Show MUST W AIr 8 FlistUlly for f i the Present Has Paused in i South Africa BTS1 S i ARE P IMPTENT I P Oceans of Ink are Poured Out in Advice ROBERTS HOLDS THE REINs Until Ho Givcs the Word for the Formal Movement into tho Preo State which According to tho Most Cheerful View Ho will bo Unable to Do in n Fortnight Nothing Can be Done British Public as Well as Government Agreo on One Thing and that is that More Men Must Go to the Front Tho Total British Casualties of the War as Compiled from Official Reports are 0523 Nearly n DivisionHome Troops in Africa Now 116000 London Jan 30 History pause for n time in South Africa I Is one of those unsatisfactory pauses that arc nearly a trying to British nerves a a sequence of reverses and apparently It will terminate only when Lord Roberts gives the word for the forward movement move-ment Into the Free State which according cording to the most cheerful view he will bo unable to do for a fortnight Whether he will permit Gen Buller to make another attempt lo relieve Ladysmlth Is quite outside the knowl I cdgojexcji of thoijo closely connected with the War office With the troops due to arrive next month ho may think himself strong enough to try two large operations Combining the forces under Gens Me thuen French and Gatacre and adding to them the arriving troops Lord Roberts Rob-erts would have 70000 for tho invasion of tho Free State with 40000 to 50000 guarding communications and 40000 trying to rescue Ladysmlth PUBLIC IMPATIENT The public burns with impatience that something should be done but there is nothing to do but walt on tho preparations prepara-tions Oceans of Ink are poured out in advice Orators are at work in the provinces telling the people that England Eng-land has set her teeth In grim determination deter-mination to see It through The Governments declaration in Parliament Par-liament the counterdeclarations of those outside the Government and the consequent discussion in the press and on the platform will Immediately enthrall en-thrall the public Interest MORE MEN MUST GO The thing on which everybody seems agreed is i that more men must go Twenty thousand two hundred and twcntytwol men andrf guns are at sea Eleven thousand Infantry and 9000 cavalry Including 5000 yeomen arc practically ready to embark Therefore the Government without doing more can place at the disposal of Lord Roberts Rob-erts IOUOO additional men and 155 guns The further purposes of the War office officials are supposed to embrace somewhere some-where In the neighborhood of HOOOO men As the indication is that candidates will bo rather scarce the War office will Issue I orders for those reservists wi orcc who were found unlit at the prelous mobilisation examination to report for mobl lon further examination Applicants for cavalry service are still freely offering as yeomanry BULLERS LOSSES Gen BullerH operations has cost 912 men so far officially reported within ten days Applying to the O Spionkop casualties reported yesterday the rule of proportion the losses of ofllcers indicated in-dicated is GOO casualties yet to come The total casualties of the war compiled com-piled from official reports are 9523 nearly IL division Of these 2J8C arc killed 1S11 wounded and the rest are prisoners The aggregate British homo troops In South Africa number 110000 the Nn lallan 71GS and Cape Colonials 21000 DESPERATE FIGHTING A special dispatch from Frere camp dated Friday January 2Gth 910 p m pays I have just ridden In here having left Gen Bullers forces In then the-n ev positions south of Tug eln to which they retired In consequence of the re verse at Spionkop The fighting both before and after the occupation of the mountain was of occupnton character Spionkop IK a a desperate charcter pcrate precipitous n mountain overtopping the I whole line of kopjes along the upper Tugola On the eastern side the mountain moun-tain faces Mount Alice and Potgleter8 drift standing nt right angles to tho Boor central position and ryttlelon advanced position The southern point descends In abrupt steps to the lower deJcsuls line of kopJes On the western ldj opposite the right outposts of Warren force It Is Inaccessibly jstoep until the lure point where the nek Join the kop to main Then there Is a gentle the range thor H lenle I slope which allows easy access to the I summit summllHELD BY BOERS Tlie nek was strongly held by the Bo n who alpo orrupl a heavy spur parallel with the kopje vvhero the fie inv wns concealed In no fewer than Ihlrtyflv rifle nlU and wju thus enabled en-abled to bring to bear upon the men a upn damiiglng crovflre the only possible point for f British attack being th pint side with virtually sheer precipice on tbe left and right In a narrow foot Ith admitting men In single file only to th summit mn opens Into a perfect flat table land probably of WO square yards area upon which the Beers had hastily com ro nrwl to make l trnnnvcrw trench Our men were able to occupy the fur the end of this table land where the ridge descends to another flat which was again succeeded by a round eminence strength emi-nence held by tho Boers In great strengthWAS WAS A PERFECT HELL The rldgo held by our men was faced by r number of strong little kopjes at all angles whence the Boer sent a concentrated lire from their rifles supported by a Maxim Norden feldt and a big longrange gun What with the rifles the machine guns and i i the hlg sun the summit was converted Into a perfect hell The shells exploded contlAxally In our ranks and the rifle J1 lire from an absolutely unseen enemy was perfectly appalling Reinforcements were hurried up by Gen Warren but they had to cross a stretch of flat ground which was literally orally torn up by he I flying lead of the enemy The unfinished trench on I the summit gave very questionable shelter as the enemys machine guns were so accurately trained upon the place that often sixteen shells fell In the trench In a single minute Mortal man could not permanently hold such a position Our gallant fellows fel-lows held it tenaciously for twentyfour hour and then taking advantage of the dark night abandoned It to the enemy 1 |