THE RUSSO-AFGHAN DIFFICULTY

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1521, 23 April 1885, Page 2

THE RUSSO-AFGHAN DIFFICULTY

(ttßUXElt’s TELEGRAMS—COPYRIGHT.) London, April 22. Statements were made last night in the Houses of Lords and Commons by Earl Granville and Mr Gladstone respectively, to the effect that Government were in receipt of a reply from General Lumsden to the communication which had been addressed to him, asking for a full account of the recent hostilities near Penjdeh; but that his account differed very seriously from

that supplied to the Russian Government by General Komaroff. In the House of Commons, Mr Gladstone asked for a vote of credit for Li 1,000,600, of which L4,so°>°p o was intended for operations in the Soudan. In proposing the vote, the Premier announced that the general situation of foreign affairff rendered it incumbent upon Great Britain to prepare all her forces. Government were not prepared to abandon th§ operations at present being conducted in Egypt, but reserved full liberty of action in the future. The Indian troops now in Egypt, Mr Gladstone added, would prove sufficient to hold Suakim, the British forces being reserved for any emergency that might arise. From further particulars which have transpired regarding . General Lums- , den’s reply to the‘British Government, , it appears that he places considerable emphasis on the patient hearing pf tlje Afghan troops, and states thgt the con: diet was entirely due to the aggressiye action of the Russian Commander,

FIJI NEWS. - ■— ■» [By Telegraph.] Auckland, To-day. The Arawata has arrived from Fiji. Her passengers are—Mrs Healey and two children, Mrs Aneell, Mrs Drayahaw. and Messrs R. S. Bentley, Findlaysou, H. E. Thompson, W. D. Hackory, Ingold and Dettam. A crowded meeting was held in levnka on March 29, at -which a resolution was carried favo able to the annexation of Fiji by New Zealand. It was decided to prepare a petition to the New Zealand Legislature, praying for endorsement of the resolution-