RUSSIA AND JAPAN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 136, 13 June 1904, Page 3

RUSSIA AND JAPAN.

Port Arthur. preparatory manoeuvres I.OXDOX, June 10. A desultory fire luis In-en proceeding for days to .secure positions in vicinity of Port Arthur, but there have been no general engagements. Both combatants exclude correspondents from the scene of the fighting. Operations in Shin-king SAJLVCHI SKIRMISH. LONDON, June 10. Details of the fighting at Sainachi show that two battalions of infantry, a squadron of Cossacks, and one battery of artillery encountered two Japanese regiments with artillery. (Received June 12, 9.2 a.m.) LONDON, June 11. General Kuroki reports that three Japanese were killed and twentyfour wounded in the Sama-cM encounter. Tho bodies of twenty-threo dead Russians were found, while two oflicers and five men were captured. THE RUSSIANS' BACKWARD MARCH. LONDON, June 10. General Kuroki, co-operating with the army at Taku-shan, occupied Siu-yen on Wednesday, driving the Russians towards Totu-chen and Kai-ping.

(Received June 12, 9.2 a.m.) LONDON", June 11. Tho Russians at Siu-yen consisted of four thousand cavalry, with six guns. They were out-flanked on the north and east and driven to »Shi-mu-cheng. Three Japanese were killed and two officers and twentyeight men slightly wounded. General ICurapatkin's report states that the Japanese forces to the south of Siu-yen consisted of a brigade of infantry, with two mountain batteries and five squadrons of cavalry.

Other sections ot the J apaneso army occupied positions on the east end of tho Feng-hwang-cheng road, which threatened the Russian line of retreat, and the latter therefore decided to withdraw.

Advices received from Mukden state that the Russians are retiring slowly from tho Siu-yen and Sama-ehi districts.

A Japanese detachment sent along the Mo-tien road on Monday defeated a small force of seventy Russians at Feng-hwang-clieng. On Tuesday it encountered, at Chang-kin'-sliai,:.ix companies of infantry and three hundred cavalry. An engagement lasting two hours ensued, the Russians being eventually driven to Tung-yuan-fu, a point nearer to the Jlo-tien-ling pass. Their casualties nuinlxered eighty, while tho Japanese lost four men killed and sixtm.n wounded.

Various Items. AN AMBASSADOR'S DILEMMA. LONDON, June 10. Tho American Ambassador is practically boycotted at St. Petersburg. He was ousted from his house because the owner declines to have a tenant hostile to Russia. HOSPITAL EFFICIENCY. LONDON, June 10. Two English ladies with experience gained in the South African war, inspected the Japanese field hospitals at Feng-hwang-cheng, and declared that they surpass tho British. Sir Frederick Treves, the eminent surgeon, who operated on the King, and who is visiting Tokio, is equally complimentary in respect to tho hospital equipment. A SANGUINARY ENCOUNTER. LONDON, June 10. During the recent battle at Nanshan. General Osuka's troops, while wading along tho shore, encountered tho Russians, also waist deep. When the Russians retreated the water was literally crimson. SIGNIFICANT PURCHASES. (Received June 12, 9.2 a.m.) LONDON, June 11. Japanese agents in Washington Territory (U.S.) and British Columbia are purchasing ten thousand tons of flour for delivery at Port Arthur in six weeks. WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY. LONDON, June 11. The Japanese Consul at Che-foo has discovered an ethergraph instrument attached to a flagstalT at the Russian Consulate, communicating with Port Arthur. Negotiations on the subject are impending. (It was recently reported that some Frenchmen had established a wireless telegraph station at Chin-wang-tao, on the Chinese coast opposite Port Arthur ; and possibly this may have some connection witli the present discovery).

A GRUESOME TASK. (Received June 13, 1.8 a.m.) SYDNEY, June 12. The Japanese Consul has received a cable message stating that General Oko reports that the Japanese, military administration commissi.in and gendarmes buried ten Russian officers and six hundred and sixtyionr men, besides about thirty buried by Japanese troops in the vicinity of Nan-shan, as a result of the recent fight there. The Russians are stated to have used balloons at the battlo of Nanshan. There are at present, forty thou- | sand Chu'Nchuses (Chinese brigands) under arms. THE RUSSIAN CO JIM A N" DTCH-IN-CHIEK. General Kuropalkin. who directs the land forces against Japan, has had a long career, and has gained I not a few honours as his decora! ions show. He is a man of simple tas-les and habits, of iron phys:| file, with a profound enthusiasm and faith in the future of Russia. Curiously, too, like, so many great soldiers, he is a little man. His methods of accomplishing the gigantic problem before him will be watched with the deepest interest. He gained a reputation for pfldity in Central Asiatic campaigns, and has won all the Russian decorations for heroism. Here is an extract from a character sketch by ono who knows him : "In his stocking feet he stands about five feet and seven inches. He weighs abt>ut twelve stone, and Is on the other side of his sixtieth year. He has dark eyes, resembling somewhat the Japanese type, and when he looks at you interestedly you can make no mistake about being 'inspected.' A fraction of his one hundred and seventy pounds consists of lend : the man has been shot at and hit a number of times ; the story is that relics of some of the shots have refused to dislodged from their resting places. Until recently he was Russia's .Minister for War. He is now Russia's military hope in the conflict with Japan. He is considered the shrewdest and most capable military expert in the empire, and he enjoys great popularity among the soldiers. "In 1897, General Kouropatkin was Governor-General of Russian Central Asia, popularly called Trans-Caspia. It was there I met him at his home in Askabad. When SkobelelT—the man who scared the Turcomans until they are a cowed race—was advancing Russia's frontier line in TransCaspia, Kouropatkin was his righthand assistant. At Geok Tope, not far from Askabad, 20,000, slaughtered men, women and children testify to the vengeance which the two men wreaked on their Turcoman antagon-

"When ho was made Minister for War, the consensus of opinion among the knowing ones was that an hon. eat man had been given tho right job. In Central Asia, while he was still Governor-General, he was also considered a very conscientious official, 'lie has slaughtered like a butcher,' an otticcr said to me in Samarkand, 'but his purse carries no counterfeits or crooked winnings.' "]t has been said that he hates '.\ollow' people, and that if lie gets the chance, he will do with the .Japanese as he and SkobelelT did with the Turcomans at Geok Tepe. lie (iid not .strike one as being a bloodthirsty warrior. "No one can tell how long the ftght will last. Kouropatkin luis been through a number of defeats before he has achieved a victory. For a while we may hear of his discomfiture in the East. He is not like SkobelelT, dashing, daring, and quick, j llisl strength lies in careful preparaI tion and persistent and plodding attack." WAR ITEMS. The Novoe Vremya recalls a lecture delivered exactly ten years ago iby Admiral Makaroff, on the subject of the rapid sinking of large battleships, and the impossibility of saving their crews.M)akaroff had a large model of the ill-fated Victoria, in which he had a perforation made proportionate to the rent made by the Camperdown's ram. This perforation he covered with a mat, which he suddenly withdrew, and as the model immediately lilled and sank, exclaimed : "There gentlemen, see how an injured battleship will go to the bottom at once." A Russian artist, who was an eyewitness of the action in which the .Fetropavlovsk was lost, says "The •Japanese squadron is standing still far away, fully 13 miles from tho shore. Ours, headed by the I'etropavlovsk, has just passed the roadstead, and is beginning to form in line for action, The commander's signal has been hoisted, ordering the torpedo-boats to enter the inner harbour. Tho Petropavlovsk is slowly gliding forwards. Stillness reigns on the face of the waters, silence prevails in our midst as we await the beginning of the battle and the approach ot the hostile Gobig at a slow speed, the Petropavlovsk has just got on a line with a place called Electric Rock. The tor-pedo-boats are entering the harbour. Suddenly in the forepart of the right .side of the Tetropavlovsfc a white' column arises, a double, dull report is heard, and the entire vessel is swathed in curling clouds of orangebrown smoke, 'Uroadbide !' someone exclaimed. Through a field-glass one could discern the fall of many objects from aloft, the topmast shattered and tongues of fire everywhere. 'She is sinking,' they tearfully cry around me. The Petropavlovsk berian to settle down slowly, bow foremost, turning over on her ni'ght side. Now the bow is no longer visible, and the foremast is slowly descending, tho roundhouse is still seen, and the chimneys are half full of water. Now they, too, have vanished, just as if they had dropped clean off. The other mast is now sinking. There is the turret, with tho guns, going slowly beneath the surface, and there is the stern disappearing. Now the left .screw is seen slowly revolving, and human figures are discernible slipping down the side of the skip. All this soon gives place to tongues of lire, suddenly there is a last flare, and all is over. The Petropavlovsk is no more. Launches from the Gaidemaka move towards the place of disaster. It is twenty minutes to eleven forenoon."-