NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE war news of the past week is very meagre, owing to the fact that the attempts to surround Botha are still in progress and naturally demand secrecy. It is to be feared, however, that Lord Kitchener's latest telegram, " Botha has crossed Pivaan River to north;" shows that Botha has broken through the meshes of the net. If so, it is unfortunate; but there is nothing, to be done but to try again. Success in the end is certain, but if it is to come quickly our forces must be made more mobile. As our witty correspondent "II" suggests in his fable in another column, if you cannot catch a rabbit with a cordon of tortoises, why not try a .dog? The only other item of news is that martial law has been proclaimed in the ports of Cape Colony. As Sir Michael Hicks-Beach ei- plained in his speech at Oldham, this has been done in order to prevent the illicit supply of arms to the Boers which has been going on merrily. Precautions have been taken to prevent martial law interfering with personal liberty, and if the authorities are wise they will also not attempt to use it to stop criticism of the war. In any case, the entry of arms and ammunition had to be stopped, and probably martial law was the only effective method.
