RUSSIA AND JAPAN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 187, 12 August 1904, Page 3

RUSSIA AND JAPAN.

YESTERDAY'S NEWS SUMMARISED, LONDON, August 10. The Times' Tokio correspondent is assured that therei is no truth in the Russian reports of recent Japanese reverses and heavy losses, at Port Arthur. BeKfin advices from Constantinople allege that the Porte has sanctioned ,tho passage of the Russian volunteer ! fleet through the Dardanelles. Count Lamsdorff (Foreign Minister) and M. fflnovieff (Ambassador) gavo the requisite assurances regarding the retention of the commercial flag.

Firing outside Poit Arthur has been heard at sea for the last three mornings. The Russians affirm that Field-Marshal Marquis Oyama is massing troops on the Shan-hai-kwan-KiHtow line, intenting to advance on Sin-ming-ting. German ships are now carrying to Japan Continental cargoes of olcctric calfles, machinery, iron, wire and nails which British ships refused. Les DebatS, a leading French journal, emphasises the necessity of removing, by a new international understanding, the obscurities regaining the rights' of neutral shipThe/ Vossiche Zeitung, a German paper, declares that the Teo (sunk by the Russians) was a German ship, and that the German flag covered her cargo. Russian newspapers pointedly deny the creation of an Intel-national CommisM'on to relieve neutral ships of the obligation of submitting to search by Russian cruisers.

The Porte's Note insists that ttie voluntefer fleet must not carry a*ms or ammunition,.must,fly the commercial flag throughout the voyage, and go through j,he Straits separately, and at intervals. An American crew has arrived eX St. Petersburg to navigate tho submarine Fulton. .It is stated at St. Petersburg that Lieutenant-General Limevetch, at Vladivostok, organising a Jorce, created a diversion on Generaf Kuroki's rigfat. The Russians are renewing the rails, across Korea. The Times, in a leader, urges prompt action by Great Britain. She must, it says, emphasise her distinction between conditional and absolute contraband!, and insist upon Russi a respecting the distinction in the case of all British ships. "It is natural," says the Times, "that the Germans and others whose Governments are able to obtain for them an immunity denied us, take the place we are compelled to va:ate."

The Times says : "Colonel Hay expressed our traditional attitude on the question with a force and clearness which we! must admire, and m a y be tempted to envy." It is hoped '.hat Britain will exact early ami full compensation for all offences against her unquestionable rights. The Morning Post says that Great Britain, as the leading maritime nation, ought not to he less strenuous than America. The Globe says that Britain must declare that she does not recognise (ho Russian list of contraband, and the Navy must protect merchantmen in the peaceful pursuance of their calling. The Times' insurance correspondent says that shipping* and insurance. people feci that Great Britain ought to issue a Note similar to Colonel Hay's. The Russians are able to arbitrarily declare that practically everything for Japan Is contraband. The shipping industry needs much more positive protection than it "has received. The cry is for lie methods and spirit of Lord .jl'alinerston. The Balfour Government is I much too ladylike. WASHINGTON, August 10. Tn order to avoid friction, and in the hope that Russia would heed the protest, the Washington authorities have withheld until now the publication of Colonel Hay's (American Secretary of State) circular to the Ambassadors of Europe on • June 10th. The circular declares that recognition of the principle of treatment of coal and other fuel and raw cotton as absolutely contraband might ultimately lead to the total inhibition of sale by neutrals to people of belligerent) States, with ports not blockaded, of all articles conceivably convertible to military uses, and the doctrine might apply to every article of human use. The present Russian extension! of the definition of contraband is at variance with the reasonable lawful rights of neutral commerce. LAST NIGHT'S NEWS. (Received August 11,10.3 p.m.) LONDON, August 11. The Daily Chronicle's Tokio correspondent states that the Japanese are confident they will foe able to take Port Arthur at any moment. They purposely -delay the capture because, if Port Arthur fell, the Russians would retire on Harbin. The Japanese wish to strike both places simultaneously and settle the war one way or the other, tor this year at least. The Daily Express states .that Captain Higo and all of the Idzunu Maru's crew, and 13 officers and 66 of the Sedo Maru's crew have reported themselves at Tonisk. They include Captain Abderson, Chief Officer firing, .and Engineers Kerr and Carmichael. (Received August 12, 0.55«..m.) LONDON, August 11. . A Russian destroyer entered Chefoo at five o'clock on' the 11th, and reported that six battleships, four cruisers, and half of the torpedo flotilla escaped from Port Arthur on the morning of the 10th. Advices from Tokio, dated the 11th. state that "the Russian fleet emerged and had a severe day's engagement with the Japanese, whose destroyers executed a night attack, but the results are unknown. The Retvizan and Pobioda were outside Port Arthur thiß morning."

THE LAKE SUBMARINE. The submarine boat Protector, which has been sold to Japan, according to rumour, was designed by Simon Lake, • now of Bridgeport, Conn. In many resects it resembles other American and foreign craft which were built for the same general purpose, but it also has its own peculiarities. The hull is cigar shaped, has a Jength of 65 feet and is 11 feet across amidships. This is covered with a nearly horizontal deck, built out fur enough to correspond to the general outline of the vessel. The upper hull of the vessel is enclosed with thin vertical walls, reaching up to the deck, so that the ovserver would not easily guess the shape of the interior. Near the middle is an oblong superstructure, rising eight or ten feet above the deck. On top are a manhole with a watertight cover, a piece of optical apparatus (called an "omniscope") that reaches a foot or so higher than any other fixture, and a domeshaped conning tower. Further aft is a funnel, through which escape the fumes of the engines when these are in use, but which can lie lowered when not needed, the joint at its base being made watertight. On deck, well forward, is a second manhole, to admit the crew. The. boat has two screws and two propellor shafts. Ordinarily she is driven by gasoline engines, each developing 125-horse-power. When she is completely jubmorged the shafts are rotated by electric motors, deriving their power from storage batteries,, and each having a capacity of 75-horse-power. The Protector is designed to move at three different levels. When (lure is no need of alludinjg detection she comes up high enough for her deck to rise a, foot or .two above the surface of the sea. She can then attain a speed of ten miles an hour, if that be deemed necessary. In the second position she is in ''cruising trim."

She ha* five feet or more* of water I over hen deck, and 18 In a condition which makes complete suhmerge*ce possible in about five minutes. The last position would be'' adopted when the boat was within a mile or so of her target and when her destruction would be almost certain wore her nearness to a hostile cruiser or battleship suspected. Before the discharge of a torpedo from her torpedo tubes w6uld be attempted the i boat would doubtlesn be brought up gently far enough for the upper extremity of the "omniscope" to protrude above the surface of the sea and to permit the officer in command to take a fresh observation of the enemy. As the two torpedo tubes of the boat point directly forward and are fixed, it is necessary to take aim by steering the boat. That operation having been performed, the boat would be brought to a lower level before firing.

Within are commodious quarters for officers and crew (numbering (eight or ten), the machinery already referred to, air compressors to supply air for a number of purposes •besides ejecting torpedoes, ammunition, commissariat stores, gasolene tanks and water tanks for ballast. When the boat is in '"cruising trim" 'her ballast leaves oinly about ISO or 200 of "reserve buoyancy." The pumps need to take in only about twenty or twenty-five gallons more in order to overcome this. By ejecting an equal amount the boat is again automatically lifted. Changes of level, both upward and downward, are assisted by mechanism which igjeund only in Lake boats. On each side of the boat, exterior thereto and nearly flush with the deck, are two long narrow rigid sheets of metal. Ordinarily these remain 'horizontal. Each of the four is pivoted at its middle, though, su that the front ends can be raised or depressed. These hydroplanes are five or six feet under water when the boat is in "'cruising trim," and then tlity act like rudders. They also serve to keep the boat' on tut even keel when she is rising, sinking or running submerged. Inthe language of naval experts the hydroplanes give her great "longitudinal stability." Another unique feature of the Lake boat is the combination of an airtight compartment, in the bow and a trapdoor in the bottom there. Means of egress are thus provided for a submarine diver, who can go out on a harbour bottom, cut electric wires to mines and perform'other feats which would be iiS'ifu! in war without being seen'.., Before Mr Lake adapted his boat to military use he Intended her for service in examining, and raising wrecked merchant vessels. To facilitate such work he proposed to put large wheels, something like furniture casters, on the under side of his boats. Whether or not he added thorn to the Protector is not generally known, but- they ought 1o prove useful in war as well as in peace.

Of twelve officers of the Russian Horse Guards Regiment who went to the front, all have been either killed or wounded. "Kuropatkin." the St Peteraburir Vicdomosti gravely announces, "will not commence serious operations until he is convinced that he is run* ning »o rlsk.'J