The age-herald., 1899-11-15
Afrikanders Merely Wanted to
 Learn More of Mafeking.
INDIGNATION AT KRUGER'S THREAT
Dom Paul Desires Marks Release-Says That He Will Execute Captured British Officers His Wishes
 Are Not Obeyed

London, November 15.-(4:9O a. m.)-There is no additional news regarding the prog ress of hostilities in South Africa this morning except a dispatch from Mafeking, forwarded by a runner, dated October 31, which says that during the afternoon Gen. eral Cronje, the Boer commander, sent an envoy to Colonel Baden-Powell under flag of truce to declare that he did not consider the Geneva convention authorized the flag of the Red Cross society to fly from several buildings at once in the town, and that in his opinion the employment of natives against whites and the use of dynamite mines were both opposed to the rules of war.
 Colonel Baden-Powell replied that the Geneva convention did not stipulate as to the number of Red Cross stations permissi- ble, and that the Boers were only required to respect the convent, the hospital and wo- mems laager, all of which were beyond the town limits. The British commander also pointed out that mines were recognized adr jutants of civilized warfare, and that the defenses of Pretoria were extensively mined. Moreover, he reminded General Cronje that the Boers had fired upon na- tives, burned their kraals and raided their cattle and that the natives only defended their lives and property.
 SheIied Hospital
 Despite three warnings from Colonel Baden-Powell the Boers continued deliber- ately to shell the hospital and the womens laager. 'f..=s=.#- '-.- = f' -. The sending of the Boer envoy was re- garded, the dispatch says, as a mere pre- text for penetra ting into the British lines at Mafeking According to the latest re- ports the town is confident of it's ability to hold out until the end of the campaign.
 So far as Kimberley is concerned, the mental condition of the British there may be judged from the fact that three wed- dings have taken place since the siege be- gan, the last having been celebrated on Mo- Vember s.
 In the absence of fresh news the morning papers are driven to discussing Lord Sal isburys letter regarding misinterpreta- tions of his utterances at the lord mayor s banquet and President Krugers threat to execute British officers now in his hands unless Nathan Marks, a supposed Boer spy, Is released by Sir George White. The premier's deliverance meets with universal approval, although the explanation was in no way necessary, as outside the Daily Chronicle no one had supposed his words could bear the meaning which Boer sym pathizers have been endeavoring to read in them.
 President Kruger's threat has excited widespread indignation. The Daily News demands that his friends should promptly inform him that his own neck and that Of Dr. Reitz the Transvaal state secretary, will be held responsible for any such v1o- lation of the elementary rules Of civlilzed warfare
 Censorship Blamed
 For once the censorship Is blamed on &C., 1axyt ttx tI Pn- sor ought to have suppressed the story of Father Matthews regarding the surrender at Nicholsons Nek, which, being too vague to be considered as evidence, must cause some uneasiness The feeling is that until correct accounts have been ascertained 1t would have been wiser not to circulate mere gossip.
 The great delay in South African cables, now amounting practically to five days, and the lack of definite news from Ladysmith gives rise to some apprehension, which IS only relieved by the fact that no adverse tidings have come from either Boer or British sources.
 Nothing is known as ito the whereabouts of General Sir Redvers Butler. Her maj esty's ship Powerful has arrived att Simons Bay from Durban and begun to coal. The cruiser will return to Durban immediately with more guns. Lord George Hamilton, secretary of state for India, announced in a speech last evening that a relief force would immediately be sent to Ladysmith, but beyond that nothing is known of the British plan of campaign and equal se- crecy shrouds the movements of the Boers. The Morning Post, which complains that dt was unwise tactics on the part of the British officers to leave the railway intact in their retirement from Ladysmith, says:
 Ut is another illustration of British con- tempt for the ,Boers that they treated the retirement as though it were an advance and preserved the enemy's line of com munication as carefully as if had been our own"