INDIAN FRONTIER WAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10628, 17 December 1897, Page 5

INDIAN FRONTIER WAR.

.A TRYING MARCH. FIGHTING DAY AND NIGHT. HEAVY LOSSES. Press Association.—Electric Telesrwpb.-Copjnijilit. Calcutta, December 16. The march of the British troops through Barn Valley was accomplished uuder 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 fifing. Tito rearguard of Colonel WestraacoU'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 Qhoorkas, was among the killed. Immense destruction was doue to the enemy's defences. General Looklmrt 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. A CRITICAL SITUATION. AMMUNITION EXHAUSTED. DESPERATE CHARGES 3Y THE TRIBESMEN. REPELLED BY THE BRITISH. THE NATIVES TERRIBLY PUNISHED. Calcutta, December 16. <rcfif &eg<f <tftfe<wPr f<? <*&&&&'<&&'< flaufc tftem. T(m pouc/i ammunition ( was once exhausted and there was grave peril until it was replenished. When Colonel Wesbm&cotVa 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 Kliels. He will clear them from the Bazaar Valley down to the lowest of Hie Bara Valleys.