THE WAR.

Manawatu Herald, 23 April 1904, Page 2

THE WAR.

DUKE CYRIL’S NARROW ESCAPE. The Daily Mail states that Duke Cyril, interviewed at Harbin, says that while on the bridge of the Pefcrepavlovsk, with Admiral Makaroff, a deafening explosion occurred and the vessei began to settle down by the head. Though scorched, blinded, choked, and stunned he contrived to get aft and dive through the port. When he came to the surface the vessel had disappeared. He heard that only one hundred seconds had elapsed between the explosion and the disappearance of the vessel. A PROTEST FROM NEWSPAPERS. The newspapers Grashdanin and Novoe Vremya protest against the piecemeal communication of information regarding the Petropavlovsk disaster. It is feared that much is still untold. Nevertheless the newspapers emphasise that this is really a land war and declare that success is certain. The captain of the Mandjur, the gunboat which took refuge at Shanghai, was drowned in the Petropav■lovsk catastrophe. ADMIRAL ALEXIBFF IN DISGRACE. The Japanese are constructing four submarines. The Japanese destroyed three contact mines which were adrift forty miles off Shantung Promontory. Reuter’s agent states Admiral Alexieff is being ignored except in the matter of civic administration. He was not consulted when Skryaloff was appointed. He has asked permission to resign the vice-royalty. ATTEMPT TO BLOCK PORT ARTHUR. WHY IT FAILED. In a message from Ohefoo on February 28, the correspondent of the London Daily Mail states : Fifteen survivors of the steamer Jinsen Maru and fourteen from the Bushin Maru, both of which vessels were sunk in the attempt to block Port Arthur, landed at Teng-chau-fu, near here on February 25, and travelling overland arrived at the Consulate at Ohefoo on Saturday, They arrived in a state of great exhaustion. Through the courtesy of M. Shibahara of the Asahi paper published at Osaks, who acted as interpreter, I had a long couversa ion with the survivors at the Japanese Consulate. They are Lieut. Saito, who commanded the Jinsen Maru, Lieut. Torisaki, who commanded the Bushin Maru, two subaltern twenty-five men. Of how they approached the harbour entrance and of the technical methods they employed, none of the officers would speak". The following outline of the operation was, however, supplied to me : -• Escorted by destroyers, two Japan ese transports sank themselves outside the left entrance to Port Arthur harbour, two others to the left of Lao-tse-shan, and a fifth also outside. The torpedo boats reported that the Bayan, Novik, and Askold, were outside, and the Japanese squadron accordingly opened fire upon them. After a brief interchange of shots the Russians retired inside the harbour, thus proving that the entrance is still clear and that the attempt to block it had been unsuccessful. The Japanese then bombarded the town. Subsequently the Japansse cruisers met two Russian destroyers. One was sunk, but the other escaped. Continuing, the officers said the the vessels anchored before they we’e blown up, and the causes of their failure to block the channel were the blinding glare of the many searchlights, which rendered it impossible to ascertain their exact whereabouts.