23 JANUARY 1904, Page 1

line have had their homes destroyed, and are at present

besieged at the different Government stations. At the time- of the outbreak the Governor was absent on the expedition against the Bondelswarts in the south, more than twenty days' march from the scene of the present disaster. Count von Billow in his speech in the Reichstag on Monday took a gloomy view of the situation, and asked for strong reinforce- ments. Supplementary Estimates have been passed, and a battalion of marine infantry, together with guns and a detachment of railway troops, have been despatched to the seat of war. There is at least as much need of mounted troops in Damaraland as in Somaliland, and some of the German papers very sensibly warn the Government against making the same mistake as ourselves in the early days of the Boer War.