THE WAR.

Manawatu Herald, 10 March 1904, Page 2

THE WAR.

CONSTRUCTION OF FORTIFI-

CATIONS.

The Russians are fortifying Antung and withdrawing from Seoul and Anju towards Kasan. They are constructing miles of fortifications along the Yalu. The General staff is confident that the Japanese landed only fifty thousand troops owing to the bad condition of their transports. Admiral Alexieff has authorised the enrolment of several thousand irregulars at Vladivostok, largely recruited from former military officers, landowners, and students. They will be employed scouting and ac-

oompauyiug flying columns. The New York Herald states that Port Arthur was bombarded at intervals on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. At midnight on Wednesday the forts sighted many lights approaching the entrance to the harbour, and fired upon them for an hour before they discovered a Japanese ruse to induce a waste of ammunition. The lights were merely lamps .attached to masts fixed on lumber rafts. The Times Pekin correspondent gays that Russia declines to respect the neutrality of the strip of country between the Great Wall and the Liao river restored to China in 1902. Russia has stationed two military posts there, and bodies of cavalry are patrolling the Great Wall and drawing supplies of ca f tle and forage. Cossack scouts report that 2500

Japanese landed at Plaksin Bay on the 19th February. They reached a snow-blocked file in the Korean and Manchurian mountains, where avalanches compelled a halt. The Daily Mail's correspondent at Ping-yang says thaws have broken up the roads, rendering the Chinampho and Ping-yang districts impassable, and greatly impeding the Japanese. He states that the Koreans generally favour the Japanese, who are paying full value for goods requisitioned, while Russians are paying for only two-thirds. RUSSIAN WOUNDED CARED FOR. Business is proceeding quietly at Tokio as usual. Twenty-two sailors belonging to the Varyag, after being carefully nursed at Chemulpho, have been transfered to a hospital in Japan. The French Minister, on behalf of the Czar, warmly thanked the Japanese for their kind treatment of the men throughout. Japanese steamers on the Sea of Japan and Yellow Sea go unescorted. The Standard states a story is current in St. Petersburg that a dozen Japanese, disguised as Tartars, have been arrested at Volga Bridge, on the Siberian railway, with dynamite in their possession. A WARNING FOR BRITAIN.

The Askold, which was reported to be in a sinking condition after the attack on Port Arthur on February 29th, has been floated. An attempt made to dock and repair the Gesarvitch has been abandoned.

Russia has given urgent orders for an American apparatus for the, rapid loading of coal.at sea for the Baltic squadron. The St. Petersburg newspaper Novoe Vremya warns England that Russia will remember her purchase of two Chilian battleships in Decern* her last, her increased naval esti* mates, ordering mail steamers in connection with the Canadian-Pacific railway to be ready for conversion into cruisers, and strengthening the defences at Vancouver. REAPPEARANCE OP THE JAPANESE SQUADRON.

After the Russians bad evacuated the Japanese occupied Haiyuntai, one of the Elliot Islands. They found only stores of coal and signalling flags. The Russians are advancing from the vicinity of Possiet Bay towards Songching. The Japanese squadron has re* appeared outside Yladivostock. THE WAR CONDEMNED. China has granted eiquatora to Mr P. D. Cheshire, who was recently appointed American Consul-General in Manchuria, and to Mr W. Davidson, who has been appointed Consul at Antung. Colonel Hay has instructed them to await at Shanghai developments in Manchuria.

By 215 to 40, the Students’ Institute of Mining Engineers in St. THersburg adopted a resolution condemning the Government embarking in a war which, they declared was originated by a handful of exploiters and illustrates a spirit of reckless adventure which characterises the Government in the Far East.

The municipality of Paris has passed a motion of sympathy with the St. Petersburg municipality expressing the hope that Russia will prove victorious. It has, also, voted twenty thousand francs in aid of the Russian and Japanese wounded. A FRENCH PRINCE IN THE RUSSIAN ARMY. Owing to the impossibility of sending the Japanese residents at Port Arthur and Yladivostock home by steamers, the Viceroy has directed their removal to the interior of Siberia. M. Kanoka, Vice President of the Bank of Japan, has gone to America respecting the loan. Prince Louis Bonaparte, who holds a commission in the Russian army, proceeds to the Far East to command a brigade of Cossacks.