ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1991, 11 April 1885, Page 4

ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

Bennett Giaham Huileigh, the sp chl correspondent of the London Daily Telegraph, who was woundid in the fight ot the 19th in Soudan, seived with great gallantry in the Confederate navy. It is stated that a very exti.iordinary diamond, weighing no less than 4.">7 carats, has been shipped fiom South Africa to England. Ihe Koh t noor weighs 106 carats. Great satisfaction has been given in Paris by the wood pavement, which is now to be laid down in vaiious cential points, which up to the present has not enjoyed the advantiu'e. The bible mentions G2O plices in Palestine wcit of Jord m, and 430 have been identified, 182 by the stifl of the Palestine c\ploration fund. Paraguay is steadily improving, the trade leturns for ISS3 hiving amounted to $2,720,000, and those for ISSt being estimated at $3,000,000 A CORHhsIMNDK.NT of the Pall Mall Gazette, writing under the signature of •' Hahitaifs in Sicco," supplies the following facts, which will interest many colonists :— " Now that our colony, New South Wales, has made us so noble an offer of assistance in the Soudan, it may be of interest to you readers and only justice to this gallant little Colony, if I call your attention to the fact that one of the most distinguished officers now serving in Egypt (Biker Russell) is a native of NewSouth Wales. It is unnecessary to say anything about this biave ofHcer's career, but let me al«o say that the gallant Colonel of the Black Watch, R Coveny, who ' foiemost fighting fell ' at Kirbekan. wa3 also a native of New South Wales. Of such men we and our colonies can be justly proud. Colonel Covtny, besides being a soldier, was also an accomplished artist, a gift w Inch his brother, a hamster in Sydney, also p »? sesses. Having seen a sci ics of etchings illustrative of Pickwick by this gentleman, and published for pnvatc circulation, I ye to say that they hardly yield in ouginality, humour, and delicacy of execution to many of G. Cruikshank'fi. Australia thus early bids to be ' mater mwjn<i vintm.' Let 113 l emember that she cm claim the gallant Coveny as her son."

Scots Guards. —This splendid regi ment left for the Soudan on Satin day. the 2ls>t of Febuary. Thoy weie inspected by the Pnnceof Wales, who addre&cd them as follows :—" Colonel Trefusis, oflioeis and men of the 2nd Bittnlion of the Scots — I have come hero with my wife and children and my sifter to wish you good bye and Godspeed. The reputation and the condition of the Scots Gunds aie so well known to everybody that I need not say anything here of high qualities which aie a matter of history. You have always done right good service, and I am always quite sure that whenever the opportunity ofl'ois you will do so again. I most heartily wish you good health, that you may be able to endure the fatigue and tnals which you may have to go through. I will not keep you bnger, but once more I must heartily wish you good health, (!od speed, and a safe leturn." Before the column moved of the following telegram fiom the Queen was rean, and icsponded to with ringing cheer* : — " The Queen sends her best wishes to the officeis and men of her Scots Guards, and wishes them heartily God-spped."

General Gordon's Hdmodr. —It is not often that one of so serious a turn of mind as General Gordon is found possessed of humour; but a letter of his from O/.urgeth, on June 29, 1858, when he was employed in surveying and settling the Tuiko-Rusßian frontier in Asia, reveals a fund of quiet fun beyond the ordinaiy. In this epistle he says: "The ladies are very pretty, but have not very cleanly habits m general; they prefer their nails tipped, and do not hesitate at taking a bone and gnawing it. They live in extremely dirty houses, or rather huts. They are generally all princesses, and tho men all pnncta, who, however do not hesitate to accept small donations. lam always in fear and trembling lest they should give me anything, as it is necessary to give in return. I unfoitunately happened to notice a certain ghss letterweight with the Queen on it, andobseived that it was like Her Majesty. It was given me on the Bpot, and with deep regret I had to paitwith my soda-water machine the next day. I admire nothing now." Later on, in the same letter, h* adds: "My hands getj quite sticky with "bilking hands with so many princes." — Court Circular. The latest n'jws about the relations of England and Russia is rather startling, and shows wdiat diplomatists call a veiy stiained condition, but there is ■ eason to believe that, England having shown their toeth, tl.o matter will not

at present go farther. The cause of all the trouble can hardly be understood without a ghncc at the mnp. When the Russians occupied the oasis of Merv in the great Turkoman des»it two years ago, it brought them within fifty miles of the AlFghan fiontieis, and within .V'out 200 of the histoiie eitj of H( rat, which, though feebly foi titled, lias always in Anglo Indian history bceu known as " the key to India." It stands in the only mad l>> which an invader fiom the noith cun tmn the gieat mountain chain of the Hindu Kuah, .-Hid, pom down into the Noith western inovinees ovei the gie.it plain of Kandahar. All classes of English politici m 1!,m 1 !, aggressive, and non aggressive, have alwajs auieed that the one thing which Russia must never be allowed to do wis to get possession of Hur.it In f.TJt, it has been a cardinal point of Bt tish policy that no powei but Atf g!i uiistau must e\er be peimitte-il to hold it In 1838, the Persians, then undci Russian influence, attempted to s> ue it, but were beaten off after a memorable siege. Russia is not in a good condition to force a quarrel with England in Affghaniatan. She is, at Merv, ,")00 Hides from her base even on the Caspain Sea, across a desert, and would be met on the frontier by the Affghans themselves, no mean antagonists, as English experience has shown, Owing to the policy pursued by Lord Ripon too, the relations between the Amir and the Indian Government are of the fiiendliest sort, and the whole strength of the Indian Empire can now be tluown into Afghanistan by railroad, which goes as far as Peshawur, to meet any force entering along the Murglub. Of the fidelity of the native Indian troops in any such contest there is uo reasonable doubt. The alarmists, therefore, who tremble for the sifety of the British Empiic in India may soothe their feelings. The situation is gme, and if the struggle tomes it will doubtless be a hot one, but the outlook for Bntish s-ncces-> in first class, notwithstanding the trouble in the Soudan. The latest scheme for raising money of tlw liMi dynamiters in Niw York is the < nb'tnient of a "bngade" to join the Maluli, and help him to destioy the British foices in the Soudan. They are to go, 2.30 strong, to Cairo, or some other place in the neighbourhood, and one Mr Joseph D. Claikc, a member of the Executive Council of the Irish National League, says to "lay toipedoes in the Nile and Red Sea," on then wly But ho honestly confesses that "how an Irish foice can get to Khartoum when tho English can't get there, puzzles him." Ciptiiu Denis Brewer, of Clinton stieet, lirooklyu, is nioro confident, foi he «;\\ s twenty iren of the new ni iiv.il-. "will show the Mahdi how to bre;ik tin- British square quicker than he ever di earned it could be done."' This lieing so, the M..h<li will doubtless send for th< contingint down to the Red Sen, and take them up to his lc-nlence in four horse omnibuses The mode uf getting to Klmtoum is, howuvei, .1 mere question of ikt.nl Captain Brewer vuy propeily declines to s»v when the expedition will start. \V)IK> the Russians seued Merv, two years ago, and came into contiolof the git-at Tuikoman desert, they weie for the first time brought, into oontact with Affghau tcnitory, the prccse limits of which, f n the Tuikoman side, had never been dt fined. It then became necessary to define them, and on the proposal of England, accepted by Rns-ia, a ]oint Boundary Commission was organi/ed, to be composed of repiesentativcs of England, Russia and Afghanistan. The Commission has been at woik on the gionnd during the past gear, but on one excuse or another the Russian Commissioner has not actively p.irticipited in the survey. Thu nation of this is now apparent, foi Mr Lessar, the expert geographer employed by the Russians, has made a demand as to the tracing of tho hue, which, it is said in England, would give Russia " a wedge of teintoiy thrust in between the two principal rivets of Northwestern Afghanistan, and \ effectually commanding the road from Hei at to Meshed " These nvurs are the Minghnb and the Heri Rud, and they bothtake then ns." in Alfglmnistan. mid, flowing nemly parallel till lost in the sands of the Klin an desert, enclose a stnp of temtory about fitty miles wide, which contains all that is most delicate and difficult in the woik of delimitation. The Russians wish uatuially to push then line up in it as far as possible, and base their claim on ethnological gtounds —that is, that they are entitled to all teintoiy occupied by Tutkouians. This, it u said, would give them the town of Panjdeh, about fifty milea up the Muighab from the frontier.