The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-11-20

1t is said that General Butler never
expected to commence the campaign
before Christmas, and it now looks as
though this would be the case. Ger
tainly no artillery can reach Durham
before November Il. and without addi-
tional guns an advance from Estcourt
would be impossible.
No doubt, as Lord Salisbury said in
a recent speech, England will mud
die through it, and yet another illus
tration of muddling has become appar-
ent in the Tact that gunnery instructors
have only just arrived at Woolwich
arsenal for instruction in siege train
duties. Although hurried preparations
are being made to prepare the siege
trains, the fact the men are at Deven-
port and the guns at Woolwich seems
to show that the idea of the siege train
was quite an after-thought.
The Morning Post says: What will
come of such muddling, if we ever come
vantage? Some radical reforms are
still needed in our mobilization ar
rangements.
The statement from Ladysmith that
the British guns don't reply to the
Boer artillery because the concrete
beds for the guns have not yet hard
ened is interpreted in some quarters
to mean simply that the British are
outstanding their ammunition, as the
Boer fire is only a trick to get the Brit
ish to waste shens.
Among the few items that have
arrived from the Cape today is one say
ing that the Beers are planting more
guns in the hills surrounding Lady
smith.
All the correspondents in the be-
leaguered town are safe, and anxious
to reopen communication.
A gentleman who visited Nicholsons
Mex after the engagement counted
tv enty-fve in killed and seventy in
wounded.
The latest advices from Kimberley,
dated November 2, say that all was well
there then. An explosion had been
heard, and the supposition was that
the Beers had. blown up the railway
cuIvert south of Dronfield.
The Belgian Government it is said,
has warned DR.. Leyds, whose head
quarters are at Brussels, that Belgium
is a neutral country.
A corps of engineers from Gibraltar
will accompany the siege train to the
Cape, and the men will be used in
mounting the heaviest guns in embras-
ures. Two battalionS of mounted in
fantry, every man selected for his rid
ing and shooting qualities, will be sent
to the front.
BULLER TO MOVE AT ONCE.
LONDON, Nov. 10.-With the arrival
at Cape Town of the British transports
Roslyn Castle and Moor, to be follow
ed by continuous succession of troop
laden ships, the real campaign in South
Africa may be said to have commenced,
and the fact that the first named ship
was expected to arrive at Durham forth
with is to indicate at least a modifica-
ton of the plan of advance.
It seems that General Buffers first
move will be to aid General White,
thus somewhat departing from the
earlier plan credited TO him of advanc-
ing through the level countries of the
Orange Free State and Southwestern
Transvaal. 1t has been apparent for
some days that the situation at Lady
smith could not be Indefinitely pro-
.onged, and it is understood that in
formation has reached the Government
10 the effect that quiescence of the
Beers will shortly be changed by the
arrival of the siege train from Pretoria
nto a determined attempt TO deliver
1 telling stroke.
This. it is added, led General Butler
o prepare a counter stroke and en-
leavOr to push the Beers back by a
lirect attack. Such an operation, if
attempted, will necessarily entail great
oss Of life, as during the month the
Beers have occupied Northern Natal
md they have fitted most of the passcs
md other positions suitable TO their
style of fighting.
While the pigeon dispatch of General
White shows the beleaguered garrison
vas holding its own yesterday, it is
cared here that the silence regarding
What the British artillery was doing in
epIy to the Boer guns indicates that
he dread that General White is short
f lOng-range ammunition IS not alto
ether groundless. If this is true, the
epOrted further destruction of the rail-
Dad near Colenso assumes greater i'm
One very serious passage in
ieneral Whites message gives the first