RUSSIA AND JAPAN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XL, Issue 7923, 4 October 1904, Page 5

RUSSIA AND JAPAN.

The Siege of Port Arthur.

Japs Repulsed.

(Per- Press Association)

(By; Electric Telegraph—Copyright). ?. : . LONDON, October 3. Newly-mounted heavy .Japanese guns command almost,the entire harbour.

. During the recent battle the Russian warships were silent. The merchantmen in the harbour were utilised as hospital ships. .

THe Daily Telegraph's Chefoo correspondent states that the naval guns at Laitoshan, from an altitude of 1590 feet near Pigeon Bay, did fearful havoc, the Japanese being repeatedly repulsed. . Recently a Japanese lieutenant swam with a torpedo to the entrance to Port Arthur, and was preparing to discharge it against a battleship, when a searchlight fixed him.

The forts, shelling, exploded the torpedo,' and the officer was blown to atoms.

Admiral Togo declined , numenras applications'from junior officers wishing to emulate'his example. Advices from Chefoo state that the Russians made desperate attempts to retake Fort Kuropatkin in the hope of restoring the They bombarded and repeatedly assaulted the fort, but were repulsed. There were heavy losses on both sides. The Russians made1 a sortie with field artillery on the 2Sth and 29th, towards Pigeon Bay, and vainly attempted to capture some heavy guns. There was some severe fighting. A Tokio telegram states that the Japanese gunboat struck a mine and sank to the southward of Liaotung. The crew were saved.