TROUBLE IN INDIA.

Waikato Argus, Volume III, Issue 224, 18 December 1897, Page 2

TROUBLE IN INDIA.

HEAVY FIGHTING.,^ Calcutta, December 15The march of the British troops through Bara Valley was accomplished under terribly severe conditions, in the shape of rain, snow and wind, which were incessantly met with. Fighting also went on night and day. The tribesmen displayed fearlessness and accurate firing. The rearguard of Colonel Westmacott's column behaved splendidly throughout. The tribesmen lost 300 men. The losses on the British side comprised four officers and 40 men. Lieutenant G. W. West, wing officer of the First Battalion of the Third Ghoorkas, was among the killed. Immense destruction was done to the enemy's defences. General Lockhart has effected a junction with the column under Colonel Hammond, at Borkai. The troops will be allowed to rest before advancing to the Bazarra Valley. Marching from Sberkhel to Barkai, Colonel "Westmacott's rearguard met with great difficulty in repelling the fierce and persistent attempts to outflank them. The pouch ammunition was once exhausted, and there wua grave peril until it was replenished. Wher Colonel Westmacott's men camped on the hillside for the night the tribesmen desperately charged them almost up to the bayonet's point. The British kept up a withering fire, and repelled the natives. The British lost- 60, while the tribesmen's punishment was the severest of the campaign. General Lockhart intends to open the Khyber Pass to punish the Zakka Khels. He will clear them from the Bazaar Valley down to the lowest of the Bara Valleys.