On the same day, word was cabled that a number of British officers and native soldiers had been massacred on the Afghanistan frontier, at a place called the Tochi Valley.

A government officer, Mr. Gee, was travelling through the district under the escort of a body of troops.  The party was attacked by a tribe of frontiersmen, and the British obliged to retreat, their enemies following them for several miles.

Some of the officers commanding the troops were killed, and all of them were wounded.

Mr. Gee had been sent to the frontier to fix the site for a new outpost or fort, and to collect fines that had been imposed on the frontiersmen for past misconduct.

The Waziris, as the tribe is called, did not like Mr. Gee’s mission, and so lay in wait for his party, and, when it entered the valley, poured down from the hills on all sides and in great numbers.

Great Britain will send out an expedition to punish the Waziris, but it is expected that it will take some severe fighting to overcome these natives.

They are a powerful tribe which can muster about forty thousand fighting men.  They are strong, hardy, and well versed in the use of rifles, and are constantly fighting the other tribes around them, so that they are always ready for war.

Their country extends over a vast tract of land, and they are a very formidable people.

England cannot allow her representatives to be attacked by these people without punishing them, and however severe the task may be, it is necessary to give the Waziris a good lesson.

* * * * *

Of late there has been a good deal of angry talk about the seal question.

It is said that the United States has been acting in bad faith, in not paying Canada the sum of $425,000 for unlawfully keeping her ships out of the Bering Sea.

It has also been frequently stated that the Seal Arbitration Committee, which met in Paris in 1893, decided that we must pay this sum.  People are inquiring why we don’t pay it before we ask for England’s help in protecting the seals.

As a matter of fact, the United States does not owe any such sum.

The Paris tribunal said we had no right to prevent other ships from entering the Bering Sea, and that we must pay damages to Canada for having done so.

No sum of money was, however, agreed on.

Lord Salisbury and Secretary of State Gresham decided that, “subject to the approval of Congress,” $425,000 would be about a fair sum for us to pay.

When the subject came up before Congress, it was found that many false claims were being made, and that frauds of every kind were being practised to get damages from us.  The entire matter was therefore thrown out, Congress refusing to agree to the payment of the $425,000.

A Committee was appointed to look into the matter, and is now holding its sittings in Vancouver.  At the present time no one knows what amount we will have to pay.