THE EARL OF ROSEBERYI rise to ask the Secretary of State for India a Question of which I have given him private Notice, Whether he has any information to communicate to the House with respect to affairs in Afghanistan?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Viscount CROSS)I am always very happy to communicate any information I may have on this as well as other matters, especially with regard to Afghanistan, where rumours are so rife in public prints that one hardly knows what is going on. I am afraid my answer at present will not be very satisfactory to the noble Earl; but the 1679 Viceroy telegraphed on the 2nd of June that no fighting had recently occurred between the Ameer's troops and the Ghilzais, and so recently as the 9th instant Lord Dufferin reported that there did not seem to be much change in the position of affairs.