The age-herald., 1899-12-29
Dispatches Represent the Boers
 as Nervous Over Advance.
FEVER REPORTED IN LADYSMITH
Correspondent Writes of an Ingenious Method the Boers Have of Tell ing When Enemy is App
 preaching at Night

London, December 29.I:40 a. m.-During the continued lull in the military opera tions in South Africa the papers are filled with letters and articles criticizing the government and the campaign, and sug- gesting remedies, improvements, altera- tions in the plans and the like.
 The Times complains of "needless cen sorship and suppression"
 The dispatches from the front all repre- sent the Boers as in nervous condition and constant dread of the British advance, but this Is probably an exaggeration. The Modder river correspondent of the Daily Chronicle gives an explanation of a sud- den rife fire inexplicably opened from the Boer trenches He says:
 +"The Boers have wires stretched along the ground in front of the trenches and connected with lamps. If a wire be touched a lamp is extinguished thus giving warm ing. One night high wind extinguished @ lamp which resulted in a false warning. The fire ceased when the Boers discovered the alarm was false"
 A correspondent of the Daily News at Frere camp announces that a tramway is being constructed from the railway to hill commanding the Boer position, and that along this the British will convey heavy guns.
 According to a dispatch from Ladysmith dated Wednesday, December 20, the heat then was intense, being 104 degrees Fahren- heit in the shade. There were many cases of entric fever in the town at that time. but not enough to cause alarm. On the other hand reports from Boer sources on ha hot Ivy bot5 {e epidemic in Ladysmith.
 The Transvaal government, according to information supplied by Boer sympathizers, threatens to "reduce the rations of British prisoners if Great Britain stops the entry of food by Delagoa Bay"
 Shows Different Disposition
 The British government now evinces a marked change from its attitude in the early stages of the war, and shows a dis position to accept assistance from any quarter. The imperial yeomanry committee has issued a statement to the effect that the government considers the formation and dispatch of yeomanry as one of the most pressing needs of the situation, and has intimated that it Is now prepared to accept from 5000 to 10000 yeomanry instead of 3000, as originally asked for. It is ex- pected that the first contingent of 1000 will sail about the middle of January.
 The government has announced that it will accept the services of battery from hhe honorable artillery corps. When the services were first offered they were de- clined on the ground that the corps was not affiliated with any regiment of regulars. It will now be attached to the city imperial corps. Lady Chesham and Lady Georgiana Curzon have issued an appeal for public funds to establish field hospital for the yeomanry.
 Capetown dispatches complain of the in- adequacy of the hospital arrangements. It is now estimated that the war will cost at least 6O,OOOO0O ($30O ,OOO. .Ooo). and it is sug- gested that the sinking fund of the national debt should be suspended for five or SIX years in order to defray the cost