RUSSIA.

Taihape Daily Times, 17 October 1917, Page 5

RUSSIA.

.MORALE OF NAVY IMPROVING.. REGRETABLE INCIDENTS. PETROGRAD, Oct. 16. There are signs of improvement in the morale of the Russian Navy. The Bolshevik influence is losing ground, and the navy may fight well in the Baltic. The navy is recovering more quickly than the army. On the outbreak of the present revolution Bolshevik, started a mutiny on smaller warships at Helsingfors, invoking vengeance for the punishments awarded in 1905. The fleet was frozen in the ice, and the agitators had a free hand, Admirals Viren, Ncpluin, and Neoblsen and other officers were slaughtered like cattle—bumd. at the stake, and dropped alive in holes in the ice. Indignities and brutality were shown towards widows and orphans searching for the remains of loved .ones. The handiwork of the Petrograd agitators was abetted by German spies. Subsequent recovery permitted the repulse of the German fleet in the Irben Channel. .GERMANS CONTROL RIGA GULF.. LONDON, October 16. Informed circles in Petrograd regard Oesel and Dago Islands and the Gulf of Riga as lost. Nevertheless, the value of Riga to the enemy is small until the Terestcn fairway of the Gulf has been cleared, which is impracticable as long as the forts on the western peninsula of Oesel hold out. The Russians destroyed the fairway two years ago by sinking interned German craft laden with stone and cement. Preparations for the landing, which were undertaken by two divisions, were made with most minute care. They included a clever piece of trickery, enemy light craft succeeding in altering the position of buoys marking the minefields between the islands and the mainland, causing a number of Russian scouts to run ashore, and thereby a warning of the enemy's landing could not be*given SOUTH AFRICA. GERMAN FORCE .CAPTURED.

Received 11.40. LONDON Oct 16. Reuter's special East Africa correspondent, telegraphing on the .10th, says he is now permitted to state that the whole of Wintgen's force, which was despatched north, on a guerilla raid, some months ago, has been captured The three leaders who took command after Wintgen's surrender have been taken prisoner. The force was strong and well equipped with ammunition and supplies. THE TRAITOROUS BOLO. GERMAN PAYMENTS TRACED. Received 11.40. PARIS, Oct 16. The Examining Magistrate succeeded in tracing a Swiss cheque for two million francs, payable to 8010, and corresponding with the monthly instalment allegedly promised by Von Jagow. KILLED IN ACTION. NEW ZEALAND MEDICO. Received 11.40. LONDON .Oct 16. Captain W. Douglas Reed, of the ATmy Medical Corps, formerly of Blenheim, New Zealand, has been killed in action.