RUSSIA AT THE GATES OF INDIA

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1464, 24 January 1887, Page 3

RUSSIA AT THE GATES OF INDIA

A French p»per has the following : — The year 1886 has witnessed the completion of a marvellous enterprise whioh, m the boldness of its conception and the importance of it* reeuUs, ii destined to take rank wth the piercing of the lothmm of Suez, the establishment of transoceanic telegraphy, and the fotm&lion of tho Paoifio Railway. A few days henoe tho iron highway whioh Russia has constructed across the deserts of Central Asia will have reached the gates of India . . By means of this line Russia will have the control of Herat and Gandahar, and may at once throw nn army into Persia or Af- 1 • '<■ Un, or oven luvade the Pei.inaula of 1 whilu kngand is neparated from hoc Indian possessions by a sea voyage « f twenty days at the least ! Nor <b tha ooinmcoial i nporlarce of the new line lees than ils strategical . . . Moreover, (hi? coloes 1 enterprise has been quietly carried out, for Russia hates publicity W.i<inf? on the anno subject, the Wellington Post says : —The whole tend ncy of r-.c ut information regard ing Russia's advauco lowards Afgfcanlatnn tends to show that the time is rapidly approaching when England will have to meet and fight her on tho Oxu«. Meanwhile Russia is steadily pushing on and completing her preparations for the inevitable coufl ct. Great musses of troops are being assembled at Merv, and the railway is being rapidly pushed on t- - wards the Afghan boundary This railway is purely a military work. It o»n have bat one object — that of facilitatiog tho traruport of troops and keeping open communications m their rear. aSo commercial purpose is served or can be served by the line It does not open up or settle the country it piß»es through. I', is of ,no coonomio valun, and cannot b<* a reproductive work finano'ally. In a military sen c, howevar, as a means towards tho occupation of Afghanistan and further a tacks on India, it is of supreme importance It wll give Kunßia an imracnje advantage when the struggle comes, for uhe will be abla to pjur her troops on tho scene by rail, fresh and fully equipped and Wtf'l bupportud, while England* forces will hava to get to the frontier by lone,' and toihomo matches, through a difficult country, leaving m their retr many tribes whoao friendship may well be doub ed If wo have to Gght Russia m Afghanis'an it will bo under terrible dfsad vantages, owing to the want of proper moans of communication, yet both the Indian and Kuglish Governments, with characteristic want of forethought, look ctlm'y on »' tho approach of the Rusoian railway, whrle doing lit tlo or nothing to push on the extension of tho Indian lines to Herat. They are not yet within measurable dlstanoe oven of Oindahar. This apathy and indifference will, we fear, have to be heavily pa! 1 for at no distant date. ■ ■••'• ■ ■ 1