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Show London, M.T.v SI, 3 a. m. Testerday at noon the Lritish were only about two hours' march from Pretoria, and the Boer military forces had abandoned the city. This intelligence comes from the Keuter agent at the Transvaal capital, and from the Earl of Rosslyn, in a press dispatch. The tvo messages left about the same time. At 2 o'c lock this morning the war ojf-fice ojf-fice had received no news rrom Lord Roberts which the officials would make public, but it is assumed that the press advices, are correct. Most of the London morning papers, through the courtesy of the Daily Mail, print Lord Roberts' dispatch and comment com-ment upon it, treating the war as ended. Some of the more cautious critics think that guerrilla warfij-e is likely to be carried on for some lime in various vari-ous parts of the conquered territory. All of the RoeY forces are dissolving. Lord Roberts, apparently, has not yet taken any considerable quantities of artillery, arms or stores. Large bodies of Boers must still be somewhere some-where in the field. Watervalboven or WaterfaJlboven, is 130 miles due east of Pretoria, on the Delagoa Bay railway. It should not be confused with Waterval, ten miles north of Pretoria, wlio the British prisoners are. Watervalboven is a small place in a mountainous country. The seat of the Boer, government what there is left of it will probably be Lyndenberg. to the north. A dispatch from Lourenzo Marquez, dated Wednesday, says: 'Commandant K rails has surrendered Johannesburg to Lord Rolierts. By tonight's to-night's train from Pretoria arrived a few Greeks, who say they were told to leave Pretoria Tuesday. They affirm th; t the train in which they left was shelled by the British, and that half of the train was cut off, the remainder steaming away. This incident probably prob-ably occurred at Elansfontein junction. "Passengers from Pretoria assert that the town is utterly demoralized. There is a mad rush for the coast. Five trainloads of fugitives are expected here tonight." The Lourenzo.- Marquez correspondents correspon-dents think the border trouble between the Transvaal and Portugal may come to a head at any moment. Komati bridge is strongly defended. Yesterday the l'ortuguese authorities were preparing pre-paring to resist a possible engagement. A mule battery was sent to the frontier. fron-tier. The Lourenzo Marquez correspondent of the Tunes says: "It would not be surprising if a large proportion of the re be! Dutch sought temporary refuge on Portuguese territory. Although the authorities here are reticent, they are not blind to such a possibility." It is reported that a special train from Pretoria, with fugitives, was derailed de-railed on the Transvaal side of Mo-matipoort. Mo-matipoort. a number of passengers being be-ing killed or injured. The British authorities at Ruluwayo think the Boers will retire into southern south-ern Rhodesia. By the release of the British prisoners prison-ers at Waterval a full brigade will "be added to the army of Lord Roberts, as there were 177 officers and 4, IS- privates among them. Events elsewhere in the lield of war seem to dwindle in comparison. General Hunter re-entered the Transvaal at Maribogopan Tuesday. The advance 1 was made off the railway. Water is scarce, -and all the farms are deserted. Yesterday General -Hunter reached Gcysdorp with ten days' sur plies. Maribogopan is half way between J Yryhurg and MaTeking. Geysdorp is from twelve to fifteen miles east. General Gen-eral Hunter meets with no resistance. General Badt-n-Powell is invading' further north without opposition. Com- lnandant Snyman has gone toward Pre- j toria. In northern Natal Utrecht has surrendered sur-rendered to General Hildyard and General Gen-eral Lyttleton is moving to Yryheid. j Three different correspondents esti- j mate the number of Boers at Laing's Nek at alut 10.080. Two Australians who escaped from I'retoria on April 2S have arrived at MaTeking, having spent a month on the veldt, with tut little food and no Wankcts. They'; slept by day and inarched by night. They complain bitterly bit-terly of their treatment at Pretoria. The following dispatch has been re- j ceived at the war office from General ; Uuller: - 1 j "New Castle, May 30. The enemy 1 having formed a laager east of the ! I tow n at Dornberg, pressed my right j I rf'al' annoyingly. On May 27 1 directed I f?rce under Lyttleton by Schanga I I unit on Dornberg. These movements : have caused the enemy at Dornberg tc retire north. "Hildyard is at Utrecht, and the town has surrendered. "Clery is bombarding Laing's Nek. The enemy are much disheartened, and were they not in such very strong positions, posi-tions, I doubt if they would show fight. The railway was opened to New-Castle New-Castle on May 2S." The officials of the British war office deny in unqualified terms the statement cabled to a New York newspaper that the war office here had asked Lord Roberts if he could land 100,000 of his troops in England before Oct. 1. According- to the British war office, the New York story is ridiculous nonsense. non-sense. The war office has communicated to the organizers of the imperial yeomanry yeo-manry the government's gratitude for the service of "this force of well equipped fighting men. to whose admirable ad-mirable service in the field Lord Roberts Rob-erts has borne such high testimony." The war office adds that the time has arrived when-tfie committee of the imperial im-perial yeomanry can safely be relieved from ''its arduous duties, so patriotically patrioti-cally assumed at a. time of national emergency," and Lord Landsdowne expressed ex-pressed on behalf of the government its sense of the great debt the state owes the yeomanry. |
