| Show BRITISH TAKE ANOTHER TOWN london may 4 lord roberts reports to the war office as follows under date of Bloem fontein slay 3 we occupied grandfort Brand fort today without much opposition and without I 1 hope many casualties the first brigade of mounted infantry covered the left hank of the fourteenth brigade of the seventh division and the right sank was supported by the fifteenth brigade pole carels division advanced directly on brandtoft Brand tort the boer army which was under command of delacey De larey retired in a northeasterly direction chaba achu may 3 the boers have evacuated chaba achu and are believed to be still trekking though one gun has shelled the camp tingly scouts report that some of the boers retired from lepener We pener they believe the boers evacuated the position during the night trekking in three directions gen french left today gen rundle is in command here it is expected that gen brabant wiil effect a junction at any moment london may 4 in the house of commons today air Runci emans motion to reduce the war office vote by pounds was rejected by to votes alewal north cape colony may 4 smithfield was occupied yesterday by gen harts brigade out ot the boers in the town 25 were captured and the rest decamped camped de Lady brand was recently full of boer wounded who have now been removed to facks yure i london may 4 news of the occupation ot brandtoft Brand tort was issued by the war office at 10 this morning confirming a dispatch previously received by the associated press this Is considered the most important communication muni cation received from the front since the capture of gen cronje and the relief of ladysmith Lady smith the fact that the positions give the key to one of the main roads leading to the berg passes which possibly may be the means of operation cooperation co with general buller later on provides an advance base of supplies etc and is obviously the reason tor the importance attached by all hands to the intelligence the boer army which was at brand tort commanded by gen delacey De Larey is presumably retiring to which will possibly be the next immediate objective of the british grandfort Brand fort thir ty five miles nearer the transvaal capital is lord roberts headquarters what particularly gratifies the british public is the evadena evl dena that the army of lord roberts in the shefree Free state has recovered its mobility fand is again capable of undertaking lae general advance BO long retarded it is hardly expected the boers will make much of a stand south of Kroon stadt and possibly not there if lord roberts succeeds in capturing thus interposing between the main federal army and the boer forces in the neighborhood of chaba nanu and in which case the latter would be forced to move farther to the eastward in which direction their mobility would probably enable them to reach the bethlehem and line of safety the only opposition which the british encountered at brandtoft Brand tort seems to have come from the irish american commando the central british army is now in harmony with the extreme left at bosh of under lord methuen and the extreme right at under gen buller BO that the movements of these wings will be in cor operation with the main army may shortly be expected |
