LONDON.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 627, 15 February 1879, Page 2

LONDON.

February 14. The terrible slauglitei of the men and officers comprising the 24th Regiment was caused by their being decoyed into an ambush, when 30,000 Zulus surrounded and butchered them. Officers and men fought desperately hand-to-hand, and killed hundreds of the Zulus. They fought, wounded and dying, to the last breath. The Zulus lost 5,000 of their number. A terrible vengeance awaits them. Five swift British steamers, of the largest tonnage, will be despatched with reinforcements, and every possible provision will be made for the protection of the Europeans. The British Government offer to subsidise a telegraph cable to the Cape. At a banquet last night the First Lord of the Admiralty said he deeply deplored the terrible disaster which had befallen the British troops m the Zulu country. He announced that reinforcements, amply sufficient to terminate the struggle at once, and for good, should start within one week. The Premier made a statement similar to that made m the House of Commons, calling upon the country to wipe out the disaster m Zululand. The Afghan expedition, he said, had achieved its object, that of giving protection to the frontier of British India, which had preserved the independence of Afghanistan. With respect to the distress m England he trusted a favorable turn m the weather would be the cause of mitigating much suffering.