SUEZ MAIL NEWS

Bay of Plenty Times, 8 February 1879, Page 3

SUEZ MAIL NEWS

DISTRESS IN GREAT BRITAIN

THE AFGHAN CAMPAIGN.

London, Dee. 20.

'Thc'unusually early winter -has greatly intensified the wide-spread distress existing in many parts of -England and';Sco.land. Afc .Sheffield the distress is said to be without parallel jn the| previous history of the town. Very gloomy accounts are also received from Manchester,' 'Birmingham, Wigan, Wolverhampton, Liverpool, Plymouth, Bristol, Dundee,' and Glasgow. In the pottery districts the distress is becoming alarming. The council of the Secretary lof State for India has .decided to increase/the native army, by 15,00. 'men. ",'';." ; *:'." i V, '. , ,'.', Tbe fcro'ops'operati.ig in Afghanistan .have had ran uninterrupted career of; success, since crossing the , frontier.; Lord] Lyon has , left Lahore for Calcutta. Pi-ovious'to his departure he received a feudatory contingent, composed of upwards of three thousand men of all arms. Not only the important- „ Sikhs and Mahomedan chiefs,- but also -the'fijemdah. natives and former officers of the Government had spontaneously and promptly offered their services. The contingent leaves on Saturdayfor Peshawur, and will, it is proposed, hold the Cabul river and Khiva Passes, in order to allow the regular troop, to advance. British officers of all branches of the service are attached to be contingent. , Bombay, Dec. 29, „ After the success of Piewar Kootal Pass the attacking column proceeded on towards Shooter Pass. News from Cabul said there were eight regiments of infantry there, and that the Afghan troops were not inclined to tight. The Mirakasor had been attempting to' induce the hill tribes to exert themselves actively against our troops ; an attempt was made -to capture him, but he fled, to the higher part of the Tufedgoh range's. The tribes- about Khaibur having given'- serious J aunoyance by harrassing camp followers and j stangers and attacking baggage convoys, an expedition was dispatched against them, which destroyed some of the offenders' villages. Our European troops continue in good health, bub the cold weather has proved very trying- to natives.-'-- There are; however, few I men in the hospitals. General Stewart effected a junction with General Biddulph in "fCholtee.Pas-', , Supplies' are coming in freely. I The Passes arc -strongly held fey our troop's. Our troops entered Bellalabad on the 20th. All the notabilities, nie.t , them outside the I town. *„..'. .'.'•■ Two additional regiments of infantry and a strong force of artillery have been sent to the Cape, at the urgent request of Lord Chelmsford, the General Commander-in-Chief. As regards Russia,' a report is ' current that the 'English Government, having applied to the; Rußsiap Government tP . know \ whether, -. in the event, of the Ameer. .Shere. Ali, flying to Herat. " it would consent to ' an English occupation of that town, the latter had signified its acquiescence to such a proposal, but has added that as Herat is the point at which Russian, interests ,\yould begin to take effect, it will" necessitate a Russian .occupation as well. : ; - • ■ ' ' -"• Signor D'Albertis, in his paper 'said, that from his experience bf New Guinea, he considered i_-_ whole Island, and .tho niain laud iv its vicinity as part of. New Guinea, most suitable for the commencement of colonization The country -was' y/$U watered, with .an. abundance of grass, the climate was good, and the. heat moderate.'- Ho hoped that the commencement would not be undertaken by gold diggers, and should prefer for his sympathy with the natives to se. the agriculturist first in the field; ••- His/plan would bo the formation of aii'iigrioid-ura'l-mission for the material benefit ofthe natives. Mr F. Young said that negotiations were still pending in the Government with 'regard to taking steps to secure the colonization of the Southern part of New Guinea. The strong and increasing interest taken in colonial matters by the British public is shown by the "prominence given to those subjects in the London Press. A Paris physician is said to have made a discovery for' which railway travellers will certainly combine to vote him a testimonial. "Most persons have experienced the misery of a long journey on a line where Pullman j cars are unknown. Whether a man io travelj ling by day or by night, he will probably wish to go to sleep after a time, ns the best way of forgetting the ennui of the situation. Unhappily the 'wish dons not always bring about its fulfilment, aud it may even be imprudent to yield to diwsy influences when you are not iriore than a moderate distance from your destination, oi* from a junction where you have to change carriages. Tho inventor iii question has, however, devised a soporific whioh he declares to be perfectly innocuous, and which has the singular virtue of being limi|;able intheduration of its effects at the pleasure of the person v.ing it. The time during which a given dose will operate i can be calculated t-> within 10 minutes of the actual figure. Thus a traveller, with twohmn'..--and-a-half's journey before him, might feci perfectly safe iv taking a two hours' dose, or even a two hours and twenty minutes', 1 hough this last might be a little clangorous. The inventor, who throughout his experiments had railway travelling iv liL'i mind, ari':'.ng_s the doses in "miles," or rather kilometres. Going from London to Oxford {a distance of 6." miles) you might safely swallow 50 miles if so inclined^ Old men and persons suffering from anremia have to take a rather stronger dose than others. The effect of the potion — for the drug is taken iv a liquid form— would appear to bo instantaneous. Of course its composition is a secret. It has, however, already been tried by a number of the physician's patients, who allowed themselves to be experimented on. They prononnco it very agreeable to the taste, having something of the flavour of chartreuse. Possibly tho discovery might bo of use to others besides railway travellers— for example, to judges in Tichhono cases, and to churchgoers condomned to sit under ono of thor.f> preachers who seem incapable of ff.tigu.,

A private letter recently received from London. conveys the.. information, that when. Sir Julius Yogel. the Agent-General, heard about the burning and scuttling of the Piako at Peraambnoo, he immediately went to the Foreign Office and requested that steps should be taken through the consular service to sco that the passengers' welfare and comfort were at once seen to, no matter what the cost. The Foreign Secretary at once complied with the request, and a telegram :was written out, and was about to be sent, when tlmOSf.Z, Shipping > Company came to henr of what was proposed to be done, and sail I they were prepared to do what, was necessary, and a«*ked that no telegram should be sent. " The telegram was thereupon cancelled, and the .company left to. see to the matter.' ' If is ' stated that nothing further .was dope,; the company perhaps relying on the captain's knowledge of the ordinary con- ... tuitions in th* charter party to meet cases of *i4i#__ffi_. The incident caused a good deal of discussion, and it is said that the London "Sft6B.liS'iWgre. disposed to be very angry with "^r^ihMft^Qgpl for not having; sent them long memoranda on the subiect before going to the Foreign Office. Colonists, especially there who have pone down to the sea in ships, will be disposed to' take a different view, anc 1 re card it as another proof of the watchful interest taken by Sir Julius in everything thpit affects the welfare of New Zealand and New Zealand people.' '•-