The Transvaal.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume II, Issue 154, 26 May 1900, Page 3

The Transvaal.

London, May 22. Colonel IVlahonV relief column took twenty waggon loads of supplies forward. An official report states "jfchat Colonel Mahon entered Mafeking at 4 o'clock on tho morning of Friday, 3.Bth' On the previous day he encountered fifteen hundied Boers nn a strong position nine miles from Mafeking After a stubborn resistance 'lasting 1 over five hours, the Boers were driven from , their defences. A detachment of ' Canadian artillery by forced marches arrived 'in time to give valuable assistance An 'the British triumph. A report has been received from Maritzburg to the effect that the Boera have left the colony and have aban doned Laings Nek, after wrecking" thei ■railway, and thus delaying General Buller's advance. j The statement is c«mtra<3icfcecl that President Kruger sent peace proposals couched in very hnmble terms to Lord Salisbury.

iMay 23. An official report states that General Buller, when at Dundee, orderedGeneral Bethune with 500 men to proceed to Ngtu, Zululand, which was reported to have been evacuated by the Boera, (instructing him then to return to Newcastle. While marching to 'Newcastle on the 20th, a squadron of General Bethunes mounted were ambushed by the Boers, six milea south-west of Vryheid. The casualties, including oaptured, numbered 60. Earl Delia tWarr was slightly wounded in the leg. General Betnurie returned to Ngtu for supplies. The '.Times says that the orders which General Bethune received did not justify his advance) into rthe TransvaaL Kruger, Mr Reitz, and the Hollanders alone.now run the Government of the Transvaal. Mrs Reitz and family, and the families of the other officials have gone to Delagoa Bay. i The Times' Delagoa Bay .correapoorlentstateg that President Kruger h?aa 'transferred the bulk of his fortune to the names of various friends,Jearing confiscation. Several interesting baitle ituiidanis have been related. A bullet smashed Major-General JPowell's watch, .although he himself escaped unhurt. It is affirmed in Capetown that Eish«r.ha9 advised Kruger to surrender on. the best tevms obtainable. '- rr ~ ' There Are indications "4hat Lord' Roberts when across the T Vaal river will announce that 'if burghers return to their homes their homes their property and stock will be respected. ' It is believed that the majority are willing to accept the proposition. Lord Roberts' speed, strategy, and strength are overwhelming and damoralisiug the Boers. Lor,d Roberts, from the south bank of the Pthenostor River, telegraphs' that the enemy, finding their rear threatened, abandoned .during the oight their strongly .entrenched position on -the north bank. The bndgo across the Rhenoster River and several culverts, with some miles ,of railway, wer« destroyed. ■, Major- General French's passage lower down was stoutly disputed, and he might hare lost heavily but for the 'concerted plan of bringing General, .Smith* Dorriqn's force^ opportunely onl the enemy's iUink. 1 \ May 24. ' Eight] hundred submissions were received at ,Vryburg district. The Queensland Bushmen, in the fight before Marking, behaved with magnificent recklessness, and earae .through scathles^. - ' New "York, May 22. President tacKinley »un6fficially received the Boer, delegajbe^, and declared l that Mr Hay's > intimation was final/ Nq credentials* were by tha ' delegates. , Melbourne, Mfcy 24. Arrived — Moravian, with invalided. Australian , ( soLdierB, among whom are .the following New Zealanders :—Ser-geant-farrier Neiison, dislocated hip, theVasult of a horse accident at Maitland,t; Trooper R* ,T, Arthur, irheu-, matisnx, At Slingersfontein ; Shoeingsmith ',Taylor, rheumatism and influenza, at . Grasspan. ; Trooper Saely," "dytc^ery and debility, at Paardebetfg ;l TrooEfer -Young, injidry tothe,spine ( |y fl hob accident. at Jasfqntein, arid' Harc&ng (Napieti). .Twehty;four / -New' Spu^th Wales -men, ,'l3 -Victorians', 2. Westralians',-4 iioalh Australiau's, ariH' 1 TasfmajiidJ. iive fncluSediiix.tHe list.