The Transvaal.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume II, Issue 131, 10 April 1900, Page 3

The Transvaal.

London, April 5. "the conformation of the ground ■eastward of Bloemfoncein is adapted to the Boer tactics. Lord Boberts seeks to draw them to Ms ground. The Boers at Kroonstad have been reinforced by Commander Ollivier. The enemy ia in some force at Bush man's Kop, threatening to ruin the railway. Cronis and Colonel Schiel have •sailed from Biuionstown for St. Helena ■with 1000 other prisoners. Major Booth (N'ortlm.ißbeirland Regiment) with two other officers, and two men on Saturday at the Bloeinfontein waterworks kept 500 Boers at bay> -thus enabling Colonel Bro;idwood to secure a position. JMajor Booth was Mliul... The Vow nvpeople of Bloemfontein *v\' ' e&tl'.- « fi the turn of events. L'j'd i.'obtj is ordered the civilians .uduon ;u S o'clock at night. Several le^iieiifcs have been arrested for a.ifucking with the enemy. Mafekmg reports all well on the 37 th. Qoloel ritmior, on the 25 th, b3' aight maiches, reached near Zeerust md daajiag£)d\'jhe lioer cciumtucationHo thea -etamed novtL'to Pitsani. liemounts for General French's realty are arriving at BloGmfontein. A dozen Bopi* prisoners, malingerers at the hospital at Simonstown, who attempted to escape, were shipped to ftt. Helena. According to the story of the refu^'.'es at Bloemfontein, the Boers on ! ihe Basutoland border cruelly llltreated i'Vi burghers who surrendered. Some vie.v 'ic. and many, by intimiSation, svjre lorced to rejoin the Boer fighters.

April 0. Sm^.y Dragoon Guards charged™ the 3 -us on Sunday, and recaptured 91 pi toners, who were taken at Kroon»pimb on Saturday, includiug 11 officers. General 'Clements has reachLd^five rink'- north of Bloernfontein. The uiiuch was peacef 11. A commando demanded Biigadier Biabant's surrender at Wepener, to a\ oul bloodshed. Hs was told '• no " for the answer and tho Boers opened the attack. Pretorius claims a victory at Ikmathl-bama "|on thel 81st. He states that 20 of Colonel Plumer's inon were killed, including five officer ■>, a.iv} nine captured. Major-General Baden-Powell in effectually sortied from Mafeking simultaneously. TheJDaily News states that 70 shells .'ell into Marking on Friday morning'ihicli is a record. There are still 2300 besiegers, but it is thought many have deserted. A.t Kroonspruit, 17 New Zealanders' 'J 'icier Islajor Robin, were captured. The nmt-uder 6f the New Zealanders 'ought their way clear of the ambush. Tht»* extrication of Colonel Broad wood wjvi d is to four guos of the "JQ '' Battery. When warnedjof the danger 'hiy'iptreated l'rona the crescent of the f^nga, which was spouting fire at the Butisii The guns then, came into action ' t 'to allow '.Roberts' Horse and -Counted to reform. This checked the onward rush of the enemy. Afrn\/auU£the battery %-\w dragged Qlosi 1 , the mountfed infantry (among "Aii'jin were the Queenslanders.) ;covertog (he recreafc. Despite the proximity °f tbe enemy, the Australian Horse aod Sew South Wales Lancers rose to their feet and cheered tbe gallant remnant'of the artillery. The Transvaal account of the am" claims that the Boers -captured, besides some cannon, 380 prisoners. Fifty men of Kitchener's Horse Were surrounded ana captured at Biet river, after a desperate resistance. The enemy claim that their losses at Ki'oonspruit was three killed and 10 All the prisoners captured at Doomspruit have been sent td Winburg. Hajor-General Hutton, late £omsaandant of the Canadian Forces, has keoa appointed to command a division

composed of Carbineers, Australians, and Canadians, at Bloemfontein. j The Australian detachment captured 1000 cattle near Brandfort. General Clements marched continuously for 15 days. ! Brigadier Brabant's engagement at Wepener was confined to outposts. Mr Rhodes has arrived in London arid will return to Rhodesia in a few weeks. Newspapers discredit the enemy's I assertion that they captured at Doom ! spruit British plans for the invasion -of the Republics. Fifty men of "E" squadron of Kitchener's Horse, while guarding a farm at Riot river, on March 15th, were surrounded. They offered a desperate resistance through loopholed walls. They were three days without food, and then they caught a goat. All the horses died of starvation. On the fourth day the men were completely exhausted and surrendered. J Four hundred Boers were engaged ' in. the attack on Kitchener's Horse at! the farm house. General Clements' long march was without incident. He found tae -country peaceful. Two men were arrested at Beaufort West, £&t) attempting to wreck the train in which Sir A. Milner returned | to the Cape. ' [ [ i

April 7. It is officially reported that Geneial Broadwood's loss included t'*fl folio wing New Zealanders missing :—: — Quartermaster-sergeant Sadler, Sergeant Harris, Privates Jewell "(Auck land), Miller (Otago), Pope (Waikafco), Powell (Wanganui), Warrant. Valentine (llawcrn), "Wyllie (Alexandra), Butler (Auckland), Gather-all, Cossar (Canterbury), Franklin, Heenan (Southland), Prosser (Ellosnaore)* Palmer and Waldie. General Methven, at Boshof, killed seven of the enemy, including Count Devillebois Mavcouil, a French strale gist. General Methven also took 54 prisoners ; nobody escaping. The fighting lasted four hours. Mr Wyndham stated that on March 31 st the Boit prisoners numbered 5000 and the British 3406. The following official reports to hand ■state that a strong Boer force, with four guns, on Wednesday surrounded and captured three companies of the Royal Irish Rifles and two companies of the Ninth Mounted Infantry at ISeddersberg, 85 milea south of Bloern fontein. The fighting lasted 21 hours. TJhe, Times, commenting on the Reddersberg fight, insists on the urgency of entrenching isolated positions, to enable them to stand a siege," and forecasts that it will be a war of small actions, equally with great combinations. Possibly the war will be wholly of detail. Several members of the Imperial Yeomanry were killed at Kroomspruit. The British casualties numbered 450. After 'the 'battle of lie&dersbnrg, detachments were sent from Bloern fontein and Springfontein. They obtained no news of the missing British foi'ce. After the Boers hoisted the tvhUe fhg at Boshoff, a Boer shot Capt i Boyle, of tho Imperial Yeomamy, dead. The murderer .was lulled. Kruger is minting British money dated 1892. He declares the output from the Transvaal gold mines is ample to cover the cost of the war. April 8. There were 10 killed at Eeddersberg, 35 wounded, and 546 taken prisoners. The Boers numbered 3200.

Capetown, April 7. The transport Winkfield rammed the Union liner Mexican, during a fog near Capatown. The Mexican sank. Everybody was saveci.

'Sydney, April 6. i Two hundred and fifty remounts were shipped by the Medic for the British army in South Africa. Altogether <oveir 4000 -were purdhased in j the colony.

April S. The dpparture of the linperinl Bushmen has been postponed until April 23rd. „ * , Major" Bobin cables : — " Seventeen [ New Zealanders captured, but all well. Ten horses were shot." i r Major Cradock cables that so far the Secon'dJGontingent have had -no oßghting but plenty of inarching. He expects to join Lord Eoberttf eborily.