THE AFFGHAN FRONTIER QUESTION. (Pionflr Mail, Feb. 23.)

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1997, 25 April 1885, Page 2

THE AFFGHAN FRONTIER QUESTION. (Pionflr Mail, Feb. 23.)

Thk telegrams of last week exhibited in an iis.ially sinking way the duplex method by w hich Kussi in j>olioy chooses to work in the huUt of the Frontier Commission; and under which re-assurances from the Foirign Office arc made to alternate With th i eats from the militiiy party, as though they were separate and mespoiis.ble force*. The recognised existence of the military school with it» independent anus was first M made clear to the public by the Pans ' correipondent <>f tho Times, whose disclosures, it will be lemeu.bereii, Hue telegraphed m sub-tance to u> early last month. The few weeks that have elapsed mho. then have amply ju-tifvd M. de Uln.wt/, in what nny haM> eeined .it the time ev-i travajf.iut Mippo-ulio;is. It is now*nothing ii' w to hear that Herat does not belong to Affqhnn-tan; and one officer of high standing has openly declaicd at 1 .st that not Afghanistan at ill but India is the goal of Russian ambit! >n. Tlie last uttuiance of this kind w, pei hips, the woi at we have yet heard. 'Ih.s long stay of Sir Peter Lumsden so near tlie frontier ia pei v erting the minds of the Aifghans, we are told, and if mischief ih mid rise m consequence, " Ru-m i must rely on her own resources." .is it is minitest to the world that Sir Peter Lnnisd"ii'» forced and humiliating d 'tontion on the border is solely caused liv Russia's equivocations, the effrontery of his coiupUmt is quite unequalled. Side b> side of course comes the inevitable a-siirince fiom M. de Giers that no steps ar- m contemplation inconsistant with the previous declaration of the Ru*->ian Government. But the time is pa-<t, an an English paper points out, for treating M. de (iiers as an amiable Spenlow deprecating the inilit iry Jorkins, but unable to control it. If tho Russian Foreign Office is unable to keep its hold over the bureau of war, our business is to recognise that unfortunate fact, and to set pioportionately little store by its promises, while we take the best and speediest means of counteracting the designs of the stronger party. The last act of the Boundary C^mmisiion 4 Comedy, as it wa> c ill 1 d the other day, to - jud^'e by more recent telegram-*, wears thedj appe tr.mce of mnning out with unlooked™ lor tapidity. If events move as they *eem to threaten, the end would be merely a matter of days. Already the reassurances of M. de triers are being contradicted on independent information, which declares that Russian troops are concentrating to move down the Murghab to Panjdeh and the Han Rud to Herat ; and on the other hand, as if in confirmation of the lumonred approach, there is tho fact that Sir Peter Lunisden is moving away from his quarters at Bala Mmghab — no doubt be-tau-o he is apprehensive of a collision, or e\eii to throw himself into Herat before it fall. If these things are really ao everyone knows whpt they must and will mean. But there is room after all for hope that the outlook may nut be as black as it s-eeins. The otory of the Russiau tr (ops that are advancing, or concentrating for an advance, into Affghan territory may have been put foi ward by The Times on some special and trustworth information. So little is known of what goes on behind the veil of the Russian frontier that we cannot descreditit "Utneht. But at the same time it is difficult to see how the in wenient of which the Tunes warns us could possible be in execution. Small bodies of Russian tr >op» aie constantly moving about the frontier line, and the motions, of some of these detachments hive been duly made known to the authorities here ; but more than this is unlikely, because, to the best of our knowledge, the Russians have not troops on the ipot for the business. Nothing has been heardjl recently of any reinforcements being sent* into the Trans-Caspain region, except an infantry battalion 80S strong, which was despatched some time ago fiom Turkistan to Merv via Charjui on the Oxus. The Russians have never had any considerable body on the line east of A-kabjd, and it is dimc.ilt, therefore, to see w here the men could come from for a sudden irruption inio Afghanistan, not to s>pcak of the capture of Herat. The question of a visit from tl.e Amir to tho Viceroy is one that w.i-. often to thej front even m the time of Lord Ripon, wbo^ may have found some diificully in giving A plausible excuse for avoiding the interview winch His. Highness was anxious to brin? about. And up to the year and a half ago thoio was no reason for thinking that any good could have resulted from the meeting. Tlie Amir ould have only pressed for aseistinco and in moy which Lord Ripon would .m C3rtamly have declined to give iiim, nid tho result wmkl 'iue been disappointment .md di-3 iti-f«.etion on the pill oi oui ally, if n 'thiM^ woise. Since then, however, the situation has altered l.uhcally. The closer relations entered into in 1883, the subsidy with its obligations, the expanding revelations of Russian design, have made the connection between England and Affghani>»toii not only a real one, but one whose reality it is politic to pioclaim and have rec^nts-ed. The visit of the Amir to India, as we have «id frequently of Ute since the arrangement has been impending, is au announcement to all whom it may concern of tlie fact th|rt tho Atiiir has broken with his past ; that ia| spite of intrigue, and rumours m the Cabuf™ ba/.aar, and the rest of it, the ruler of tho country sees that his interests lie with the Power that really wishes him well, and th it when the attorn i>t c >me> to be made igiinst our Xoith Wo-ttrn frontier there will be a hostile Afghanistan to be reckoned with on tv thie^tiold.

"Sir: stoops to conquer " Can this refer to the fond mother who bends over her wayward boy with a No. s slipper? There aro 2350 co opetative societies in Get many, with a membeiship of over 1,000,000, and la«=t year they purchased ovoi £7.>,000,000 of goods. "Tt\ p iund<3 bid, gentlemen," cried the auctioneer at an art sile; only £10 for this fine landscape, with its flowers, trees, water, atmosphere — and such an atmosphere ' Why, the atmosphere alone is worth the mouey !" "Times have changed," said old Hy*on, mournfully, " times have changed.'! " And a* to wherefore ?" asked his son," 11 In former times," said the old man, " man ate the cream." " And now ?" "They cremate the man " There was an awful pause, and Young Hyson walked out of the counting room on his tip toei and told one of the salesmen he wasafraid the old man was breaking up fast. A New York physician says that a baby must not be allowed to sleep with its mother. Must not be allowed ! Did anydody ever know of a baby that eveu slept with his mother, or anybody elsei^ This New York physician ought to knovr that a baby never goes to sleep until it is time for everybody else to get up. Then how the little darling w ill'sleep !— Bobton TranBcnpt. The sheaf of answers which have been culled for the recent examination for the London School Board scholai ships, aud given in the new number of the "Journal of Education," is the best thing of the Uind theie has been for a long time. "By what right," the examiner asked, " does the Queen sit on the throne ?" to which the answers wer^— (a) " Because Prince Albert married her, and she was the daughter of Rollo the Sea Kmg ;" (b) " She was the only daughter of Edward VI , who was her father, son of Edward Y. ;" (c) "She won a great battle," The pl.*j of imagination here helps to explain the question of the precocious schoolboy the other day. What, iudeed, would history be without its Jungs and queens ? Equally refieshing is the complete freedom from any prenmtiTro political taint displayed in such answer! as this — " A Conseivative is a :nan who looks down on Liberals, a Liberal a man who spends the people's money freely. 1 Or, still better, " Manhood suffrage is the state of suffering to w hich all mankiud are botn." The request to explain^ " The child is father to the man,"^ showed, iudeed, on the part of one candidate rather too earlj a bias to those , obstinate questionings which lead to i scepticism " Everyone knows," he said "nearly eveiy one, that Adam is our common parent, but he couldn't have been such if he had not been a child fiist, though we're not told so in the Bible." But the other answer redresses the balance by showing that shades of the prison house do not close very haidly on all our poor children. "The law is such," this cindidate answeied, " that the father can't do nothing to bis own boy."