A letter received in Capetown from a young Dutch colonist, who escaped from Blpemfont-in, says:—"Ever since Magers fontein, in which the Dutch admit havinsr lost 473 killed and eight hundred wounded. I had been feeling very imcomfortable, s. made up my mind to clear. President tfteyn looks about thirty yean older than be_ore the commencement of the war; I am told t,u__t ne uad a nephew and two other rela tions kineu at -.viagersiuucein. Our men a_ urea or ill*, mux, -_s they are UuJLi suurved, in audition to t>e_ng aishearu-ned through the 10-ss 01 nuu»__.-U-. 01 reu-i_vei. ai-d n .ends. 1 nad a bat 01 iiui on Unr-Simaj live, the night I bolted, i got old »an ikju' to ha.p ma to n__ke a Union dad., which 1 tixea on to a asnuig-rod and tied to a te_egr*pa pole in trout ot the Voii_s raad bunding. I hear that this caused ? feariul row, and the President oifered a reward ox ±.20 to anyone thiding out the perpetrator. It makes my bearc sore tc see all the big crops of wiitat aqd lorage routing on the tanas for want of reap-iig. All tbe Dutch tanners will be ruined i-jmf year; some families are already starving. It the good old President Brand had still been living, we and our country would not have been in this mess to-day."

According to a Cape paper, Mr "Winston Churchill has been ottered and has accepted a commission in the lmper.al Light Horse in Natal. It is understood, however, that he wni not sever his connection with the Lonaon p_pcra.
MINING NEWS.
