AN IMPENDING BATTLE.

Manawatu Herald, 30 April 1904, Page 2

AN IMPEND ING BATTLE.

Forty thousand Russians occupy fortified positions on the Yalu and twenty thousand at Taxushan. Nishchanko commands the Russian right on the Yalu and Kashtalinski the left at Kin'iencbeng. Forty-five thousand Japanese, with 108 guns, are ready 1 1 participate in a frontal attack. Fifteen thousand, with 86 guns, are operating on the left and there is an equal number on the right. The artillery includes twelve batteries of six-inch Howitzers. The Russian cavalry, with light artillery, occupy towns along the Tumen river. Also, positions stretching to the sources of the Yalu and points on the east Korean coast. Rennekamp’s Cossacks, with a few mountain guns, crossed the upper reaches of the Yalu. The cavalry to the westward of Ain moving to join them. When united, they will threaten Inouye’s right flank. The crew of the steamer Goyamaru were ordered to leave prior to its destruction by the Russian warships. By w*y of preparing for Admiral Alexieff’s retirement without humiliation, General Kuropatkin will shortly be appointed military and naval Commander in-Chief. Admiral Skrydloff has expressed his willingness to act under his authority. News of the Petropavlovsk disaster was withheld for a day at St. Petersburg. The windows of the residence of the Czar’s uncle, Alexies, were smashed as he is considered to be partly responsible for the disasters in the Far East. WARSHIP MYSTERIOUSLY DAMAGED. A battleship which was being built on the Neva was mysteriously and seriously damaged. Russia has chartered twenty ships, chiefly British, to convey seventy thousand tons of coal to neutral Chinese ports. A secret charter clause concedes extravagant freights if the vessels make a dash and succeed in entering Dalny, Port Arthur or Vladivostok. . The battleships of the Baltic fleet go via Suez. The colliers which will be used to supply the ships with coal proceed, under a strong escort, via the Cape, and rendezvous in the Indian Ocean The captain of a Japanese war ship mustered his officers and crew and informed them of Admiral Makaroff’s death. All decided to forego drink and amusement for a day in honour of the great dead. At the Czar’s instance, Prince Khilkoff is arranging for a duplicate Siberian railway within two years. Mr H. Norman, a member of the -louse of Commons, after an hour’s audience with the Czar, declared that England ought to understand Russia is absolutely determined to emerge victorious from the war at any cost.