THE SHOOTING OF A BRITISH OFFICER IN PEGU.

Otago Witness, Issue 1242, 18 September 1875, Page 17

THE SHOOT I NG OF A BRITISH OFFICER IN PEGU.

The Times of India, referring so tie death of Colonel Hamilton i-i a fight w'th dacoits in Pgju, says :— The sad i*U of O.Jonel Hamilton, follow^ ing as it doß=s (fee upon an encouncr between the polic • and another q*ng of dcs« peradoes, and in which Mr DivkJson waa voandfd, shows th-t the brigands in Pegu are becoming singularly audacious, ard are learning to receive and return fire. Whethtf the complications with the Oourt of Burmah have had any influence upon the half-savasjc tribes upon .tho frontier fr m wh'u>h the dacoits are mainl ' recruited is is difficult to say, but the famine which it is reported afflicts the country of the Karens— a high tableland to the east of Pegu — isuiore likely frn be the causs of the unwonted audacity of these robbers. It is stated that every Village in Pegu swa»ms w.th dacoit*. Tha lasb Adminißtratirn. repnro of Briu»h Rnrmah showed that dncojty was steadily de« creasing : it has indeed been steadily ra« pressed for years pvt* and thtra waa some roasou to hope that, with thejujp (t { the very large police force wliich was kepfc up, that form of crime would ho stunpfi I out altogether. The present outbreak is. thereore, moßfc probably clue to cxc pttpnai, artri it is to" be hoped 1 transient, causes ; but its occurrence, signalised as ft is by t.he wounding of a district buvmrintendent of pol.ee aud the death of th«» officiating iusp ctor-general may well give lis j co some uneasiness amnnrf those who have friends or" relatives in British Flurmah. The facts connected with the fatal encounter are easily told. When bit DavidsoD, the district superintendent, was wounded, the acting inspector-general of police, accompanied by Mr Raikeß, appears to have Bet oufc at once for the district where the outrage took place. Receiving informs [ tion that a party of dacoits was in. the neig§. i bourhood of Pyagalay, some ten miles frotfj \Pega, they marched with a force, tlte strength of which is not stated, to tbf& place. They arrived there at midnight,and were then led through the jungle to tf rioe fieW, which they readied at five o'clock J v * h f *" or ? ij3 * n Tbe P°lice were imsnd. diatcly fired upon fW two sides, and tbcv returned the rlre, but they refused to char 4' or to follow tneir European officers, anVl ori the tfhole behaved very badly. Colonel Hamilton tvss shot through the hem i aud killed instantly. Hia orderly was wounded. Ultimate? the poloe remained"' mnnttis (A the held, two noted daooite bein« killed, and! twoßenously wounded, one of the latter being maoe prisoner. The dacota appear to have been aiwed wh,h double barrelled guns • which were captured by the polic e. Those who escaped are being followed up by twoBurmese injectors, and it is to be hoped that they will he apprehended and brourfifr , to justice The wounded prisoner stated that nearly every village in the Pegu diatrj«t is filled with dacoits. and it is only w