Victorian Defences.

Thames Star, Volume XVI, Issue 5071, 16 April 1885, Page 2

Victorian Defences.

London, April 8.

Mr E. Murray Smith, the Victorian Agent-General, acting upon instructions received from his colony, has ordered a number of Whitehead torpedoes." German Order not to Supply War Material. Prince Bismarck has issued an order forbidding German manufacturers to supply torpedoes to any foreign Power. The Victorian four million 4 per cent, redemption loan is to be placed upon the London market very shortly. , ■■ ', April 9. English and German Annotation, The report that Earl Roseberry is about to visit Berlin, with the object of concluding an agreement with the German Government on the subject of annexations in the Pacific and in Africa, is declared to ,be premature. Egypt.—The New South Wales Contingent. The SydneylErening News' war correspondent at Suakim writes :—•

April 3rd. In a skirmish near Tamai, the Imperial troops had a private killed, and an officer wounded. The New South Wales contingent, who smelt pow.der for the first time, and behaved with great steadiness throughout, had ' three men slightly wounded, namely, private Charles Harrison, C.C.Downey, and Learoyd. The enemy's loss is not knowu. On this occassion our fellows did not get the share of the. fighting that was given to some of the other troops, and I am inclined to think that the General in command wished to ascertain how they would behave in actual warfare, before he carried out his promise of brigading them with the Guards ; that he is satisfied is shown by the announcement now—made -that-inrthe" general advance, we are to have a place of honor.

April 6. The weather is getting very warm, and the heat where we are now, is intensely dry, just like that of Darling, New South Wales. Our fellows stand it Tery well; attacks of sunstroke of a slight nature are prevalent, .principally amon the Imperial troops.

April 7. The Arabs beat up our quarters on the zareba on the road to Handoub last night. They came up without any military order, but in pretty considerable numbers. They opened a brisk but harmless fire ;• they attacked two sides of the zareba, and their bullets, with few exceptions, passed over our heads. At the same time the situation is quite sufficiently dangerous to test our men's nerves and discipline and order under fire, and what these were you will judge when I tell you that in the morning the officer in command of our post, General J. A. Lyon Freemantle, complimented the N.S. W. men oh their general /smartness, but more particularly upon the way in which they returned the Arab fire. This was not done at haphazard, but as marksmen should do, taking advantage of every little opening in the zareba from which a fair sight.of the enemy .could be obtained, and not blazing away recklessly, but only firing when there seemed to be something worth hitting. The Guardsi who formed the rest of the garrison, were equally brisk iv returning the Arab fire, and it is supposed that a good many Arabs were hit and carried off by their friends. The exchange of firing lasted a couple ,of hours, after which the Arabs drew off, and we slept peacefully for the rest of the night.

- April 8. A camel driver who returned to the bead quarters camp last night, after having been missing for some time, reports that he was taken prisoner during the fight at Hasheen on March 22, between the British under General Graham and the Arabs under Osman Digna, when the Arabs, though subsequently .beaten, fought stubbornly for a time, and threw the Bengal Cavalry into confusion and severely pressed the Guards. The man was with the Arabs as a prisoner when our men had first a "brush " with the enemy at Tamai on Friday morning, and when, with the Guards, we drove them back among the lower hills, the camel driver reports that our fire on that occasion was much more destructive to the enemy than was. supposed, and that they had 250 men killed and wounded. This confirms the impression that the Australians are showing their superiority as marksmen, which I mentioned in my* telegram yesterday when I described the night attack on the zareba on the road to Handoub. The camel driver says that the Arabs are very much disheartened, and cannot now be brought up to make a charge upon us; they are burning their villages and returning inland. As a result of the depressed stajle of the Arabs, they relaxed their watch over their prisoners, who escaped without much difficulty, and came into Suakim as I have described. The New South Wales artillery still remains at headquarters, «lose to §u«kini« *