The Transvaal.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume II, Issue 140, 3 May 1900, Page 3

The Transvaal.

London, April 29. The prompt evacuation of Dewetsdorp v. as clue to Botha's orders. The Boers, mv abating 6000, withdrew with lour S prs. and ( \vo T7 V_j:er-Maxiißs. The Bi'tWi at Glen camp have been ! eoiwderauiy 'reinforced, and therii are other indications of the limnineuee ol an advfiuc^. There are indications thio Genera^ Hunter and Carrin^ton^will co oporafcn to oompel the iai&iug ot the siege of M.ifoking. Mr Hay, American Consul at Pretoiia, lias secured bettor troai/uent for British prisoners, including the South African forces.

April SO. . General Brabant is advancing on Ladybrand. Mr W. H. de Beaufort, Minister for Foreign Affairs iv Holland, who sounded Europe at Mr Fischer's instance, has informed Mr Fischer th.it his mission is a failure. The Boor peace delegates start for America on Thursday. The Times and Standard's Washington correspondents anticipate that President McKinley will favour proBoer utterances with a view vto catching votes, but Mr Fischer will grievously err in imagining that any party in America will eter take action. The recent explosion at Johannesburg \va& really at Begbio and 1 olman's engineering foundry, whicl is being used as tho Government arsen il ; 30 persons were lulled and j4 injuied. William Begbie, a son of the principal.p al. has been arrested on suspicion o causing the explosion as a revenge for an .afftont in being compelled to'iaaimfacture munitions of war for the BoPKt. General Rundle has isachod Thabanchu. General French had a slight skirruish ten miles easfcward^of Thabauchu. A portion of the enemy went north, others townrd^ Lidybrand. Boers from Wepener, disliking tho proximity of the Basutos, instead of going via Ladybrand went towaids Thabauchu iv the direction of Win burg. Commander Botha's strategy in withdrawing his main forces past Thabanchu and Patchoa up the Leeuw Iliver Valley forestalled the British interception of them by 24 hours. Six New Zealand Bough Eiders, scouting beyond Boesmankop, fought six Boers at 50 yards, killing three and wounding the other 1 three. One New Zealander was dangorously wounded in the shoulder. The hospitals at Capetown are being cleared in view of Lord Roberts' eaily advance operations. The cavalry are slowly compelling a strong Boer rearguard, which is stubbornly clefe iding steep hills north of Thabanchu, to retreat northwards, where most of the guns and baggage have been withdrawn. Colonel Dalgety's force of 1700 at Wepener resisted 8000 Boers for 17 days. They were heavily shelled throughout, losing 80 skilled and 150 wounded. The country eastward of the railway is now entirely cleared of tho enemy. The commandos are broken up, and many have returned to their farms. Krrger's reluotancein cancelling the preparations t& destroy the Sand mines, was due to Botha's threat to resign if the preparations were continued. Dr Frederick Treves, who accompanied Sir William MacCormack to the front, has returned, and was banquetted by the Kefortn Club. He declared that the amateur nurses in ' South Africa are an absolute terror, and a worse plague than flies.

New Yoeij, May 1. <Mr Hay, the American "Secretary of State, intimated that he would receive Fisher and his colleagues unofficiallyand merely .as distingulsed individual visitors. The Senate, by 29 to 20, declined to discuss Mr Pettigrew's resolutions of sympathy with the Boers. Mr Bryan, speaking .at Chicago, declared that if elected president of a Democratic Government he would express moral sympathy with the Boers, and tender good offices at the proper moment.

Albany, May 1. About a score of stowaways from Sydney were landed from the troopship Armenian.

Melbourne, May 1. The Victorian lias sailed with 608 Imperial Bushmen, and 779 horses, with Lieutenant-Colonel Kelly in command. They were accorded an.enthusiastic send off. *

" Tliere is more pleasure in giving j than receiving,' was the proveib that a j mother w%s trying to instil into a youthful mind. " That's true about castoi oil, author," was _he answer she jpt. i