Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1899-05-12
BRITISH CONTROL War NEWS,
Nothing Can Come from South Africa
Until It Nus Been Censored.

Nothing Can Come from South Africa
Until 1t las Been Censored.
If ever a country was bottled up, South
Africa is. England has complete control
Of al news outlets. and she evidently has
enough censors over there to choke off
unfavorable news, AID some relations of
the late lamented BIZ nco to send Wild
and woody tales of victories won. The
cable companies in New York say that
they never knew of n place so completes
~ cut off as the scene of the present
hostiiitics. and The censorship that Eng
land is exercising is simply stunning. All
news is not only censored at it's start,
but it is held up from one to four times
en- route. and finally is for the most part
delivered through London. American,
German and French newspapers and
press associations have sent big corps of
men to South Africa, but they get mighty
little show, even with their messages
that have been marglrd by the censors.
The English newspaper men get first
call, and. as Il result, London is the real
news center of the war.
In the first piace, the Transvaal and
Orange Free State are utterly and com-
p.etely cut off. so far as land wires go.
The only outlet has been through Dur
ban. i'll Natal, III the east coast, and
Cape Town on the west coast. Both
these cities are in British territory. There
was Il land line from Pretoria to INrcn-
20 Marquee. which ran through Portu-
guese territory, hut this has been inter-
rupted either by actually cutting the Wire
or by diplomatic chicanery with Portu-
gal. Portugal sympa;hizes with the
Beers, but she has so much sea coast and
is so near England that Johnny Bull has
her bluffcd to IL standstill.
News from Glencoe. I.adysmith q 1
other points. in Natal ca., reach t,,e out
side world over the .ii.ban anl V,.:t
coast line, or via CAP. Town all. ..le
east coast. From Durham the cable runs
34o miles to Lorenzo Marquee Wclogoa
Bay. Then it plulgcs again into the
Indian ocean and energies at Mosam-
biqne. 9I4 miles way. thence by cable
to Zanzibar, G92 miles further. and final
iy to Alden, 1920 miles further. All
this by cable. At Alden the British cen
sorship is supreme.
From Alden the news goes under the
whole length of the Red Sea to Sucz.
1.iO3 miles. thence on land wires along
the Sucz canal to Port Said, 92 miles,
thence by cable to Alexandria, 154 miles.
thence to Malta. 1923 miles: to Gibraltar,
1.12G miles; to Lisbon. $50 miles: to
lands End, England. SD; then by land
to London and from London to Dublin.
thence to Watcrville, Ireland. Then
comes the long plunge over the ommer
cial cable to Nova Scotia. 21.34S miles.
Eight hundred and forty miles of cable
remains. and the news is at New York.
British military censors have a whack
at it ut Durham. Alden. Sucz, Alexandria,
Gibraltar and London.
Over the west coast route the start is
made at Cape Town. thence by cable to
Mossamedes. 1.13S miles; to Bengue,a,
23S4; to Loand, DOG; to Accra. 975 miles;
to Sierra Leone, 1920; to Bathurst,
4G3. At Bathurst the cable leaves the
African coast and hobs up next at San
tiago. a British possession, near the Cape
Verde Islands, 400; to St. Vincent, 2O4
miles: to Madeira, 1,1G9; to Lisbon, G32:
thence to London, following the same
route as news from the east coast.
The only place in all this west coast
route where a leak might occur is Mt st.
Vincent, where there is a cable to Brazil.
England has forbidden all code and ci-
pier messages of n description to be
sent to St. Vincent and her orders are
being obcyed to the letter.
On all the east coast lines all cipher
and code messages are forbidden. just as
on the west coast. and nothing. even re-
motely relating to the war, can be sent
by anybody without the English 20. k
at the various relay stations.