The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-01-09 00:00:00

PROGRESS IN INDIA.

The " Statement el-hibiting the Moral and Material
Progress and condition of India" for last year has
just been published, and it is satisfactory to note that it
has been found possible to accelerate its appearance.
The book has hitherto not been published until the
information it contained had become rather antiquated,
and whether the credit of the change be due to T.ord
Eandolph Churchill or to the new Permanent Tinder-
Secretary, Mr. Godley, or whether both are entitled to
a share, the improvement is equally a matter of con-
gratulation. We note also a change for the better in
the form of compilation, which makes the book
altogether more interesting to the reader. Con-
siderable space is occupied With references to the in-
troduction of the new scheme for local self-govern-
ment, to which the late Viceroy attached so much
importance. It has not been in operation long enough
to justify any strong opinion, fouaded upon its work-
in, either for or against it, and for the present those
who regarded it with aversion and anxiety, as well as
its advocates, will probably hold to their previous
jdagments in the matter.
With regard first to municipalities, as distinguished
from the new district boards, it appears that there
are now 179 of these bodies in the Presidency of
and they include 2305 members—technically
slyled commissioners—of whom 489 are Eurcpeans,
and 1816 natives. -Under the new law the Govern-
ment will nominate all the members in only 10 muni-
cipalities; in all the rest the majority of members
will be elected by the ratepayers, without.distinction
of race. The new electoral privileges are estimated
by the natives very differently in different provinces.
Thus, in.Sylhet, only 194 electors out of 1170 ab-
stained from voting, and nowhere in Assam was the
proportion who took part in choosing the local councils
smaller than 77 per cent. In the Punjaub, on the
other hand, very little progress has been made in in-
troducing the new system, and we are told that the
Government has been impressed with the necessity of
withdrawing the municipal system altogether from
many petty towns. In Madras the system of election
has been extended to all towns of more than 25,000
inhabitants, and the elections held for the first time
in nine municipalities have excited "a commendable
amount of interest." Out of 754 commissioners 506
were natives, against 248 Europeans and Eurasians.
In Bombay Presidency the elective system has been
greatly extended. The new system is said to be
working "on Vie whole" satisfactorily, but "the
commissioners generally are still very lax in their at-
tendance."

THE FIGHTING IN THE SOUDAN.

HEAVY ARAB LOSSES.

Lieut.-General Sir F. Stephenson telegraphs to the
Secretary of State for War as follows :
" Abri, Jan. 2, 1886 (.15 p.m.)
"Butler at Erawe, twenty miles south of here,
reports: Enemy's loss much heavier than first
supposed in our estimate as 600 killed. Enemy flying
through Kaibar to Dongola.' "
[Reuter's Telegrams.]
CAIno, Jan. 2 (Evening).
Telegraphic communication with the front has now
been restored.

Lieut.-General Sir F. Stephenson has established
his headquarters at Abri.
ALnx.ksoarA, Jan. 2.

The remainder of the Ist Battalion Dorsetshire
Regiment proceeded to Upper Egypt yesterday.
A General Order issued by his Royal Highness the
Field-Marshal Commander-in-Chief states that her
Majesty has been graciously pleased to approve of
the undermentioned regiments being permitted to
bear the words specified below upon their colours or
appointments respectively in commemoration of the
ascent of the River Nile during the years 1884 and
1885, and the operations which ensued, or of the
operations in the eastern Soudan, in the vicinity of
Sorakin : sth Royal Irish Lancers, 20th Hussars,
Grenadiel Guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards,
East Surrey Regiment, and King's Shropshire Light
Infantry, " Souakin, 1885 ;" 19th Princess of Wales's
Own Hussars and Royal Sussex Regiment, "Nile,
1884-5 —Abu Klea ;" Royal Irish Regiment, Duke of
Cornwall's Light Infantry, Essex Regiment, Queen's
Own Royal West Kent, Gordon Highlanders, and
Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, "Nile, 1884-5;"
South Staffordshire Regiment and the Black Watch
(Royal Highlanders), "Nile, 1884-5 —Kirbekan ;"
and Princess Charlotte of Wales's Royal Berkshire
Regiment, " Souakin, 1885 —Tofrek." The Queen's
Regulations are to be amended accordinilv.