ONE THOUSAND YARDS DESTROYED.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 35, 10 February 1905, Page 5

ONE THOUSAND YARDS DESTROYED.

MILITARY GUARD DESERTS. SIXTY MILES LEFT UNPROTECTED. o ■ m GOVERNMENT BLACKENS GAPON e»» [N.Z. Press Assocuiion.—CorcaiaaT.] The expected lias happened, and the Siberian railway line has been cut for a. distance of a thousand yards in the neighbourhood of the Cis-BikaJ terminus at Irkutak. This incident is immensely increased in significance by the news that the railway military have deserted and joined the strikers, leaving the line unprotected for sixty miles. The importance of the intelligence will gain yet further, if the persistent reports in St. Petersburg that the Russian railway ecminunications between Harbin and Mukden have also been severed, receives later confirmation. The situation in European Russia is apparently unchanged, beyond that the Government is endeavouring to force the hand of the employers to <rrant eonsessions. tsnd that it is for obvious reasons blackening the reputation of Father Gapon. STRIKERS CUT THE RAILWAY. A THOUSAND YASSS DESTROYED. ~- SOLDXKBS JOIN THE RIOT3SS. IXDfS UNPROTECTED FOB SISTI? 3ELL-ES. 4 _____ (Received 7.21 a.m.) ST. PETEHSBURG, Febmsry 9. Despite the rigid censorship -crhich is be Vug su.ia.-taijn.ed -sriih regard to the strike moTemeat in the tosraij on the Siherian raitvay, highy sensational news has reached the capital frcia the town of Irhix-tsk, the terminus of tie railway on the westers shore of lisJse Baikal. For the past few days the ontbieak there has hen increasingly serious, and the military authorities have hardly concealed their anxiety for the safety of the rail-way, and therefore of the com_innleations with the permanent base at Harbin. The latest news, which is regarded as ELcionbiediy authentic, makes it clear that the feared attach upon si.B railway has tahen place, the line having been cat for a distance of fully oils thousand yards. A still more sensational development to-o's. p2a«e a little later, when the soldiers guarding the railway in the neighbourhood of Irhntsh Joined issne with the strikers. The line is now left unprotected for a distant; j ci" sixty miles, and is entirely at the mercy of the atriherm.