NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE latest news from South Africa shows that though the Boer raiders into the Colony have not yet been captured, they have not been able to produce anything approaching a general conflagration among the Dutch popu- lation, but instead have caused a good deal of indignation among the farmers who prefer talking Pro-Boer sentiments to acting up to them. At the same time loyalist feel- ing at the Cape has been greatly stimulated, and the British half of the people has literally sprung to arms throughout the Colony. Besides the raiding the Boers have made a determined attempt to break the line of communica- tions. The Delagoa line was on the night of January 7th attacked simultaneously at five posts, i.e., at Belfast, Wonder- fontein, Nooitgedacht, Wildfontein, and Pan. During the dense fog that prevailed the Boers crept up to our positions and attempted to storm them, but they were driven off. Our losses were heavy (eighty casualties in all), but those of the Boers were heavier, for twenty-four bodies were counted. The Boer plan—that of a raid into the Colony supported by a breaking of the communications—has thus become apparent. Fortunately it has not succeeded, and will not succeed, for our communications are now more strongly guarded than ever, and the raiders are not meeting with the support they expected.
