“The preliminary announcement states that the Pretoria Friend would be published daily by a committee, and that any profit would be handed to the Military Governor for Charitable Purposes. Communications were to be addressed to Lord Stanley or Lieut. Hon. J. Ward. The paper contained proclamations, official notices, cables, and a leading article” (Mendelssohn).
The fall of Pretoria on 5 June 1900 gave rise to the assumption that the second Anglo-Boer war would soon be over. Lord Roberts pressed on towards Johannesburg and left the city undefended. The Boers were far from ready to surrender and a new phase of guerilla fighting began. The Pretoria Friend reports on the damage caused by the guerilla fighters and, as a result of improved avenues of communication, provides an overview of the rest of the war. Mendelssohn II, p182.
