RUSSIA AND JAPAN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 113, 17 May 1904, Page 3

RUSSIA AND JAPAN.

JAPAN'S NAVAL POLICE. LONDON, May 15. Since the 4th inst. four Japanese cruisers and battleships have been constantly in sight of Port Arthur, departing at night and returning at dawn. Japanese torpedo boats occasionally search the coasts. Reports received from Tokio state that the Japanese fleet investing Vladivostok has occupied Askold Island, which will be the base from which operations will be conducted. GENERAL KUROKI'S CAMPAIGN SIU-YEN OCCUPIED. LONDON, May 15. It is stated that the Japanese have occupied Siu-yen, a post on which the light wing of General Kuroki's army was advancing on Thursday. The Busaan General Krahkevitch then reported that ten thousand Japanese, with fifty mountain guns, were marching on the place, i.. Three divisions of the army, it is reported, are marching from Fenghuan.cheng toward Liao-yang. It was expected that they would avoid the difficulties of a dangerous mountain pass at Motien-ling by establishing bases in the Niu-chwang district. Tlie Liao-ho River was also to be used to facilitate the advance on Mukden. A SUBMARINE AT PORT ARTHUR. LONDON, May 15. According to reports current in St. Petersburg it is claimed by the authorities there that the ammunition train which Colonel Spirindorofl, of the 4th Russian Railway Battalion, took from Liao-yang to Port Arthur last week, also carried a submarine boat, in sections. This was successfully delivered, and may form part of the defensive force, if complete. JAPAN'S LIAO-TUNG ARMY. LONDON. May 15. Japan's second army completed landing operations on Friday. There are now fifty thousand Japanese troopß on the Liao-tung Peninsula. (A portion of this force is engaged in the investment of Port Arthur from the land side.) CHINESE OUTLAWS GIVEN A LESSON. LONDON, May 15. Eight hundred Chu-Nchuses attacked a force of one hundred Russian frontier guards at Yen-tsi between Liao-yang and Mukden. The Russians being reinforced, routed the Chu-'Nchuses, killing and wounding 86 of {their number. SIEGE GUNS FOR HARBIN. {Received May 16, 10.36 p.m.) LONDON, May 16.. Many siege guns have been sent from St. Petersburg to Harbin. THE LATEST NEWS. (Received May 17, 0.3 a.m.) LONDON, May 16. , The Daily Express' Tokio correspondent relates that three companies of Japanese infantry, without i guns, barred the retreat of powerful Russian regiments, who after the fight at Ya-lu fought splendidly un- 1 til their ammunition failed, and they , • were nearly annihilated. When reinforcements drove the Russians off it ia alleged the Cossack soldiers ' treated the wounded with great ( cruelty. 1 i VARIOUS ITEMS. < LONDON, May 16. 1 Japanese infantry on May 11th expelled -three hundred Russian cavalry from Sue-li-chen. Prince Alexiefl and General Pflug Xchief of Staff) admit that the railway is again interrupted. Military opinion in St. Petersburg is that Kuropatkin will try to avoid decisive engagements until August, when be will be reinforced by two army corps. ' The Governor of Fuchan threatens ' to decapitate Chinese working for the Russians. 1 Four hundred and fifty Russian prisoners at Matsuyama were delighted with the kind treatment received^ (Received May 17, 0.13 a.m.) LONDON, May 10. Military critics consider that the Russian army, with its front of nearly one hundred miles from Mukden to Niu-chwang, facing east parallel with its one single line of retreat, is in danger of being enveloped byJa- , pqn's two wide-sweeping movements. The Japanese occupied Kuan-tien-cheng, sixty miles north-east of ftatg-huan-cheog, on the 7th. They resumed the march on the ,13 th, with the object of returning to Moti en-ling Pass. A column from Feng-huan-cheng occupied Sinyen (or Siu-yen), sixty miles east of Liao-yang, on the 12thIt is believed there are 20,000 troops masking at Port Arthur, while the rest of General Oko's force is co-operating in the enveloping movement. Tae Daily Chronicle's Shan-hai-Kwan correspondent states that firing was heard near Niu-chwang, and it is rumoured that the Japanese were driving the Russians like sheep. It was seported at Tient-tsin that severe fighting had occurred in the rugged hills about Sin-yen, and the Russians are said to have lost fifteen hundred men.