RUSSIA AND JAPAN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 110, 13 May 1904, Page 3

RUSSIA AND JAPAN.

[•CABLE NEWS. »United Pr«M Association.— By TeteHi graph.—Copyright.

DIVIDED AUTHORITY. LONDON, May 11. General Kuropatkin, resenting - prince AlexiefTs attempt to impose upon him his plan of operations, telegraphed to the Czar that it was impossible to act with responsibility without a free hand. SIGNIFICANT RUMOURS FROM , PORT ARTHUR. LONDON, May 11. Admiral Togo reports that since the 6th there have been many unexplained explosions at Port Arthur. The impression is that the Russians, despairing of being able to successfully defend the place, are destroying their ships preparatory to evacuation. It is reported at Che-foo that the . Bngaianß have destroyed their fleet , wtfert Arthur. ~ THE RIGHT TO SEARCH ' STEAMERS. LONDON, May 11. In the House/Si. Commons Lord Stanley ( to the WSr'OfflffiaJi'i'eplyiDgtJKSir Charles Palmer. (Liberal), sard an absence of any general rule of iirtter- • iwtiooal law giving special immunity to a mail steamer, but that the right of Bearr-hing for belligerent despatches should be so exercised as to minimise inconvenience. THE "SICK MAN" OF THE FAR EAST. KOREA'S FUTURE DISPOSITION LONDON, May 11. M. Suyematsu, Japanese Envoy to Europe, interviewed in regard to Korea's future, said it would be a sort o» Japanese Egypt or Cuba. Manchuria would be restored to China, with guarantees rendering it' impossible to revert to the condition prior to the war. It would possibly be matte a buffer state under Chinese sovereignty. VARIOUS ITEMS. LONDON, May 11. The Russians estimate that eighty thousand Japanese have crossed the Ya-lu. New Japanese six per cent, consols have been sold on the kerb in New York at 96 J. The new Russian bonds have a nominal market value of from li to 2 per cent, discount. captors of Feng-wang-cheng were General Susaki's mixed brigade, which crossed the Ya-lu at Changlung on April 20th, and followed a nrouaiain road* General Kuropatkin, in an army order, exhorts his troops to treat the Chinese kindly, and remember tlfet "they are fighting the enemy in ti«9 country of friends. Russians seized rn the Liao River forty-five junks laden with rfce. The Chinese Government and General i Yuan-shi-kai (Commandant of the Chinese Imperial forces) strongly protested, and sent 4000 troops to I guard the river banks. '

REOPENING THE RAILWAYS. (Received May 12, 10.10 p.m.) LONDON, May 12. <wnerftl Kuropatkin telegraphs that the railways have been repaired, unto the supervision of Colonel Spiridoff, of the 4th Railway Battalion. After completing repairs to the line Colonel Spiridoff took the Liao-yaag-Port Arthur train, full of amir munition, through. He had arrangV klow it up, if necessary, to its capture. The battalion's •elf-sacrifice was crowned with success. .. LATEST NEWS. (Received May 12,11.45 p.m.) V LONDON, May 12. Admiral Skrydloff has been appointed commander of the Vladivostok squadron. i General Kuropatkin, becoming nervous, has withdrawn his artillery from Niuchwang to Tashicho, in readiness utilisation when required. Niuchwang is not yet evacuated. Colonel Spiridoff has entrained his troops back safely. Two hundred Cossacks from Chuattacked a small Japanese garrison at An-ju and were repulsed, UNDER SHELL-FIRE. A GUNNER'S BAPTISM. The following letter from a mounted Russian artil.ery officer in the hospital at Port Arthur gives an idea of his sensations when for the first time under fire -.—"Yesterday I was in charge of the famous battery on Electric Hill, which is a fly in the eye of the Japanese, and I then > received my baptism of fire and my \>rder, lam very proud of this honour, fop rewards ore few. Our poor battery was covered with debris and fragment* of shells, which /burst around us with a deafening noise ; but we were, not excited. We, however, suffered from aching teeth, on account of irritation of nerves of the ear, caused by the series of concus*ions.

"The sensation of being in the midst of this scene of death was calm and sweet. The thought of death was not pleasant. When the first shell burst upon our battery we forgot our dreams, our thoughts, our griefs, and our joys, and there was but one sensation—that of sweet unutterable serenity, and this lasted to the end.

"The picture was grand. The day was bright and warm, and the sea calm. Some specks appear 011 the horizon. They groty larger as they approach. We count fifteen of them. The points are already lines. Nearer and nearer they come, changing as they progress from grey to dun colour.

"They stop when they arc five miles away. There is a white cloud. . . Boom ! We are curious to see where the shell will fall. Our battery is on the edge of the cliff. 300 ft abovo the sea. Beneath us is the Admiral's battleship, Peresviet. " Crash ! A large column of water rises, and the wind separates the particles into spray, which the sun tints with all the colours of the rainbow. The deck of the ship is covered with water, and the seamen commence to swarm the deck. "A second cloud of steam, and a terrible noise over our heads. Crash! This time it is behind us, and there is an explosion. "Another cloud. We pass a terrible minute. I feel like a man who has no weight. I ask myself, 'Have they fired accurately ?' It is straight at our battery. The first shot fell too short, the second was too far. The gunners who tried to find the range have split the difference, and the next shell must fall in our midst Imagine our position.

"Our ten coast batteries and our twelve ships answer the Japanese fire. The sea is quite white from the falling shells, and it is impossible to hear the words of command. I cry out until my voice becomes hoarse, but I oannot make myself heard above the din. There are more than 150 enormous cannon belching forth smoke, shell, and death. "There is a wild, choking sound from the machine guns. Amid the

smoke, steam and dust I hear a groan. It is that of a soldier whose nose has been torn away by the fragment of a shell. He is surrounded by stretcher bearers. Some one lays his hand on my shoulder, and I turn, and see on my side a soldier, pale, and Ms lips trembling. He desires to speak but his tongue refuses to obey. He points with his finger and I understand what has occurred. "There, beneath the cliff, I have a little battery of rapid-firing guns, very small and elegant. There are 12.00Q Tmllets speeding onthcir errand in sixty seconds. They are destined to'defend our shores against the-landing of an enemy. The orgy A

fa a? its height. The sheila are wlxfeling around us like fireworks at & fe&st. A whistle,, e. hiss, and a sharp ringing noise," as they rush through the air, then smoke and a smell of burning, while the sand dances "from the earth. I turn from the battory, and ]] see a terrible picture. In the midst of the men a shell has buret. One soldier is disembowelled, another is wounded in the head, a third is shrieking in the height of his delirium. One steel cannon is broken to bits, as though it were straw. An awful picture, with blood —blood everywhere. I order the killed to be taken away, and go to the battery. There it is hell. " The Japanese fleet steams away, the smoke clears oft, and the sun reappears in the heavens, gilding with its rays a sad scene of havoc and destruction. General Stossel, who commands the troops, congratulates us our baptism of fire, and T receive my order of St. George. And now I am lying in hospital. Oh, if you had seen our unhappy battleships, tho Retvizan, the Tsarevitch, and the Pallada, when they were pierced and shattered by torpedoes, and dragged into port. The women, the seamen, and the officers wept, o« well as tlie soldiers."—Central News,