RUSSIA AND JAPAN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 114, 18 May 1904, Page 3

RUSSIA AND JAPAN.

/ if ACCIDENT TO A JAPANESE BOAT. LONDON, May 16. The official Japanese boat Mlyako, Tfo. 1810, struck a mine in Kaerr Boy and sunk. THE OLD STORY. abut CONTRACTORS' DELINQUENCIES. LONDON, May 16. Correspondents mention that paper boots, bogus flour, rations and general bungling are responsible (or jnany of the Russian disasters. COAL SUPPLIES INTERRUPTED. (Received May 17, 10.33 p.m.) * LONDON, May 17. ' Armed Chinese expelled the Uussian troops from the railway coal mines at Port Adams (on the Port Arthur-Niu-chwang line), and looted the works. JAPAN'S PLAN OF ACTION. A RUSSIAN .VIEW. LONDON, May 17. Russian military authorities assert that the Japanese are trying to drive General Kuropatkin's army into Mongolia, where the Chinese forces will be able to attack him without committing any breach of the 'neutrality laws. A GREAT BATTLE IMMINENT. (Received May 17, 10.55 p.m.) WASHINGTON, May 17. Advices have been received here that a great battle is imminent near Uso-yeng. Sharp skirmishing is proceeding between the Japanese vanguard and the retreating Russians. The increasing aggressiveness of tba Chu-'Nchsuses (Manchurian outlawed bandits) is causing great anxiety. RUSSIAN REINFORCEMENTS HARMLESS. St. PETERSBURG, May 17. The presence of Japanese warships and transports in Msuri Bay prevents reinforcements being sent from Vladivostok to the armies in the ** field. BELEAGURED PORT ARTHUR. ' COMMANDER STOESSEL'S GRIM ORDER. "I WILL NEVER GIVE THE WORD . TO SURRENDER." SYDNEY, May 17. Mail news from the East shows that General Stoessel. (Commander at Port Arthur) has issued orders to the defenders of Port Arthur, in .which he says:—"The fortresses must fight to the last. I shall never give I the word to surrender. Further, we have absolutely no place to retire to. Even the most timid must appreciate these points, and I warn you ail that you must fight to the r death. Those that go into battle ready to lay down their lives are ; the mem that accomplish great things and make a name. On the contrary, those who shrink from it combat and seek cravenly to save their own persons, these too must die, but die ingioriously, for from this fortress there is no escape. It has the sea on three sides, and the -J enemy on the fourth. There is northing for it to fight, and the Japanese will long remember the blow our soldiers will give them." THE WORK OF THE BLOCKADERS. A JAPANESE OFFICER'S L v BRAVERY. S SYDNEY, May 17. Eastern mail news states that {Treat heroism ,was displayed in the Japanese efforts to block the channel net Port Arthur. Commander Masaki and Lieutenant Shimada stood on the bridge of the Yomeyatra Maru when her three escorts made for the centre of the channel. Masaki was wounded in the head with the splinter of a shell, but continued to direct the vessel towards the centre of the channel, with the guns from Golden Hill trained on her. As the vessel swung . round in the channel Commander j Masaki gave orders to explode the mine. Lieutenant Shimada, who stood ready to light the fuse, was struck by a shell and terribly injured. Totally ignorant of the fearful injuries his junior officer had received, the commander ordered the men to drop anchor and , blow the ship 'up. Down rattled the anchor, the fuse was ignited, and the men took to the boats. No explosion occurred, however, and, cheering, the men and' commander returned to the ship amid the fearful din of battle and the roaring of the fort guns, and the men preparing a second fuse. Severai shells had struck the Yoneryama Maru, and there seemed to be little left of her to sink unless she went down speedily. One shell struck her funnel, which was smashed like a card-board box. Commander Masaki was again wounded, this time in the shoulder by a bullet. A Japanese bluejacket rushed to the bridge and informed the Commander that Lieutenant Shimada was dead. Everything was in readiness to blow up the ship. The fuse was ignited, the boats hanging free,waiting only for the commander to step in. He, however, rushed across the deck to where the wounded lieutenant was lying, and called one of his pwn men to assist him. Gently they carried the unconscious officer in the boat, and they reached their own torpedo boats, who were searching for them. A FINE EXAMPLE OF HEROISM. (Received May 17, ",.44 p.m.) SYDNEY, May 17. In connection with the sealing of Port Arthur the Fakui Maru was sunk in the channel just before the Yoneyawa Maru, and a striking example of heroism was witnessed. Commander Hirose was iti charge of the Fukui, and one of the crew, Sugino Magoshichi, was sent to fire a mine in the hold. As he descended- to do so the ship was struck by a torpedo, and a hole was blown in her side. Commander Hirose, after he had placed all his men in the boats, noted that Sugino was missingr. He returned to the Fakui, and three times he descended into the hold after the missing man, but failed to find him, and as the vessel was sinking—the deck being awash with the water —he dropped into a boat alongside. A fusilade of shot was raining about the boat, but Commander Hirose stood up to steer. As he did so he was struck fair in the face by a shell, and was blown to atoms, only a small portion of his body remaining in the boat. BEADLY PORT ARTHUR. Port Arthur appears in the New York Herald (Paris edition). The correspondent, who is in Russian employ, writes To find anything approaching Port in squalor one must go to Port Said, but even Port Said cannot boast of as many down-at-the heel Europeans, convicts and escaped lunatics as the great Russian fortress of Liao-tung. If I were to attempt a calculation of the number of sharpers of both sexes that have congregated hero I would not be believed, so I shall leave it to the reader's imagination. Besides the sharpers there are escaped convicts from Saghalien, although these latter are not nearly so numerous as : in Harbin, where it is dangerous to venture out after dark

Without a, revolver, and where the lowest average of muiders is ten weekly. The reader .who knows something of Russia may be inclined to question this story about the escaped convicts, hut I befieve in it myself, since I met with a Uussian gentleman who has been a Government oflicial at Khabarovsk, where he trebled his income, he told me, by passing on dead men's passports to living convicts whose relatives were willing to pay | him a certain sum for their escape. 1 The presence of formidable Chinese secret societies adds a flavour of another kind. These secret societies have their agents in every business house in the place, and almost all the leading Chinese belong to one or other of them, so that if a too energetic foreigner insists oH abolishing "squeezes" and inquiring minutely into the accounts of the " compradoro" his llfo is likely to come to an abrupt termination. Next to food tad clothing the most absolutely ihdispensabie article in Port Arthur, the greatest necessary of life, is—insect powder. Luckily, it is to be obtained locally in a German store, which does a roaring business in it, but 1 tremble to think what will happen if the Japanese cut oH the supply of this invaluable commodity. In the local "hotels" food is absolutely unobtainable, although a glass of hot water can be purchased in the morning for about sixpence, if one is prepared to spend most of the forenoon waiting dismally in his room until the "boy'B" efforts to light a fire are crowned with success. This water is supposed to be useful for making tea with, but it is more suitable for shaving purposes. One must go to a "restaurant " to eat, and when he docs so, the prices ■quoted for whisky and other necessaries will fairly stagger him. Vodka is cheap, and great quantities havo been stocked along tho wharves. The local chief of police hero confessied to me -that he never regards these accumulations without dismay. "If we receive a check," ho said' to me, " and if the officers lose for a moment control of the men, a general rush will be made for this vodka, and once armed men get maddened by it I do not like to think of what will result." Another feature of Port Arthur is the large number of mysterious persons it contains. These gentlemen have generally a military carriage, and an insatiable curiosity about matters military. They sometimes find their way, " by pure accident," of course, into the vicintt.v of batteries. After that they invariably disappear with peculiar abruptness. Sometime ago our little community included a teacher of the English language, who led a blameless life until he was discovered one morning gazing with mild astonishment at the big guns in a batter}-. He is now gone from among us. Japan gets its best information from corrupt or careless Russians, and tbrous>h Chinamen in Russian employ. The big, burly, roaring Russian, who likes his horse and his dog, and most of all, his champagne, has probably no idea of the net which the smiling, sedentary, keen-witted leaders of the two great divisions of the Yellow Race are silently weaving around him<