There is nothing special to chronicle from South Africa except
a certain number of small actions in which we in- variably got the better of the enemy, and captured in all a very considerable number of prisoners. Otherwise things have been fairly quiet and telegrams very scanty.—a pretty sure sign that Lord Roberts has some big move in hand. Meantime, there has been a certain amount of complaint and uneasiness at home about the protraction of the war, which the pessimists tell us will never end. That is nonsense, but of course it takes time in so vast and difficult a country to put an end to raiding. The best answer to the pessimists is supplied by Die Information, which puts the situation in South Africa as follows :—" The territory overrun by the British Army is about the size of Austria-Hungary. Suppose a foreign army pressing forward from Salzburg had overrun Austria-Hungary, and advanced as far as Siebenbiirgen ; are we to think that bands of freebooters would not be able to maintain themselves in the Galician Carpathians or on the Erzgebirge ? But who would imagine that these roving bands would be able to drive the invading army out of Vienna or Buda-Pesth? " That is common- sense.
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