The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-11-11

! London, Nov. II, 4:30 a. m.--Completa
silence has again fallen upon affairs in
South Africa. The British public must
perforce be content with the brief, ster-
| eotype report which the censor allows
| to filter through from Cape Town.
| That this condition of affairs is no
| longer due to pressure Of work or de-
! fective cables has been amply proved.
| The Eastern Telegraph company reck-
ons that the real delay in transmits
| sion is about two days. 1t is evident,
therefore, that the censorship is re-
| sponsible for the other two days OF
delay which seems to befall the dis
patches.
Moreover, the Daily Telegraph an
nounces that its "inappropriated'' dis
patch from Ladysmith dated Monday,
which the war office published on Tues
day, was not delivered in Fleet street
until yesterday, Friday, morning. 1t Is,
believed that the war office received
further dispatches last evening, but
nothing has been published.
At a banquet in the city of London
yesterday the Duke of Cambridge,
speaking Of the war, said:
I'VE ought never to have allowed
ourselves to be in the position in which
the outbreak of war found us. I could
cry over the valuable lives which might
have been spared had we been better
prepared"
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 Nov. IA; and without additional
guns an advance from Estcourt would
be impossible. No doubt, as Lord Sal-
icht In
land will mudde through it, and vet
another illustration of muddling has
become apparent in the fact that gun
merry instructors have only just arrived
at Woolwich arsenal for instruction In
siege training. Although hurried prep
arations are being made to prepare the
siege trains, the fact that the men are
at DevOnport and the guns at WOOL
wich 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 to fighting a toe able
to turn it to advantage? Some radical
reforms are still needed in our mobil-
ization arrangements
The statement from Ladysmith that
the British guns do not 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 tHdl llle llllotl al =
banding their ammunition. as the Boer
fire is only a trick to get the British
to waste shells. &,
Among the few items that have ar
rived from the Cape to-day is one say
ing that the Beers are planting more
guns in the hills surrounding Lady
smith.
All the correspondents in the beleag-
uered town are safe and anxious to re-
open communication.
A gentleman who visited Nicho1son'S
Mex after the engagement counted 20
in killed and 70 in wounded. The latest
advices from Kimberley, dated Nov. 4.
say that all was we'll there then. An
explosion had been heard and the sup-
position was that the Beers had blown
up the railway culverts.
4:30 a. m.-The Belgian government.
1t IS said, has warned DR.. Leyds. whose
headquarters are at Brussels, that Bel
gium is a neutral country.
A corps Of engineers from Gibraltar
will accompany the siege train to the
Cape and the men win 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.