Foreign.

Manawatu Herald, 17 December 1895, Page 2

Foreign.

The Times correspondent wires that the HamUian cavalry have destroyed 200 villages in the province of Van. Fifty thousand homeless refugees' are flocking into the city of Van. A telegram appears in the Armenian organ at Constantinople stating that in all 100,000 unfortunate wretches have been massacred, and half a million more are wandering in the forests and mountains. The details of the action at Ambazali show that the* Italian troops maintained a heroic defence till the numbers of the Shoas overwhelmed them. There were only 700 rifles and a battery of artillery, and they fought the 22,000 Shoas for seven hours. Charges of canister fired at 50

yards ploughed lanes of dead through the dense bodies of the assailants. When it became apparent that all was over, the guns were thrown into the rcvine to prevent them being captured. The total loss, including the camp followers massacred in the rout, was 2000. . ■ '" The Italian Government is voting sevan million lire in support of J General Baratieri in Abyssinia. The Chamber of Deputies by a majority of 165 rejected a Socialist proposal for the abolition of the , Embassy at the Vatican. M. Berthelot declared that the Concordat prevented such a step. Native messengers who have reached the Gold Coast describe the town of Kumassi as undermined with trains laid ready to blow it up when the English troops appear.