the existence of the Republics. Great Britain was not prepared to assent to the independence of either State.

Thisannouncement was received with cheers.

(Received 15,1.27 a.m )

London, March 14. The Homo Rulers cheered the Presidents' telegram. The majority of the Peers and Commoners warmly cheered Lord Salisbury's despatch. The Liberals listened to the announcement in silence, but admit that (he demands are preposterous acd are I interpreted as an appeal to Europe. | A PEACE MISSION TO EUROPE. (Beceived 15, 1.27 a.m.) Durban, March 14. Messrs. Fischer, Wolmarans, and Weasels, of the Free State and Transvaal Republic?, are leaving Delagoa Bay for Europe on a peace mission. THE WARJOAN BILL (Received 14, 1.27 a.m.) London, March 14. The Loan Bill was read a second -time by 268 to 24. Sir W. Vernon Haroourt endorsed the measure.

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

(Received 14, 9.30 a.m.) London, March 13. The remainder of the British militia will be embodied for service during the month of May. Lieut. McCartney, of the Royal Fusiliers, who was wounded at Pieter's Hill, is progressing favourably. The military suppressed a riot at Scarborough, arising out of a pro-Boer meeting held by Cronwright Schreiner. Joshua Bowntree and Schreiner were mobbed. Melbourne, March 14. The Empire Patriotic Fund has reached £69,000. The Mayor has cabled £20,000 to the Lord Mayor of Loudon. (Received 14,10.16 p.m.) Sydney, March 14. The Government has proclaimed St. Patrick's Day a public holiday, as a tribute to the gallantry of the Irish regiments in the Transvaal. (Received 15, 1.27 am.) London, March 14. A Blue Book has been issued dealing with the seizure of the German steamer Buudesrath at Delagoa. Lord Salisbury blamed Count Hatzfeldt for his abruptness and unfounded imputations. Ifo instanced the British vessels Springbok and Peterhoff being seized by America in 1863 as precedents. DEATH OF A COLONIAL. (Received 15,1.27 a.m.) London, March 14.

HensmaD, a Westralian, wounded at SUngersfontein last month, has died of his wounds.

THE RELIEF OF KIMBERLEY.

FURTHER PARTICULARS. Received 14,10 a.m. Melbourkk, March 14. The news that General French had entered Kimberley reached the British oateide Jacobsdal shortly before noon on the 16th February. The convoy guard returned, leaving a number of waggons in the hands of the Boer?. The casual ies were very slight, beiDg one man killed and a few wounded. The loss of waggons will not be felt. A deserted Boer laager was found five miles s;»uth-west of here. Pots were on the fires and extra horses saddled and tethered to Cape carte. Blankets littered the ground. The Boers had I evidently left in a hurry. At 6verystorein Jacobsdal there is ■ post<d a British sentry, and men purchasing things arc only allowed to enter b f-w at a time. Nsws was brought to Jacobsdal from the Modder that the enemy were clearing from Magerefontein in all directions. The town of Jacobsdal, which had jNM Mi b ? fow btttwws of infantry

~and a battery of artillery during the night, was entered by the jaain column at 7.30 a.m. The town was deserted : of fighting men. All the citizens in the streets wore Red Cross badges. The German hospital was filled with Boer wounded, some from Magersfontein, others from the fight at Koodoosherg. The hospital flew the German flag beneath the red cross. By some mistake it was hauled down, but immediately replaced. Private property in the town is respected everywhere. The inhabitants, who were in mortal terror, being reassured, are now very glad to see the English in possession. They had been told that everything : would be confiscated and their houses given over to the flames. Food was I scarce, and the people are being fed from the army stores.

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

A PLUCKY WAR CORRESPONDENT. (Received 15, 1.27 a.m.) Sydney, March 14. With reference to Mr. Lambie's death some Bosr accounts state that two correspondents were ordered to hold up their hands and surrender, but, instead, they sought to make their escape. This version is corroborated by Mr. Hales, his companion. General Delarey does not endorse this story. He told a confrere of Lambie's that the latter was bit during the retirement. He rode with the troops, and, being dressed almost in similar manner as i the troops, his position could not be distinguished. Delarey wished Lambie's wife to be informed of his sorrow over the incident. One of the most heroic incidents of the war was the doings of Captain Moore and twenty Westrajians at Slingersfontein. Moore occupied a small kopje, and the Inniskillings moving back, the Westralians were furiously fired on from three sides. The cover was not good, but the gallant colonials held the position from six in the morning till seven at night. It was a day full of individual gallantry. Ultimately the small force had to get away by dashes in twos and threes. With reference to the Battle of Vaal Krantz, while the reinforcements were swinging across the river, as ike last regiment filed over, a shell from " Long Tom " struck the bridge, a second one falling desperately close to the advancing column. Next morning the General commanding, finding he could not, from the nature of the surface of the hill, entrench his troops in order to protect them from the enemy's fire or silence their big guns, determined to abandon the idea of opening a route to Ladysmith from that direction. There were many gallant deeds. One of those grand heroic feats which inspire to almost maddening point took place. The office! s shouted to the men to hold the trenches, The officers of the King's Royal Rifles took up the gfcout. " Hold on, boys'." came from every direction. In a second every man of the 60th Regiment left cover and dashed over the rough ground alongside the mountain, cheering. The enemy kept up a fire, but the enthusiastic advance completely nullified the enemy's object. The situation was gallantly saved, and the reiufoicements swung across the river.

NEW ZEALAND'S AID TO THE EMPIRE.

■Wellington, March 14.

The following is a list of officers of the Fourth Contingent:—No. 1 Oom-, pany, Otago and Southland: Gap tain Fulton, Lieutenants Nicholson, MacDonald, and Keddell. No. 2 Company, Otago and Southland : Captain Harvey, Lieutenants Tubman and Bauchop, a third not yet appointed. No. 3, Wellington: Captain Pringle, Lieutenants Elder, Collins, and Ross. No. 4, Auckland: Captain Walker, Lieutenants Thomson, Johnstone, and Arthur. Lieutenant-Comma nder Davey goes as an extra officer. The appointment of a Commander for the whole Contingent is not divulged. Captains Abbott (Auckland) and Tanner (Napier) will receive captaincies in the Fifth Contingent, The Government has practically completed arrangements for lha departure of the Fifth Contingent. The New Zealand Shipping Company's fine steamer Waimate ins been chartered to convey a portion, and she will probably take something like 300 men end about the same number of horses. Another vessel now in Australia, said to be the Toroa, is also under charter, and she will take the balance. The Waimate, so far as present arrangements go, will leave here for South Africa on March 31st.

Dunbdin, March 14,

The work at the camp to-day was of a routine nature. The camp having now been extended, lines are put down on the Imperial method. The Organising Committee are making elaborate preparations for the send-off. A de? moastration stand is being built on the Southern Oval, which is to cost about £350, for the ceremony, which will take place in the Oval. Two of the Auckland section of the contingent arrived this evening. Eight others, with 40 horses, had to stay at Oamaru through a block on the railway, but they will come on early in the morning. THE HERO OF MAFEKING. BADEN-POWELL AND HIS FAMILY. ("M.A.IV) BADEN-I'OWELL. Colonel Baden-Powell has travelled widely, and has had many adventures for a man or forty-two. He has served in Ashantee, ludii, Afghanistan, Zululand, and Matabeleland, and has a wonderful talent for getting work out of lower races, his principle being that " a smile and a stick will carry you through any difficulty in the world." He knows a little about a great many things, and has, perhaps, as many accomplishments as any other Englishman of his time. Not only is he a soldier and a wonderful scout, but he is also an author with a clear and animated style; an artist who can | illustrate his own books, and etch and paint equally well; an amateur actor of fine versatility; a musician with an excellent voice; a sportsman ' equally at home, *n the, woad,g and, 69

j a yacht; a crack rifle shot, an expert swordsman, a polo player, and the natural master of revels in any garrison or social circle. Colonel Baden-Powell is a child of nature as well as a man of the world, and with all his varied accomplishments, he has the .keen senses of an American Indian. If he had been Sir George White's chief of staff or Sir William Gatacre's " policeman," the battalions would not have been entrapped in Dutch ambuscades. BADEN-POWELL'S HOME. One of the most charming houses in London, and certainly one of the most interesting, is now, like so many of our English homes, pervaded by constant excitement and unrest. At 8, St. George's Place, Hyde Park Corner, the London home-of Colonel BadenPowell and his mother, the war telegrams are read with a keener and more personal interest than, in almost any other house. Mrs. Baden-Powell, the mother of the gallant defender of Mafeking, is one of the most charming personalities in London. She is a small woman, with a mass of silvery hair, and remarkably bright and vivacious; though, like her son, her manner is singularly quiet and restrained. There is much old 'world ceurtesy about her, and her dress and large old-fashioned pearl earrings give her a delightful air, reminiseent of those days when manners and deportment were of more importance than they seem to be considered to-day. BEES IN A DRAWING-ROOM.

Mrs, Baden-Powell's drawing-room may safely, at least, in one respect, be pronounced absolutely unique. There are few enough people in London who keep bees, but Mrs. and Miss BadenPowell alone have an apiary in their drawing-room! Standing on ornamented pedestals, close •to a great organ which takes up all one wall of a beautiful and lofty room looking out over Hyde Park, are two large straw bee hives with glass windows that allow the insects to be seen at work within. The bees do not, of course, fly about in the room, but escape into the outside window. These bees of Miss Baden-Powell are truly wonderful insects—the very aristocracy of their kind. Wooden models of various objects, such as a bicycle, for example, are placed in the hive, and the bees build their honeycomb upen them in the exact shape required. Many of the tables in the drawing rooms carry glass cases, covering these curious and beautiful models in wax, from which the honey has been carefully drained. I The words " Baden-Powell" form one of the most interesting. THE TREE OF BIRDS.

As one leaves the hall at No. 8, St. George's Place, and mounts to the drawing-room*, which are on the first floor, one is confronted by. a curious and beautiful sight. A young fir-tree planted in a large tub stands in an embrasure upon the stairs. This tree is covered, on nearly every twig, by living birds, which are not caged or confined in any way, but are able to fly about at their own sweet will. These canaries, finches, etc., are the peculiar pets of Miss Baden - Powell, the Colonel's sister —a tall, graceful, gol-den-haired girl, and one of the most charming talkers on art matters one can meet with. MISS BADEN-POWELL'S WORK.

Miss Baden-Powell is not only a] talker on artistic shibboleths, but a well-known and skilful artist, who in her own line has achieved a celebrity almost equal to that of her painter brother, Mr. Frank Baden-Powell. She is a skilful worker in metals, and more particularly in the repousse work which is now so fashionable. Probably one of the most charming pieces of metal work ever executed by a woman is a beautiful design beaten in silver, and made for Princess Louise. THE COLONEL'S LION.

Colonel Baden-Powell is a keon and enthusiastic sportsman. He acquired a taste for the hunting of big game l during his brilliant campaign in the Matabele war, and one of the finest trophies which has ever fallen to a sportsman's gun stands regally outside the drawing-room door. This is a magnificent and awe-inspiring lion of emormous size, which Colonel BadenPowell shot in Africa. Not a naturalist's window in London contains so fine a specimen of the king of beasts, and the Colonel is prouder of this capture than he is of almost any of his other manifold achievements,