The Sun.
London, England, 1870-03-05 00:00:00

NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION.

The usual winter meeting of the National Rifle Asso-
ciation was held yesterday afternoon at Willis's Rooms,
his Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge presiding.
His Royal Highness, in opening the proceedings con-
gratulated the association on • a surplus of capi-
tal, which was mainly produced by the success
of last year's meeting and by encouragement in various
ways. At the same time he expressed his regret that the
subscriptions to the association had not increased. • He
ppinted out that several of the vice-chairmen
had never subscribed at aIL (Laughter.) A
large subscriber existed in Mr. William Martin
who had subscribed £938 to the Association. The meeting
for the ensuing summer would be at Wimbledon, and the
11th of July had been selected as the inost convenient
day. He hoped that the long notice would allow of pro-
per arrangements being made. As in 1869, the rifles for
the first range of the Queen's Prize would be the ordinary
Eefield, and for the second stage the Whitworth. Though
th-3 Government had determined to sell the Whitworth
rides, they would keep back enough to supply the Associa-
ti(m. He hoped that this year the extra prize list would
considerally augmented. Three other rifle associations
had joined them during the year, one in Canada, one in
New Zealand, and the other in Durham. The National
Rifle Association was therefore progressing favourably and
satisfactorily.

Caytain doonLiFrE moved the adoption of the report.
Captain Templar seconded it, and the motion was car-
ried.

The retiring 'Vice-Presidents were reappoint eel, with a
,o..?ntle reminder from Captain Field about their subscrip-
tions.

Lord ELclto, M.P. then requested the Duke of Cam-
bidge, in the name Of the association, to. accept the pre-
sidency for the ensuing year.
His ROYAL HIGIINL6S having intimated his acceptance
of the offer,
Lord RANELAOH drew attention to a letter written by
L )rd Elcho, which he feared meant that money was
intended to be spent in other ways than shooting. He
objected to this course.
Lord ELcno explained that no misappropriation of
funds had taken place. -
The proceedings terminated with a vote of thanks to
the Duke of Cambridge.

TILE ABYSSINIAN EXPEDITION.
FRIDAY.

The evidence of Lord Napier was proceeded with to-
,
day, at the meeting of the committee appointed to inquire
into the cause of the excess of expenditure over the esti-
, mates of this expedition.
Lord Napier entered in various explanations : general
. terms, he said, the supplies were on my requisition. There
• was, in the first place, a requisition for a six months'
csntinuous supply, and then for supplies from three
months to three months. The object I had in view in my
re pisition was always to have six months supplies in
hand. I pointed out to the Commissariat at Bombay,
what I considered necessary, and the Commissariat com-
municated it to the Government. I simply indicatedwhat
I required and left the Commissariat to deal with it. Of
caurse if I said I wanted 100 tons of forage at once it would
be sent. Other officer in whom I had confidence made
requisitions when I was in Abyssinia,, and I accept all the
responsibility of their requisitions. A memorandum was
issued by the G overnorG eneral throwing upon me the respon-
sibility of taking a larger force than the Government consi-
dered necessa•ry, and they mentioned the contingency that if I
did take a larger force it might not be possible to obtain
sufficient carriages, but the result of my shrinking
from that responsibility would have been that
the expedition could not have gone that year. In
the firat period of soy being at Zoola, so difficult was it to
feed the baggage-horses, that they were reported to be
without food. Officers were appointed to investigate the
matter, and through the means of a person of great
religious eminence, the Mohammedan population of
the passes were induced to sell forage, but that was
not until an advance was made. I did not consider it
safe to trust to anything except what I took with me.
Whatever forage was ordered by the Conaniissaria.t was
ordered after full consideration.
Mr. Candlish pointed out that of 13,102 tons of forage
ordered at Bombay, only 4,00 tons was landed at Zoola,
and out of 6,307 tons of compressed hay that was ordered
at Suez, only 300 tons were landed at Zoola.
Lord Napier : I have no doubt that the Commissariat
officers and these of the transport service could 4explain
that ; but it is wholly a mistake to suppose that two years'
! stores for the whole army were shipped. There were
many circumstances which required that we should have a
good supply, because it might have happened that if we
had advanced without them, and were met by hostile
tribes, we should have been hunted out of the country.
His lordship was pressed by the chairman to express his
opinion with reference to this fact of only 4,000 bales of
forage being landed out of 13,000 ; but he declined to do
so, observing that he had not the slightest doubt the matter
could be explained by the Commissariat officer. No doubt
(he said) the whole of the means of landing were occupied.
I was not at the port after I left it on the 23rd of January.
It Was quite as likely as not that the transport of the
forage might be delayed by the rains setting in, but the
rains would naturally increase the product of the country.
Wherever we could, we cut all the grass and stacked it,
but when that was exhausted we were supplied from the
' port, and at times there was great scarcity. As the
presence of a large force gave weight to our demands, they
were met, but where the posts were not strong, the sup-
plies fell off. There was a natural apprehension in the
country that we shonld consume so much of their sup-
plies that there would be distress, and, as a matter of
fact, I believe there was distress in the country. These
instructions from the first to the commissariat were to
provide for the expedition quite irrcpective of the re-
sources of the country.
By Mr. Denison : The postal communication between
Zoola and Bombay was irregular ; but on the whole, I was
surprised, after we were established on the high land, to
find how regular the postal service was. The famous
maxim of the Duke of Berwick applied exactly in such a
cluntry as this, that small armies were beaten and large
oaci starved. It would have been the height of folly to
have gone to Abyssinian without abundant supplies,
especially after the dear bought experience of the Crimean
war. It would have been most unsafe to trust to supplies
from Bombay, waen they could be obtained so much more
abundantly from Easypt. I believe the Commissariat
officers acted under the greatest responsibility, and would
not have sanctioned the slightest waste that could have
been avoided. The first reports of the country between
Zoola and the highlands was very favourable, being re-
presented to be a plain of grass and flowers, with wild
cattle feeding on them. In point of fact, we found it to
be a plain of barren sand, and the only places where
there was a rare supply of verdure were inha-
bited by men who were literally half wild,
and who had to be treated most liberally.
and he well paid. When we did obtain their confidence,
the assistance we derived from them was very valuable.
It was, above all, necessary to accomplish the expedition,
and get hold of the person of Theodore, and the way I
proceeded was to put a very large price on his head, which
would have induced any hostile chief in whose territories
he might have taken refuge to have given him up. The
reward was so large that he would never have been suf-
fered to escape ; but if he had, we must have followed
him, because it would never have done to
have come away from the country without him.
I was of opinion that a railway was very desirable ; and I
should like to place on record a minute of mine, in which
I approve the construction of a tramway to the first post.
There came an offer from Mr. Brassey to lay a 3ft. 6in.-
line at £3,000 a mile. I was inclined at first to run the
risk of ordering the railway from the coast to the high-
lands ; but on consideration, I did not think it was right
to snake a requisition on the subject. There was an in-
ferior railway laid down, the materials being second-
hand, and the engine and carriages inferior, at
the same cost as that proposed by Mr. Brassey ;
but that was done on the motion of the Indian Government.
It would be a great advantage if we had in this country
an improved pattern of a military railway, which could be
supplied at any time in this country. Had a Nl:position
been made to me to lay down a telegraph from Suez to
Zoola within a month, and I had power, I should have
accepted it at once. In point of fact, it would only have
been necessary to have laid it to a point opposite Zoola,
because Zoola is half way between Bombay and Suez.
By the Chairman—Some of the transport ships were
sent hack to Bombay, but I would never allow the troops
to be left without ships at Zoola.

By Captain Beaum-ont—Whether it would have been
advisable to interfere with the ordinary transport service
of India by a delay of that service for six weeks, so as to
put them all on the Abyssinian transport is a question on
which I can give no opinion, being one of policy to be
determined by superior authority. The distribution of the
surplus stores to various markets to avoid a glut was deter-
mined by a committee.
The committee room was cleared for a short time, in
order to enable the committee to deliberate on whether it
was advisable to detain his lordship in England, in order
to prolong the examination, and on the re-admission of
the public,
Captain Beaumont proceeded with the examination of
Lord Napier in respect to the manner in which the
purchases of mules and the hiring of drivers was effected.
Everything, said Lord Napier, was not exactly as I
wished, but on the whole I had no reason to object. I
should not call the equipment of the army munificent. It
was sufficient and proper. It was essential to our success
to have been on friendly terms with the natives. Other-
wise I could not have advanced to Magdala, and if in
consequence there had been a prolongation of the cam-
paign the actual cost of nine millions might have been
greatly exceeded. There is one remark I think it useful
to make, which has a direct bearing upon the expenditure,
and that is that it would be very desirable to have a dis-
tinct department for embarkation and disembarkation.
The general superintendence was admirably managed by
Captain Tryon, but his authority was only partial and did
not extend to the shore. There should have been one
receiving and one transmitting department at
Bonals'ay and another at Zoola. The Com-
missariat was not engaged in the duty of em-
barking or transmitting the stores, and the re-
sult was that the Government found it necessary to
supplement their action by employing a separate depart-
ment in the public works. If there had been an officer
with sufficient assistance to receive, embark, and transmit
the stores, and a similar officer at Zoola, matters would
have been greatly facilitated.
The Chairinan and other members of the committee
having intimated that they still had some points on
which to examine his lordship,
Lord Napier said lie was quite ready to place himself
at their disposal next week, and the co:nottee adjourned
until next Tuesday.

The depot of the 59th Regiment will leave Chat-
ham Garr;son to-day for Dublin, and the depot of
the 108th Regiment for the Curragh, to be attached
to regiments at those stations.

Major Frederick Mould, R.E., and a number of
non-commisioned officers and sappers of the Corps
of Royal Engineers, are to receive war melali
services Ferro:rued by them in New Zealand.
The steam troopship Simoom will leave Wool-
wich on Wednesday next for Portsmouth with an
immense quantity of stores embarked from Dept-
ford, and 300 tons of iron from Woolwich. She
will be put out of commission and her crew paid off
on the 31st instant.