The Latest News.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 106, 9 May 1904, Page 3

The Latest News.

(Received May 9, 0.25 a.m.) LONDON, May 8. Six cruisers continuously watch Port Arthur. Commander Stossoll, addressing the garrison, referred to Port Arthur as being threatened from the land side. He added that Russia's bulwarks in the Far East would be defended till the troops were relieved. He expressed his firm confidence in the endurance of the defenders. A St. Petersburg telegram states that the Japanese are masters of nearly the whole of the Liao-tung Peninsula, and have destroyed the railway at Port Adams, blowing up a bridge. Much depression prevails in St. Petersburg. THE JAPANESE NAVY. VIEWS OF EMINENT BRITISH CRITICS.

LONDON, March 18. Two British Admirals of high eminence have been talking freely about the Japanese navy anil Japanese naval methods. Their views are distinctly interesting and instructive. First comes Adininil Fremuntle. whose experience n.:isl il utes him an undoubted authorin on affairs in (he Far Fust. 11,. lias command!-.! the British squadron in China Seas. •■The handling of the Japanese ships," he says, 'is remarkable—they have divided their torpedo-boa Is into squadrons and into divisions, and then it is not very easy for them to be caught napping. Their organisation is wonderful. The cruisers are there ready to support their torpedo-boats, the torpedo-boats artready to prevent an attack on the battleship. They always seem to be in the right place when they are wanted. The Russians have a verv difficult game to play. ... If Admiral MakarofT had been at Port Arthur when the war broke out. then Russia might, have been able to save her face. I'iile.ss the Japanese make some very serious mistakes, which I do not think they will, the Russian I admiral is powerless." Admiral Inglis says :—"T have ul,ways known that the handling of Ihe 'Japanese ships was remarkable, and I h«v,.- tried to persuade my brother ollicers tiw.' those in charge of the Japanese nav v j,--<ili«l>T.v knew how lo " steer and nulling,- .heir ships belter ; than a British u.n.il ollirer. It PH'infs a heresy, but. then i was six years io Japan. They cannot be \ caught napping. The wonderful support that the different units of the ' fleetluive given to out' another has ' contributed to their kiu-riw, v-'hetlur 1 they were battleships, cruiser*, or ' mosquito vessels : it is certainly re- ' markable. They all seem to be in the right place when they are want- - ed. The Japanese are really wonderful at organising ; everything has * -ilace, but. unlike some people at ' hojn* fhev do not put everything in i one plao, »"jut, understand fully the I latter part of i»v ."Id saying, whicl has always ustoiiisW me ; they al- '. wavs put everything n. its owr place. Mr Bennet Burleigh tells ui ? that when they do land the absolute

perfection hns astonished every observer, foreign attaches and war correspondents. Organisation with them is an instinct, and they are never in | a hurry over it. They have a won- j derful 'faculty for weaving in the old 1 and new regimes so as to get tile j best from each. We have our weapons of warfare, and seem to have ! grown up with them so .closely that : familiarity has robbed them of something of their wonder, and possibly i in the past we have not appreciated ' their individual value and use. Now, all these instruments of wurcameto the Japanese almost at one moment, and, were something of mysteries. They set to work to worry out the meaning of every warlike tool, and to study its exact use in all possible circumstances. They determined to get the very best out of every weapon, out of every ship, and really gave their whole soul to the allotment of .each of its exact place in battle. They have studied war on a scientific plane for several years, and that is- why they have succeeded. Yet 1 can honestly say that when T was their adviser, while they were'always extremely polite when they adopted my views, and even very grateful.yet when I proposed anything with which they differed they were equally polite, but alwolutely inflexible. To tell the truth, when I got home and thought over the matter, I found that when my Japanese friends put their foot down, they were almost invariably in the right." RUSSIAN REPORTS OF JAPANESE LOSSES. The Paris newspaper T.e Temps published the following item from St. Petersburg on March 1(1:—"The General Staff has now ascertained that since the beginning of the war Japan has lost four cruisers and live torpedo-boats, and that the engines of a 12,000 ton battles-hip have been seriously damaged. The last efforts of the Japanese have been aimed at the annihilation of the Russian squadron or the blocking of the entrance to Port Arthur with a viewto attempting a great landing in the Gulf of Korea and Liao-tung as soon as the ice has melted. The Russian concentration at Mukden and Kharbin would make the danger of a partial landing of Ihe Japanese on the north side of the Hay of Korea nliove the Yalu very small. A Russian army is coming down from Vladivostok towards Korea. At Tort Arthur there are 30,000 men with provisions for a yean nnd/i system of defence adequate to prevent a realeffective landing." FOOD PRICES IN RUSSIA. According to the Odessa correspondent of the London Times, the influence of the war on trade and the prices of foodstuffs is daily growing more marked. Flour, hrr-nil. bee! and other mecessnries to rise in price. The news from Kieff, Kharkoff, Poltava, ami even Astrakan and Caucasian ports is to the same effect. Everywhere trade continues to suffer, and the prices of articles of prime necessity are rising.