WAR IN THE EAST.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 92, 22 April 1904, Page 3

WAR IN THE EAST.

THE SINKING OF A BATTLEGRAND DUKE CYRIL'S ACCOUNT.

LONDON, April 20. The Daily Mail states that the Grand Duke Cyril, interviewed at Harbin, says that while he was on the 'bridge of the Petropavlovsk with Admiral Makaroff, a deafening explosion occurred. The vessel began to settle dovn by the head. Though scorched, blinded, choked, and stunned, he! contrived to get aft and dived through a port. When he came to the surface the vessell had disappeared. He had heard tbat only a hundred seconds elapsed between the explosion and the disappearance of the vessel.

Russian optimism unshaken. LONDON, April 20. The Grash-Damn and Novoc Vremya protest! ajgb'inst the piecemeal communication of information regarding the Petropavlovsk disaster. It is feared that much still remains UDtold. Nevertheless, the newspapers emphasise that this is really aland war and declare that success is certain.

The captain of the Mandjur, the Russian guribpat which took mfuge at Shanghai, was drowned In the Petropavlovsk catastrophe. THE CZAR BECOMING QUERULOUS. (Received April 22, 0.55 a.m.) LONDON, April 21. St. Petersburg telegrams published In Berlin newspapers state that the Czar telegraphed to Prince Alexiefl that tMe Petropavlovsk disaster would have been impossible if the officers had not shown a criminal lack of vigilance.

THE BUS&AK LAND FORCES. LONDON, April 21. ' Russian War Office officials assert that there are throe hundred and eleven thousand men at the front, and it is not intended to send any more atf present, owing to the shortage of supplies, A SUPREME NAVAL EFFORT. LONDON, April 21. 'Admiral Skrydlofl, the new naval commander for Port Arthur, in the course of an interview said he intended to reserve the fleet for a great occasion. He is surrounding himself chiefly with young officers. JAPANESE TRANSPORTS. (Beceived April 22. 1.3 a.m.) LONDON, April 21. General Kuropatkin (Russian com-mander-in-chief of Far East land forces) reports that Japanese transports are anchored in the Gulf of Gingi-tai-tozo. Twenty-five vessels are west of Tu-lun-gan,. and others are near Sou-clion. All is quiet at the Ya-lu, though the Japanese forces are increasing in numbers.

NIU-CHAKG AND NIU-CHWANG. As two Chinese towns having, apparently, similar pronunciation, atand within a few miles of each other at the head of the Uaolung Gulf, an explanation, says a writer, may not be out of place. The town of Niu-chaug, where the Japanese forces ultimately prevailed against the Chinese in Manchuria, is situated thirty miles inland. Niu-chwang, which is a trefejty port, is gVnerally known to Maochurians as Ylug-tzu, or more generally Ying-kow. Outside of this province it generally bears the name of Niu-cliwangi, and for this reason most maps abide by this nomenclature. The port stretches for about three miles along the bank of the Liao River. It was owing to this state of affairs that in 1899 pestilence in the form of "bubonic plague swept the streets of Niu-chwang, and claimed thousands of victims. The port, so far, has proved to be the natural 1 outlet and inlet for the trade of the three Man-chiu-ian provinces, and of part of Chi-li and Mongolia. Its position at the mouth of the Hiver Liao l gives it the advantage of cheap water carriage to distribute imports and collect produce for export. Niu-chwang is one of the two main seaports that give access to the province of Manchuria. The other is Talien-wan, near to Port Arthur. Of the two the advantage is said to easily remain with Niu-chwang, where the Liao River allows vessels to load to a draught of 17ft 6in neap tides, and 18ft 6in at spring tides. From the beginning of December to the end of March all water-borne traffic ceases to the north of this port, the whole country (being ice-bound during these four months.

WAR ITEMS. In a diocesan letter the Bishop of Bristol deprecates manifestations of Open delight at Russian reverses. Mmc. Stark, wife of the admiral Commanding at Port Arthur at tho time of the first Japanese torpedo attack, denies that she gave a ball to the Russian officers on that night, and declares that everyone was at his post, including Admiral Stark. General Kuropatkin is an excellent revolver shot. At a shooting gallery in Sebast.opol he tired 10 shots at a target the size of a playing card,'at 15 paces, scoring seven bull's-eyes. He then fired 10 shots at the same target at 20 paces from a small rifle, hitting the bull'seye each time. The fund which is being raised in London for the relief of the widows and families of the Japanese soldiers and sailors reached £7600 on March 7th.

Revolutionary proclamations are being circulated in Moscow ami St. Petersburg declaring that the Russian Government should have agreed to the just claims of Japan instead of dragging the nation into a destructive and costly war.

In a telegram to J'rince Ferdinand, says the Solia correspondent of the Figaro, the Czar expresses his (hanks for Bulgaria's sympathy at the moment when "Russia has been provoked by the enemy to draw the sword in defence of her rights." The German press publishes an interview with M. de Plehve, Russian Minister for the Interior, in which he is reported to have expressed great satisfaction at the attitude of the German Government, Russia being delighted, he said, to find that Germany sympathised with her. *-hft missionaries at Pingvang, who number 18 men and 22 ladies, with , chlldr « n , are strongly aver.se to caving (says the Daily Mail correscanl™ 1 * They believe that they beeomo"'* should the situation ac «e- The native ber looo" at I>in BJ'anß'.8 J ' an ß'. who niimconrageVC- dis f" «i"*ular onlv rwia a c the burine*, ther* Wh ° ° re lumbers of old "Kobzars " n,„ rr l bardS of Hussia . who chant sturmg popular songs totheacMrapamment of a kind of harp are

proceeding to the Far East', says toft" Novosti, to encourage the young soldiers to fight.

0» learning that the Russian Consul at Barcelona had contracted for tho supply of Catalan oxen lo Russia during the war, the Mayor of that town requested the Spanish liovcrumenl to annul the transaction on the ground that it may tend to raise the price of meat locally. Advices received at Marseilles from the Far East state that the Empress of China has all the telegrams from London translated for her, so that she may be k-ept informed of the situation.

Though straining every nerve to reinforce her position in the Far East, Russia does not intend to be taken unawares round the lllack Sea littoral. Every battleship, cruiser, transport, gunboat, -and torpedoboat in the Black Sea fleet has been thoroughly overhauled at Selmstopooi during the last three months. Work oh the new ships is "bom's pushed lor ward with unusual haste. The coal for the Japanese fleet comes chiefly from the island of Hokkaido or Yezo, to the north of tho island "f>f Nippon, the largest in the Empire, The two parts supplying it are Mororan on the south coast and Otaru on the west coast. At present one company, the Hokkaido Tunko Tetsudo Kaish-a, a wealthy corporation, owing mines, railways, and wharves, provides the fuel of the Imperial navy, which is bituminous and of high grade. Several Jewish lady pupils at the Conservatoire of Music at St. Petersburg have been excluded from the institute for the anti-Russian feeling which they displayed in opening a subscription on ibeliialf.of the sick and wounded in the Japanese army.

"We calculated without that mysterious force which urged the Japanese on their warlike course, rousing them to white heat, and has made them act almost unconsciously. Could Japan unaided have so soon perfected her weapons oi war?" l'riiice Galitzin, Chief Equerry of the 17ii r. The Russian National Hymn is quite a modem production, while the Japanese is, on the contrary, the oldest existing, and it may/ lie also the shortest. It is known as 'Kimiga.vo,' and when translated means somewhat as follows :—May the reign of our Sovereign endure for a thousand years, and for eight thousand more beyond that, until stones are not rocks ajiy iflore, nor moss any longer grows thickly." Although it is of immense antiquity, it has only been the official national anthem of Japan since tlmt country first began to Occidentalise itself.