TELEGRAPHIC

Kaikoura Star, 26 April 1904, Page 5

TELEGRAPHIC

RUSSIA AND JAPAN PETROPAVLOVSH DISASTER. ALEXIEFF’S REPORT. JAP. ARMY ABOUT TO STRIKE. London, April 24 Alexieff, in his report concerning recent operations at Port Arthur, states Admiral Makaroff, on night of 12th, and until 4 next morning watched from the cruiser Diana in the outer roadstead. In describing the loss of the Petr opavlovsk, the report says at first there was an explosion on right side of the ship, followed by a more violent one under the bridge, causing a high column of green smoke to ascend. The foremast, funnel, bridge and turret were thrown up and the vessel heeled over. The poop rose, the screw working in the air. Surrounded in flames, the warship sank bow down. A telegram from Seoul states that the Japanese are preparing simultaneously to rush three points, including Port Arthur. Russian reports say that 1700 Japanese were annihilated whilst crossing the Yalu. Several Russians were killed and wounded in a skirmish in boats on the Pomakua river. A Russian lieutenant and twenty marines were killed through a mine exploding under a launch. GLEANINGS. Russia’s secret information affirms that China is not strictly observing promised neutrality, and that a powerful party in the Chinese Government assist Japan —particularly the Japanese navy. It is held that on Togo’s fleet disappearing it slips quietly into a handy though out of the way spot —unknown to correspondents—on the Chinese coast, where bunkers are refilled. The superstition surrounding, and belief in, “ mascottes ” is somewhat extensive, the world over, but nowhere, probably, has it greater vogue than in Russia. A St. Petersburg telegram of 19th March says : “The daughter of Admiral Taube, who commanded the wooden Retvizan. predecessor of the present battleship, has written to Admiral Makaroff, saying that nearly fifty years ago, while the old Retvizan was moored in the Neva, her father noticed an object floating toward him and found it to be an image of the Saviour, which had remained in the Taube family since the dismantling of the old ship. The daughter of Admiral Taube now sends the image to Admiral Makaroff, convinced that it will keep the battleship from harm in the future.” In the light of the Petropavlovsk disaster, and the loss of Admiral Makaroff, the value of the talisman vanishes. According to advices to the Rap-

pel from its Shanghai correspondent the Japanese navy is utilising an instrument invented by a British engineer, by means of which the slightest sound proceeding from an enemy’s vessel is made audible, thus enabling a ship to tell of the approach of an enemy. A Russian naval export—whose wish is evidently father to the thought writing to the “ Novosti,” predicts that Corea will prove a mouse trap to the Japanese, adding that “ not one-hun-dredth part of the yellow Napoleons will get out alive.”