BOER WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXII, Issue 246, 13 December 1900, Page 2

BOER WAR.

KROUKKS MISSION UANOS Fill.

[pub raws ijaoounov.]'" Kaoelvod It, 8.48 am. Lobdok, Dtoember 11. TII4 Timet states that The HagM Oorernmant's poiition it uamdUiM. It U considered that there to M further reason for Mr. Engirt fNsenee. Other advices state that Bellaem i firmly deolined to propose arbitratk*.

OOHTKTANOI OF KKOESOIO INVALIDS. '»<' DEBITS IN THI HOOBI Of ÜBQL deceived IM.tfaja.) 5 ... 4 , Lt*MM, Dicmkat )Jt. t . In the House of Lards, Iringktm cotoplained that pjpjij cluneals were sent Home ittJfUl. packed like herrings. ,' % !_ ''Lorjl 'Laosdowpo sod Loral Mf}** explained that superior thitfcpN • accommodation was provided, asnjhlai y mun were very comfortable. Thtdiatliy was ijood, and separate bunk* ip* provided, while invalid* mawf special attention were seat ' Lord Strathoona said the nun ffmatally were satisfied with th* trwtrart Lord Stanm'ore held tha£ tfopotouak were not likely to demand treatment from that aeoardfi ~tf W|ttlars, volunteers, «ad yeomanrf. La'ds UehlswilLTvfwlihaayL tu& Aberdeen ezaraatW dimfiskdfoa Win ihetr&tmenV *' 5 " '", »»' Lord tlarrington wiH nWvl a tipa. futfontftntiub^ettt'FrUty, ' LORO*EOBISbDnriNOi'ni V k rUNIOTaTMEaBUUL "

ReeeLwd IC&MUk. v , , , , . LOSDOK, JfeMßwlftlll , TheMleriee roipepUnrjQoai»jai>iit De Wot is 9win| to the. ihesana. of cotpMppiutMta with Genial jKaorii CpJu«M. r . -i, *i . Lord Roberta, in an addraaj afeflip* Corn,, apojto optipistually rejpntJM of the return # refugees to the &gi|4»iac , only preronted i>r ,tne fear ' Lord aobarta r a«aorMd*m afca** measures ofa oj»v> acter and the burning of ferine WwJ» adopted only after strict enquiry, . ~Lojux»t OMmhir 11. * The Boer* surprised two omoml Highlanders, who war* woodwWUfc is uhe Bustenburg distriets. Wheathair *x*e bad been surrendered the "%tyklandon war* murdered. * LORD aOBKBTB- OBPABTUH. tfiXLANT OSriKOI AT DIWmjMBF.^J BOKRS-tJUX OFIP W4TIB SDfPLf. ' Hoß»ißLHßur«aujQS rootf THIE9T.

SNll'fißS' AT THEIR DEADLY WOUC heavy Bosa losAe. itNOAQfflipSjt NEAR BABftEBTOI. LAKOE CAI'TUBE OK OATTLI AMD HUKBC& • • ■* *\.

INDICATIONS or END OF ftsWQptoft tobg&i *u*.4fc»<*jf tai for Hngland. ' s *■

Details of the captantf th* JDtfSbl* dorp garrison show thai tb» 4ef«c» KuOertKl terribly from thUat, thi» MM oatting off-the water supplf. >' Tit toldiers toogaes wore awaiting. "•* Snipers crawled up, and *tlk'dsM range kept op a ones fir*. SixktfMej* of eighteen of the fun litinhmtja pi killed or wound*!.' Da Wat praised the plucky defeas*, Steyn admitted the Boar lossmceowded the Britiih. . A. strong {ok* or* deUemlat, attaokadaH infantry near Barberton o* tat Bth» Thiy were at once repulsed, but ktar Ojlonel Settle has Meajpitd lds*> ourg, jMittoral tnaitp iLmti sa*s& seven hundred cattis, eight hanirM home, many rebic)«, and >tsrlf prisoners. The families of Government «fiaan •t Pretoria |HU return, thus indicating an •jatatje*. miwitiimei Ae redstanot, * „*

SEHBBHTB*D firiTU A SWOID Of * HONOUR.,. . **„ " » ' i i it* W/itTHEH I'RAHB FOB OOLOMJXO. SIB A. MILNER OOKDKMOT THI AKIUOANDEE OOMOMBf. « | ' HE BCKS UP THI «ITOA1IOir. ! ' '■'

LOaDFlimrjLtONS. i . COLONIALS TO EKMAIM AWHLI 9 Loua«B« • 1 > -*«•—1'» I (Received 13, 0.87 a,p.) 1 Lonrxa, Dwqntwii Lard RAertc, whea inospHsjg »' sword of honour jj; disown,«M»t4 thatthawarhad ««Me4tSj« Scspii*. He praised the *4minbUtMriaMN||U* of the Colonial Cbnting«ota, ""tlfftf he «u confident the fcpoatauMM m! 'Uuoubouh outburst of p itriotittt vnt ] bo war w not «pheia«NL 1 2 Sir A. Miloer, replying to U AM* I kaoder do(Ht*tfoo, a«*3 to forwazi] to England the r**afotfaM eatM Ml [the Worco»tw Oonfcrwoa, ""■'fL| i annexation of the conqutttd. It *PPW I ws irrevocable, and •femwtiilßMMßßl •upp .rlud throughout tie Kaiptrn. flfl •! i omiomnod tlid Congress' wild •zamrJ « ttiori with regard to the oon luotofwrl m mv.nvi 1 '$ ind s ud further resistance by to* BoMt 'was lot morally justifiable, Xht MM " ,,J ***■ |<ww being fed with lias, . vj.iS

„■-. r; >ln the House of Commons a war of sixteen millions was passed by m%2Uto 8. The Hod. St. John Brodfk rick explained that it included half a r^T*Bullion towards the expenditure in China, a million for General BadenPowell's new Transvaal police, a million for repairs to railways damaged daring the war, while the rest was to $■"•" gff the cost of the war. ££*pe' said* that the heavy expense - would continue till the end of March. Bourse compelled to ask the volunteers -*and=eoloniali to make further sacrifices tad remain at their potts, [though he ***n"optl to'release them at an early date. fmt X gjp Michael Hicks-Beach (Chancellor edjof><tke Exchequer) proposes to raise millions in February and March.

BEOKFIION AT WELLINGTON. ♦,'L-v <•- WmusfiToir, December 12. invalided troops who arrived evening were accorded an enthusi*aMM&4Mcepuon. An enormous crowd, - teMnlunberiag several thousands, gathered ****» and,' as the Moana "£jsiteam»jcf alongside, greeted the men cheers. TJfo troopers, on diss* embarking, were welcomed back by the the Hons. Hall-Jones, Mills, at dinner, and attended a .", at the Opera House. The majority of the men appear in good health, but Hessley, of Ashburton, has

not yet recovered from the wounds reat Crocodile River. Trooper of the returned contingent,'was among those captured by De Wet's commando at Saunas Foot. He ** spent eight weeks in captivity, and says ha was treated as well as could be ex.proN infer the circumstances. The men explain that their reason for re- «.! i turning by the Moana was to avoid - the prolonged delay that would have ' fcpen involved in waiting for the de--4 jarsure of the Harlech Castle, which greatly inconvenienced >* r them, as ftey desired to reach their 3 semes as quickly as possible. F. J. l > i .paradine,Phodesian "Volunteers, and :-. G.s Turner, Brabant's Hone, also ar- * 'rived by the Moana. . j #• * .. >.* - \£,*J. IiITKE FKOJJ THU PHONT.

Thbi zbalandebs in thb; thick of -

'/iMiijha fallowing .letter from Trooper, 'f Byin, dSted Zeerust, October 21st, will ' be read with much interest: —" We are •' at presenfcin camp at Zeerust and have had a lot of fighting in getting here, -'; and have lost a good many men one * "way and anather. Oar regiment has, however, been lucky, as we have net '? lost & tingle man, although we have - -been in* the thwk of the fighting and "' 3mve been in some tight corners at "times. Our first skirmish was just „ .after leaving Ottoshoop, on the road to Liohtenburg, and after shelling the ; Boers ant of several kopjes they retired ** with considerable loss., and we did not

«MOe in touch with them till two days \ later, when .they opened a heavy fire on - «ur picket at daybreak, at a place called Wonderfontein. The supports * irent out at a gallop, and I went along \ with a [squadron of the Bushmen - (Australians), and we were soon in the ". thick of it, with the bullets whistling '- > in all'directions. We qnickly took

what cover was available, and returned the fire with such good effect that the , Boer* retreated, and in half-an-hour k" -wire oat of range. Captain Ryrie, of the Bushmen, was shot about 50 yards to the left of where! was firing, and '? - Jan-'iEnglish officer, who was foolish enough to expose himself in handing 4 ' SoaeNsome cartridges, got a ballet through -■ shoulder strap, but lackily it did ' .tact damage kin at all, though, I guess, be wilTieep behind his rock next time. * Boers had a pom-pern in action in jjthjs skirmish, and wounded three of ;., iwirfttjuadron with it, bat did no further damage. This gun was practically bat, by a mistake of the Brigadier, our 15.- pounders, which had a».Jbean Drought to bear upon it, were <,i at the critical moment, so -that the Boers effected, their escape " * with'' the gun. From Wonderfontein jj, went to Manana, and captured part <rf a Boer convoy, as-well as a number of prisoners, and a lot of cattle and M ;<meep. We lost a lieutenant and a 1 '•corporal (Australians) in this skirmish. e-. Jfo»'Manana we went on to Birbera' Pan and Lswnpin, and then back to > -Kchtenburg. Whilst camped outside Jjichtanburg we had a skirmish with .JLahuafir's commando and lost 7 men in - ifao affray, but again the Boers outwitted our leaders and escap9d. We ' treeked From Lichtehourg in the direof ition-'Of jOommmandps Nek, jaining Hethuen's colam some five miles from the Nek. ( Beth vcolumns entered the N*k together, bat to our surprise no I were met with, so we tracked' the Nek to Rnstenburg un-| •Broadwood's Cavalry Brigade, with artillery and, part of the Sighlanders, were at Kastenburg, and we were treated to as opea-air concert by «c,tbo., troops, and Sha Yorka' Bind turned up and played some splea- " did music. Thwhig-'pipea were also in evidence, and m'ide the night hideous wfftf their shrill ' selections,' as thay

called tttem. From Rastenbarg we , treoto4 through MagatM Pass towards 4hig place, and had two pretty tough She road. At one of'our camps \ JJoars got their guns on to our camp 4U>d killed two or thro 9 men before we could gat on to thsm, bat M,ethuen's ,'"g«B8 were üßlimbi-red ia double-quick tuney'tad aooa pat the extinguisher on * the : !Bd3r gan, but failed to captare it. * Tfre'were "*dvanc3 ftxfik guard" whea * filing »«•• way phrou s h the hills 10 *.«us*pwsent camp, mi the. General complimented us oa the way in which fiipied 'oui our work, hut ''"there* was 'a good deal of luck m attached to • our getting through the Pass eo easily, 'as the Boars were juat about a quwter of au hour i. late » Ceodpying their positions and the hills before they were aware we were there, and their fccoute received 'the first warning of cur presence . Jitffit- volley of bullets we sent into ASte-Ui{'bntM the rarge was over 1000 '{jjkriitin could no» uei what effcet they |js£a3f r Tite rear-guard and the guna in, ac'ion' and were kept jS-irieason cno of tha <4to»rtb. Conyneus Leiug killeiin this *' action. Ye-terday the Boers were reported to be entrenched in astrongposi- -, tion about two miles south at our camp utf the gwa if art out au.<i dme &m

r southward towards Methuen's column, ' and Methuen was engaged with ■ them all day, bis big guns keepk jng »p a heavy shell fire, whilst i the rifle fira was very heavy. We have not yet heard the result «f this action, • bat by the amount of firing goinj on, 1 the losses on both sides must be pretty 1 he»vy, and there is a rumour that Methuen lost over 60 men, and I i should put the Boer losses down as > rather over that number, as our shelli fire wss well directed and at fairly close range. To-day, Sunday, is quiet, i and we are enjoying a day's rest and writing as many letters as we can, the mail being expected to leave early next week. The war from our point of view is likely to drag on for some months yet, and the tactics of eur Generals are certainly open ts criticism, the Boer commandos appearing do pretty well as they like, and although we have sufficient force to chew them up, no decisive action, is taken and time after time the Boers are allowed to slip through our fingers when prompt and energetic action would inflict severe loss upon them, and thus force a surrender. From the tone of the New Zealand papers one would think that the war is over, but if some ef their ' rep»rter*,were facing the Mausers with us they would sing a different sang and say with us, that although the Boer has had his. wings clipped he can still bite, and that to some Jeflect, more especially when every hill is coni verted into a regular fortress, as is the | case round about here. At present , we are on three-quarter rations (3£ biscuits and bsef) and will be glad when ] the convey with stores arrives from ( Ottoshoop. It should be in to-day sometime. Ido not think we will get home till we have served our 12 months, but every man of us will be glad when the order comes to pack up for home, and as the wet season is just coming on, and as we have no tents, I should anticipate a lot of sickness ( amongst our troops during the next < three months. At present lam in the ( best of health and spir|ts,and will, with t luck, beb up again serenely when the troops go home. g