WAR IN THE EAST.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 91, 21 April 1904, Page 3

WAR IN THE EAST.

ETHERGRAM SERVICE. LONDON, April 19. The Times alone is receiving ethergrams. Its correspondent is aboard the Haimum. He declares that he is operating on the high seas in neutral waters. His cipher is not recordable on the Russian or Japanese instruments. Ho trusts the Powers will insist that Russia shall confine her threats (that correspondents will op shot) to her own waters.

JAPANESE TROOPS IN KOREA.

LONDON, April 19. The Japanese in Korea consist of forty-five thoutond troops advancing on the Ya-lu, fifteen thousand reservists guarding the line of communication, and four thousand garrisoning Seoul. The progress of the railway towards Wi-ju is rapid.

THE BALTIC FLEET.

LONDON, April 19. The Czar has ordered the Baltic fleet to start on July 15th. He has sent to Ya-lu a number of dogs trained to track wounded. The dogs will be furnished with collars containing first aid medicaments and nips of brandy.

A PAINTER'S UNFINISHED TASK.

Yeresitchaigen (the Russian painter,, who went down hi the Peti'opavlovsk,: arrived 'at Port Arthur on the 12th, hoping to paint a naval battle connected with a series of pictures entitled "Horrors of War." He was seen at the moment of the explosion sketching. His body has been recovered.

AUSTRALIAN SHIPS FOR CHINA

MELBOURNE, April 20. The steamers Birksgate and Cloncurry, soM to Japan, are now loading produce for Kobe.

CHINESE ANTI-RUSSIAN FEELING.

(Received April 20, 10.21 p.m.) LONDON, April 20. General Ma, who had charge of the Chinese levies in Manchuria, complains that he has great difficulty in restraining the Chinese troops from attacking the Russians in the country west of the Liao River.

A MAN OF THE MOMENT-AD-MIRAL TOGO.

Vice-Admiral Togo, who commands the Japanese fleet at Port Arthur, is a man with a record often discussed in the East. As a captain in the late war between China and Japan he distinguished himself in a double sense. As the commandtr of the Nunima he sank the transport Kow-shing at the beginning' of the war, when she was packed wit 1.1 Chinese soldiers. We have had many versions of that incident, some describing it as an act of savage and wanton brutality—not so much in the actual sinking of the transport, 6ince the Chinese soldiers on board had valiantly refused to allow the crew of the transport to stop and surrender, but in callously leaving them to drown after the ship had gone down. He did a very gallant thing at Wei-hai-wei in piloting two small gunboats through the bay in the darkness, drew the attention of the Chinese warships by opening fire upon them from an unexpected quarter, and thus enabled his own torpedo boats to make a sudden and successful attack from another direction."

JAPAN'S "CHEVALIER BAYARD." One of the favourite heroes of the Japanese Army is Major-General Fukusmma. Shortly after ; the war with China his name became a household word in Japan by his 'dari-ng ride alone through Siberia and Manchuria into Korea. He covered thousands of miles on horse-back, enduring great hard-ships, in order to make himself thoroughly familiar with the lines of tlie llus&'Dan advance in the Far East. The Mikado and the German Emperor decorated him for that exploit. When the Boxer troubles broke out he went to Fekin with the Japanese relief force, and distinguished himself. The Japanese say that he was really the brains of that brilttant little campaign, the foreign commanders relying absolutely upon his special knowledge of the country and the Chinese. He now holds a leading position on the Board of Strategy of the Japanese War Ollice. When he made his famous ride he was only a major, but he has been promoted with extraordinary rapidity, until he is now a major-igt'iieral at the early age of forty. 'He is the Chevalier Dayard of our army," said a Japanese resident of New York—"the bravest, the most gallant,the most chivalrous of all our ollicers. A hundred stories are told of him wherever Japanese soldiers are gathered together—how, when he was a young subaltern, >lve once gave every cent. Ire possessed to save a ■brother officer from ruin and disgrace ; how, in the Peki-n campaign he shared his blankets, food, wine, luxury and money with the common soldiers ; how leniently he treats his men, and yet obtains better work from them than anybody else can. In the Japanese army a word of censure, or even a rcprovtog glance,, from Fukushima is more keenly felt than severe punishments by other generals."

WAR NEWS. ITS COST TO~THE TAPERS, " Lord ! How mine eyes throw grazes to the East," one can imagine the London news-editor murmuring, after the fashion of the Passionate Pilgrim. The present dearth of war news must be particularly gnllingl, in view of the enormous expense which the outbreak of hostilities means to a London newspaper. I know it is popularly supposed that n war is a "good thing for the papers." but in reality it is a matter of very serious concern. The competition is so serious nowadays that no journal of standing) can afford to be behindhand in regard to news from tho seat of war, and to obtain that news requires a huge outlay and a vast amount of trouble, ingenuity, and organisation. A leading newspaper must have a dozen or more special correspondents, most of whom command high salaries, stationed at various points in the war area, and these in their turn leqjuire numerous assistants to aid them in the search for news. The travelling and other expenses of a war correspondent are seldom less than £IOO per month, and a special warboat, such as the Times and Daily Mail employ, involves nn outlay of anything from £IOOO to £2OOO per month, irrespective of (he coal Will. The cost of cabling the news Is another expensive item. Jt is true that a press message from Corea or Japan costs only 1n lid per word now as against 7s lid per word for ordinary messages, but even with this reduction the total soon mounts up to serious proportions. According to an estimate given by the Daily Mail, a London newspaper often finds its caMingOnll for the week's war news reaching £I2OO, quite apart from the large amounts paid to the various news agencies like Reuter's and the Central News. Sometimes, moreover, the correspondent's news is forestalled by nn official communication from one of the Legations in London, and thus, through no fault of his own, the message he has cabled represents so much money wasted. In this way a cablegram costing as much as £2OO has gone into the waste-paper basket, The additional espenaa involved in Increasing the

circulation of the paper is another consideration. It is estimated tiint every 100,000 added to the circulation coats nearly £4OO per week lor paper alone, to say not limp; of ink. and with selling prices dropping from pennies to halfpence just now. that it is a serious Hem. The expense of foreign correspondents and the fees of naval and military experts engaged to explain and comment on each day's news must also be taken •into account. I'nder all the circumstances the newspapers deserve some sympathy for the scanty return in the shape of war news which their costly preparations have yielded so far. Jt is not the limit of the war correspondents, who liav» done surprisingly well, considering? what a rigorous censorship they have been under.

FOREIGN OPINIONS ON THE CONFLICT.

Precisely as was expected in the best-informed naval circles of Europe, the Japanese have begun the war with remarkable dash and enterprise. They have known where to strike, and how to strike quickly.—Evening Post, New York. Official Russia represents no one, not even the Russian people, whose noblest sons it persecutes and banishes to Slbpria. Japan, at feast, has no Siberian hinterland whither her thinkers and poets are; sent to rot and despair.—Zeit, Vienna. The arm of Russia is paralysed to an extent which prevents it from Striking a blow in Europe. The first fiddle in the European concert,which has hitherto unquestionably been played by Russia, will now pass to the German Empire.—Koelnische Volkszeitung, Berlin. The threads in the Far East are now controlled by the Americans, who for some time past have looked upon the Pacific as their property, and on themselves as an Asiatic Power. We must not overlook for one moment the fact that behind Jagan stands the United States.— Herald, New York. China may awaken later on, but Japan, peopled by a warlike race, is even now proving her spirit of conquest and the stren-gith, of her organisation. The marvellous progress achieved by the JivHutose during the past thirty yealrs has startled the world ; to-day they are frightening the rest of all mankind. Everything may be expected from their audacity and the grandeur of their amlJition.—Le IVlit Parisien. There is no intention of maintaining that people in England have now suddenly learned to love the Germans. But interest is the most etfective proselytiser in politicul uffairs, and the events which are now taking place in the world have come to the aid of German diplomacy in gradually endeavouring to bring about a change of feeling. The complications in the Far East render it desirable for England to maintain good relations with Germany. National Zeitung, Berlin. The losses suffered decide nothing for the struggle will have to be fought on land. The Japanese, with thfcir numerical superiority in Korea, will, of course, at first compel the Russians .to act entirely on the defensive, but as soon as the Russian forces in Korea and Southern Manchuria have concentrated the beginning of the end will ]>e at hand, and the Japanese will have to pay dearly for their treacherous attack, which was in complete accord witli the Asiatic character.—Novoe Vrelnya, St. Petersburg. The financial position is bad on both sides, but Japan is quite close to her basis on operations, and, above all, she is hopeful and firm! Russia, on the other hand, is in the hands of a man of good intentions, but weak, hesitating, irresolute, an easy prey to the intrigues of influential war and business interests. There is laid bare the ghastly contrast between the absolute power of the Czar in theory and his helplessness in reality. Thus he is exposed to the worst. What would happen were revolution to break out in the back of the army ?—M. Flemenceau, in L'Aurorc, Paris.