| Show BOERS ESCAPE roberts does not report any successful movements boers in natal are preparing to winter near bullers army passes are well guarded more of captured boers of cronies Cron jes army reach st helena london april 28 p m the british in the orange free state are still apparently following the boers northward but at this hour there is no word tram the most interesting field 0 operations A dispatch from lady smith under date says there are only small parties of boers in the pass but some hundreds are guarding van Rec nans pass and vers hoek pass commandants deber and are in charge and their forces have bean so disposed that the whole body can be massed at any pass the british may attempt to force A dispatch from dated friday april 27 says residents of that place claim the strength of the boer force which recently evacuated that place was six thousand men with eix guns under german officers the st james gazette this afternoon dealing with the problem of the treatment of the tree farmers suggests a revival of gen wellers Wey lers con contrado cen trado system minus the horrible dishonesty of its execution london april 28 a m in commandant general louis botha the boers appear to have found a capable successor to joubert As the result of his insight and quick decision it may be assumed now that the retreating commandoes comman does have gotten safely away with the transport it is true that general roberts dispatch leaves much unsaid as to the whereabouts of other forces than those of gen french and gen rundle nothing is said about the troops of generals brabant boie carew hart and chermside but the indications from alewal north show that several small commandoes comman does are still hovering in the of springfield causing a certain amount of danger and the ad vices from outlining the duties of gen chermside justify the conclusion that it will still be sary to employ a considerable body of troops to keep the free states clear of boers the position is that the boers who began their raid a month ago by compelling col broadwood to retire on Bloem fontein have now gotten safely away to the northward practically without loss but with tho advantage of seven british guns together with a hundred prisoners captured meanwhile the advance to pretoria has not begun small wonder Is it that muffled complaints and criticisms are beginning to be heard here and there against lord roberts two thirds of his entire force have been employed in effecting a small result and the probability Is that the whole force must bs again concentrated on before the i main advance begins As similar raids on the british communications are likely to be repeated it Is evidently still a tar away cry of on to pretoria the significance of gen hunters division going to kimberley where mounted troops are also arriving dally is now said to be a serious attempt to deal with the strong boer forces on the vaal river now threatening to retake barkley and then an endeavor to relieve it will be borne in mind that gen hunter paid a hurried visit to lord roberta at A temporary railway bridge has just been completed at bethulia Be thulie where hitherto railway trucks have been transferred over the wagon bridge this will greatly facilitate getting stores up to mr poultney bigelow discussing the treatment of south african rebels says that the wisdom of the united states government in not punishing the confederates after the war of secession has borne good fruit and he suggests that a similar result would follow a similar liberal policy in south africa the pretoria correspondent of the daily news says on monday erastus de klock was sentenced to two years at hard labor tor guiding the british to the ladysmith Lady smith correspondent of the daily telegraph says the boers are preparing to spend the winter at natal they are bringing their stock from the high veldt into natal for winter grazing and they are demanding that the kaffits pay the hut tax to them instead of to the natal government they also declare that unless the kaffits work for them they the kaffits firs must remove bouth of sundays river the ladysmith Lady smith correspondent of the standard says the strength of the boers in the Biggars berg district Is believed to be between and they are commanded by gen lucas meyer and are well supplied with artillery the correspondent of the times telegraphing thursday says there appears to bo little chance of inflicting effective punishment on the retreating boers commandant louis botha who arrived at monday realized the situation at once and ordered the immediate withdrawal of the boers both from there and from lepener We pener the correspondent of the dally telegraph under thursdays date says the boers who retreated from kept well ahead of gen franchs frenchs Frenc hs cavalry unless the enemy should make a stand att kroon stad lord roberts will rapidly croas the vaal river other dispatches threw interesting points of light upon the situation one special says that wagons of a boer heavy transport train have reached Kro onstad from the south only light wagons have been left behind tho boers have organized a specially mounted corps for foraging and other work requiring special mobility another reports that before the boers were driven from about ot them had been slowly retiring toward Lady brand where large supplies are stored and immense cornfields are ready for harvesting new york april as A dispatch to the new york tribune from london says the rigorous censorship has excluded press news from the free state tor twenty tour hours the war correspondents spon dents owing to abo extensive deployment of five divisions and two cavalry brigades have with ono or two exceptions returned to headquarters at and their conjectures respecting spec ting the direction of the lines of the boer retreat and british operations have not been in accord general roberts in a midnight dispatch presented a brief summary of the situation as be understood it at 3 friday afternoon but left several points in doubt general hamilton with the mounted infantry and one brigade of the ninth division had reached chaba achu where general french joined him with his cavalry brigades yesterday morning run dies division being a few miles south the boers were still holding the eastern outlet of the town and french and hamilton were preparing to turn them out both hamilton and french had made fine forced marches but it was not clear whether the main body of the boers bad retired to chaba achu from or had gone across the country towards conatta to effect a junction with Oliv lers forces retreating from lepener We pener the former theory was more probable but even in that case it was uncertain whether the boers had remained in force or had left a rear guard in the town general roberts reported that general brabazon with the yeomanry cavalry had gone as far as lepener and returned to where charm sides division was still halting pole carels division was either at debets dorp or was marching toward chaba achu there was nothing from we pener and no other official news except a few casualties and a report of an outpost affair near bethoulle Bet hulle general roberts operations are now conducted on GO large a scale that the public here Is dazed by them and requires some definite result like another Parr deburg in order to be convinced that he is making progress the ex ports regard has manoeuvres as masterly |
