EUROPEAN AND EASTERN NEWS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 136, 8 June 1880, Page 2

EUROPEAN AND EASTERN NEWS.

FIGHTING IN AFGHANISTAN. [Reuter's special summary, per Bangalore at ; Melbourne.] . Bombay, 7th May. A tharp action took place near Ghuznee on the 19th April, resultiug in the complete defeat of the enemy, numbering about 30,000, by General Stewart's army. The action commenced at 9 o'clock ; fire was opened at 1,500 yards raDge by the Horse Artillery. ; General Hughes' brigade, consisting of the : 59th Eegituent and two native regiments, formed up for attack, and advanced to storm the heights, but the enemy, without waiting their arrival, rushed down a ravine and charged the advancing troops with reckless daring, when they were shot down in hundreds. They then swarmed round and attacked three sides of the British position with such force that the infantry on the right had to retire some distance before they could make a firm stand. The artillery now opened at fifty yard?, and not until then was the advance of the enemy checked. The enemy's cavalry met ours half way, and a desperate hand to hand conflict ensued. At half past ten General Baxter's brigade arrived, and then the battle was over, and the enemy in full retreat. Their loss was enormous ; 2000 were counted dead, besides large numbers of wounded. Our casualties were 17 killed and 112 wounded. The army entered Ghuznee on the 20th without opposition. Another action was fought near Ghuznee on the 22nd, when General Stewart defeated the enemy. On the 25th Colonel Jenkin'a force was attacked at daybreak near Charisaib by large numbers. He had only 1000 men and two guns, but held his own until the arrival of Generals M'Pherson and Hugh Gough with forces from Sherpur. The action lasted .until half-past two, and was a complete success. The Afghan loss was heavy. Our casualties were seven killed and 24 wounded. General Boss was attacked forty miles from Cabul on the 25th by a large force, which was soon dispersed, with the loss of 40 killed. General Stewart's force, and also General Boss's detachment, have arrived at Cabul. It is stated, on what is believed to be good authority, that her Majesty proposes paying a visit to Ireland in the autumn. Nearly 20 years have elapsed since _ her last and only visit, she, in company with the Prince Consort, shortly before his death in 1861, having made a tour through the country. The Radicals are greatly displeased at the retention of Sir Bartle Frere as Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, and have signed a round robin to induce Mr Gladstone to limit Sir Bartle's term of office. The Liberal question is stronger than at any time since the passing of the Reform Bill in 1832. The Bagot will case has been compromised; the terms of the settlement are that .the costs are to be paid out of the estate, the defendant (Mr Roberts) is to be secured the amount of £10,000 reserved by the deed executed prior to the date of will ; that the minor be paid £25,000 on coming of age ; that the will .which provided for the personalty to increase |the realty for the benefit of the testator's brothers, be established. The consent has been made a rule of Court. The Home Government has fully approved the suggestion made by the Government of India, that an officer acquainted with the working of the emigration system should periodically [visit the British Colonies to report on the state of the coolies residing there.

tmriVk l l lit" Hi iii' TiTiTiiiifinifiii'ii iiiiiitii fr'i'Hi' """Trrrrr The Hap Standard (New South Wales) reports a lamentable incident which has occurred at Gunbar Lake. Mr Armstrong, the manager of the station,, who usually rides about with a troop of 15 or 16 kangaroo dogs at his heels, happened -to come across two boys belonging to a poor laborer travelling in search of work. The lads on seeing the dogs ran ; the dogs gave chase, and caught one of the lads, who was from seven to eight years of age, and worried and larcerated him in a frighf ul manner before assistance could be given to drive them off. After lingering for a few days in great agony death terminated his sufferings.- • . " Atlas " of the World is responsible for the following." He says :— -"A friend who called on the Premier last week found him quiet, but not without a gleam of his p culiar saturnine hurnqr. ;[ It is a; strange thing,' said he ; 'but people fcee'p calling at this house, and asking after me — aa though J had nad a child.""

The following extract will convey to our readers some idea of America as a wheatgrowing-. country—The magnitude of the American wheat export is hardly etfmprehended without practical explanation. If, Bays an American writer, the export of wheat for 1879 was loaded on freight cars, GO feet long, 400 bushels to a car, it would require for its transportation 256.452 cars, which, if made up in one continuous train, would extend 2346 miles. If loaded in ships 300 tons burden, ifc would require a fleet of 825 ships to Convey the wheat alone "across the ocean. This export of wheat has brought iuto the States in exchange for it, in gold or its equivalent* more than £20,000,000. The Dnnedin tierald devotes a leadingarticle to the education speech of Sir Her cules Robinson. We quote the following extract : — " We question if there be a servant of Her Majesty's in all the colonies whose words have so much weight as those of Sir Hercules Robinson. He never speaks but when the occasion prompts him, which is of course one of the secrets of his influence; another is, th°.t he is always equal to the occasion j and this, as we have already implied, not so much on account of any great original powers of mind as on account of a large endowments good sense. Sic George > Grey is, for instance, a much more brilliant rhetorician, and altogether a man" of a more original cast of mind; and yet his opinions are not nearly so. authoritative. There is, iti fact, no comparison between the two men, either in point of originality or in point of judgment, Sir George Grey being as superior : to Sir Hercules Robinson in the former : respect as Sir Hercules Robinson is superior to Sir George Grey in the latter. His Excellency could hot poßßibly .have equalled the late Premier's address at the opening of the Auckland Grammar School— the glow, ; the eloquence, in a word, the genius, of that fine discourse being quite beyond;, him j fcut neither, on the other:hand, has Sir George" i Grey any but the very slightest to the steadiness and solicjfty of< judgment that so highly distinguish the Governor's political speeches. They are both, however, we need hardly say, very admirable men- « men of whom the colony may well feel proud; and the only pity is that there should eyer have been a jar between them. With Sir Hercules Robinson as Governor, and Sir George Grey as Premier, the colony ought to have been a political paradise. But it | somehow turned outotherwise." There was a church parade of Volunteers in Wellington last Sunday, in reporting which the N.Z. Times says i— On leaving the church, and marching doiiru Willis* street, the band struck up, " Shall we" gather at the river," and " Joyful, joyful, shall ou'f meeting be," two well known melodies from Moody and Saukey's repertoire. That the former question will receive an affirmative realisatiou was no doubt the wish of all who watched the progress of "ye gallant tars," especially as it appeared that they were doomed, agreeably with Bunyau's fiction, to flounder through a slough of despond on their way, thither, for such undoubtedly Willis-street was, and has been', for some days past. The feeling of commiseration which the situation of the Navals evoked in the breasts of the spectators waa, howeirer, tempered with joy, joy that one of the members of the City Council was accompanying the march in his capacity as medical officer to the corps, anl who had a wholesome experience of the horrors Of the journey. A telegram from Invercargill, dated 28lh May, states that the rabbiters are offering to undertake the extermination of rabbits free of charge. The rabbiters assert that they are making a good thing of the so-called pest. An Association . has been formed, and offers prizes for the best exhibits of skins, and manufactured furs are to be forwarded to the Melbourne Exhibition.

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