The Fielding Star, OROUA & KIWITEA COUNTIES GAZETTE. Published Daily. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1897. THE TROUBLE IN INDIA.

Feilding Star, Volume XIX, Issue 54, 1 September 1897, Page 2

The Fielding Star, OROUA & KIWITEA COUNTIES GAZETTE. Published Daily. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1897. THE TROUBLE IN INDIA.

It we may accept the opinions of Eng liah officers ia New Zealand who have served in India, and are personally ' acquainted with the locality in which the tribesmen have revolted, the whole 1 affair has been mucn exaggerated by the cablegrammer. Possibly so, still no attempt has been made to deny that the British troops have suffered reverses, and tie famous Kbyber Pats been made impracticable for oar military operations for a time. Some years ago when there was much talk of frontier delimitatieu, a scheme was formulated for the mobilisation of our troops in India, and their ( concentration on the frontier to anticipate or reptl any attack by a European Power from the North, if made necesi sary. The Otago Daily Times reports an interview with Lieutenant Colonel Webb, and that gentleman said places were rtported to be either captured or in danger which, so far as he knew, had no existence at all. " The places men tioned as forts," he stated, "are really only small mud breastworks garrisoned by Kbyber levies. These are simply native police. They have no distinctive uniform, and are armed with Snider carbines. Their duties are to prevent thieving, smuggling, and preserve something like order, and they rejoice in the name of ' Catch- em-alive. The statement, then-fore, that four companies of British iufantry and a detachment of dragoocs and artillery have been sent to defend the forts requires further explanation." As to the reported cap ture of Fort Maude, Colonel Webb said •' I never heard of Fort Maude either. It is probably one of those advance posts held by the Kbyber levies or native police. These posts line the hills around, aud the headquarters are Pchawar, under Colouel Warburton. The cable, I notice state* that tindda and lapa, described an two fortified posts are surrounded, and a relief lorce has set oui from Kohat- Kohat ia six days' march from Peshawar, and there 19 a garrison of native troups there under iiriiuh i nicer*, tiuddii Bt;d Tapa will r »)to brt small outposts. The reported action ol iiie^Moruunnds (another hill tribe), in burning the eacred books of the \ .Mkh temple*, and thus arousing ihe indignation of the isikhs. if such a thing has occurred, ia a good tiling tor the British. Ihe S.kht* are onr best fighting men in India. They «re the bi»geai men 1 ihtre, and came from the Punj-ib. The force under Brigadier Ellis " Colonel Webb went on to say " will probably be in the Malakand Pass, as on the top of Ibe pass a garrison of British troops is ) Bituattd." He then read the following extract from a letter dated Simla, July Bth: — " Things are in a parlous state in this country just now. The plague is almost over, famine is at its worai, and again this .year the monsoon looks like being % failure, though of course there is time yet for the rains to come and improve the prospect. An earthquake in ' AvHum nnd Calcutta has done a tearful lot of damage, and jtut at present Calcutta is more or less in the hands of a mob. There has been eerious rioting there for days past on the part of the Mabomme dsn«, directed principally against the Europeans. Of courie this will be suppressed flasily, but at Jha start the authorities aci«d weekly, and in conseqnence things Jj»ye boen allowed 10 assume Berions proportions. You will have heard of the Maizir aff*ur ,on the frontier, where 60 men out of less tha;? 300 v*e« casualties. The punitive expedition in.conwc^iiou with tbn » now collecting at Bannu, and move up the Tochi next week. There ar* ppi? »yo British regiments with the force— u^e

probably not have much fighting, as the tribesmen in their usual manner will j i most likely ' vamoose ' over the Afghan \ < border. I h«ard a rumour an fairly good I authority that the force after rubbing | , down the scene of the late attack will be I , cantoned on the hilltops — the heat there at this time of thn year is awful— and about October a large force will probably ! seonr the country. In that case some of our Imperial service regiments will probably go up."