The age-herald., 1900-05-09
BRITISH FORCES
 REACH ZAND RIVER The BoerS Are Laagered on the North Bank. ROBERTS NEAR KROONSTADT It is Said the Free States will Move
 Their Seat of Government to Heilbron, Fifty Miles Northeast.
ROBERTS NEAR KR0ONSTADT I

London, May 9, 4:1O a.m.-Four thousand British cavalry watered their horses at
 Zand river Monday. twenty-five miles be- yond Smaldeel, where Lord Roberts con
 tinues to date his dispatches. The scouts who have been searching the
 country for miles along the stream have
 found no Boers south of the river. The
 enemy arelaagered in unknown force on
 the north bank.
 The British advance guard is within for
 ty-five miles of Kroonstadt. The Free | Staters in tho expectation that Kroonstadt
 will soon become untenable, are, according
 to information from Lourenzo Marques, preparing to transper their government to | Heilbron, little more than fifty miles to | the northeast.
 The proclamations of Lord Roberts ap- | pear to have little effect upon the inhabi- 1 tants of the invaded districts. Every farm 1 is deserted except by the women and chill l dren All the men are away fighting. | Correspondents at headquarters are now wiring freely concerning the incidents con- | nected with the occupation of Smaldeel. 1 Some exasperation is expressed at the ease l with which the Boers escape with their | transports before the very eyes of the Brit l ish. For instance when the British entered l Smaldeel, the Boer OK wagons cooly out l spanned only five miles away, as if in con- | tempt of the ability of the British to over | take them.
 | Lord Roberts is described as rightly "un- willing to sacrifice his horses for the sake or comparatively minor advantage" Nevertheless, the waste of horse f1esh in
 spite of all precautions. is enormous. Expanded in One Night. l Smaldeel is village of only a score of | dwellings, but it expanded in one night into
 vast canvas city and many campfres, | being like scene in the smelting districts. | The city is likely to fade away in a day 1 by the immediate progress of the infantry i to Zand river. The tidings from Mafeking l are gloomier than ever. Everybody there has an empty stomach and pinched face | The natives are no longer given even DOT | ridge, and the whites now have nothing l but quart of that substance and pound l of horse sausage daily.
 l Everything else eatable has gone. Insuf- 1 ficient food, wet trenches and cold nights
 are decidedly detrimental to the health of l the garrison. This information comes from
 reliable natives. Lady Sarah Wilson, un- | der date of April 27, says: l 'The Boers now number 4,500, including
 young Eloff, President Krugers grandson,
 who was sent for six more guns"
 The Mafeking correspondent of the 1 Times, who also emphasizes the extreme l gravity of the situation, says: | "It is impossible to ignore the fatal sig. | nfcance of Colonel BadenPowells refer l ence to the hardships endured by the l women and children, among whom many missiariat is holding certain stock of foodstuffs in reserve for use in the direst | extremity.
 l British Columbia at Taungs. l The British column is reported to have l reached Taungs, thirty miles north of l Warrenton. According to Pretoria advices l the British are nearing Vryburg which is | half way between Warrenton and Mafe- 1 king.
 l sonal command of this relief column. His l forces embrace 10000 infantry and from 5,Oo0 to 5000 horsemen, an army far greater l than has hitherto been supposed Lord l Methuen is apparently a ubordinate
 While the relief column is moving towards 1 Vryburg General Hunter is apparently
 preparing an orderly advance northeast | toward the Vaal river, thence the Pretoria
 advance, as Lord Roberts left flank
 comes up.
 It is said an important movement in Ma | tai is expected within the next four days. | General Butler is rapidly completing his 1 advance organization.
 The president of the Transvaal volksraad
 reiterates President Krugers undiminished l tenacity of purpose to continue the war. | In the course of @ debate he said that 1 should he be sent to St. Helena, the repub- l lies cause would still go on. Generals
 Louis Botha and Meyer are in Pretoria 1 consulting with the volksraad.
 A dispatch from Mazeru, Basutoland
 dated Tuesday, May s, says:
 Lord Roberts rapid advance has con-
 fused the Boers, who are holding the roads
 between Wepener and Clocolan, along
 which a continuous stream of wagons an6
 cattle has been proceeding northward fol l days. On Monday some of these counter | marched and the herds got into an mex
 tricable muddle, the Boers not knowing | which way to turn.