Various Items.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 204, 1 September 1904, Page 3

Various Items.

The disarmament 0 f the Askold and Grosovoi will be completed today. There is a strong suspicion that the Russian Admiralty refrained from conveying Count Lansdorff's orders for the cessation of the work of the Smolensk and Saint Petersburg under their special commissions.. It is lno«n that a Russian collier pro- | ceedod to Darassalam to coal the cruisers.

Captain Mahan, the American naval authority, is of opinion that the Japanese plan of interception would throw General Kuropatkin westward of the railway, and its success would involve the utter material disaster ol tho Russians, irrespective of the moral effect.

JAPANESE PREPARATIONS. THE SIEGE OF PORT ARTHUR. IA HUNDRED EIGHT-INCH GUNS. Writing from Tokio on June 10th to the London Daily Telegraph, Mr Rennet Burleigh said : Aa I guessed would be the case, the Russians have not had the wisdon and hardihood t 0 withdraw from Port Arthur before it was invested. It may be that there are many counsellors of the Czar who believe that the iortress will successfully resist all assaults ; that very soon the arms of Russia will repulse the Japanese forces and relieve the beleaguered garrison. I, therefore, repeat that it is about as certain as things go in war and ordinary human affaire that Port Arthur will fall, and most probably in a few weeks. If Kuropatkin pushes forward to try issues with the investing troops he will only succeed in rendering! Russia's position, still more hopeless. Assuming the contingency that Port Arthur doesi fall, what next for Russia? Oh, Vladivostok is impregnable ! Not a bit of it, Messieurs lea lllusionistes ! It is more vulnerable to isolation and capture than Port Arthur. Should the war proceed that will be demonstrated. Let that much in the line of a forecast of events here suffice. To turn back to Port Arthur. The Japanese, with terrible deliberatepess, are completing their grim preparations f6r its capture. Truly that Russian stronghold is doomed Whatever Admiral Togo may do upon the sea, the Japanese army is determined that at all hazards the place sijali be taken. Fortress by fortress, walled, banked, and protected from flanking lire, with outlying works, trenches, mines, and enui.glements, one by one they will be battered and stormed at by at least thirty thousand soldiers who have joyously pledged themselves thereunto to death or glory. There will will be wild and awful struiglgHes and .lurid scenes'. But the Japanese will Eventually get inside and conquer. •r' n e Russian fleet may, meanwhile, persevere in striving t 0 clear a fairway by blasting the obstructions sunk' at tne harbour's entrance, and then «,scape to sea, or it may venture to engage Admiral Togo's so as to dtiay, if possible, the clim a x. But Togo and' his sailors can be confidently trusted to checkmate every move of their adversaries. A day or two ago I saw ,> parade of a big battalion oiJapancSb bluejackets. A higher-averaged, bet. 1 "'" setup, hardier, more truculent-10(? kln S body of sea bulldogs I have nctfe l " seen, not even in Portsmouth. Their faces were an index to their frames and character, steady, strong, bodily fit for any encounter ; men of the old days, that would fight with their legs shot away until their ships sank beneath them. I am conscious Uiatl am not over-gauging their fighting qualities, nor am I forgetting that their training and much of their splendid naval spirit they owe to British officers. Before, but more particularly ' since, the battle of Kinchau, soldiers and sailors have licen forwarded bytens of thousands to the Liao-tung Pjaninsula. Which, with other things, goes to show that, the Japanese ''are now hastening to make an end • of Port Arthur, and the Russian de ~ • (once south of Mukden. Nor has i the great embarkation, which has ■ been going on for two weeks past ! ' by any means been yet stayed. Day land night troops are hurrying to I the seat of war. The majority are fimen of a most excellent soldierly 1 type, maturedi «aA fully, ae good ae

the best regiments sent, oft' with tin I Inrst, Second, or Third Armies. . Nearly a ll of thoni have seen ser- | vice, and wear medals which, were . | won'in the last two years. They are j mostly men of between thirty and thirty-live years of age, sturdy, tall J lor Japanese, admirably disciplined, I and of resolute bearing. As I have j intimated, there are now three armies in the Held, and the fourth is <m the move to tlie scene. The First Army is under General Kuroki, the Second Army under General Oko, and the Third Army is under General Nogi. At this stage, I will not say whether any one of these armies musters but fifty or one hundred thousand strong of all ranks. Whilst General Kuroki, with the help of a portion of the Second and Third Armies, holds General Kuropatkin in the north, the remainder, with a large and special force of thirty thousand "storniers," are closing in upon I'ort Arthur. Some delay must ensue, because Dalny and Taliemvan have to be quite cleared of mines, so that siege guns and ammunition can be landed and conveyed to the assigned positions marked for primary attack. Another painful artillery surprise awaits the Russians who are shut up in their works in ul ,d around Port Arthur. Not only is there an immensie park of siege guns set apart for the task of assisting the infantry and stormers in advance, but there are in addition one hundred Sin, modem cannon to be used to help to reduce the fortresses. How have the Japanese managed with so little money to provide such a number of powerful long-range guns ? Brains, economy and industry combined have enabled them to obtain this huge store of such costly war material just as they have by the same moans secured their present umiyue position among the nations. A concentrated fire of oven fifty of such big guns upon any outlying( Russian works will soon render these places untenable, and make the position of the garrison appear hopeless. I well remember in the earliest days of the lioer war, before Cotaiso heights, how I urged upontho general the wisdom of bringing up by train and putting upon temporary sidings just six 6in. naval guns, i„ addition to the i."7. so as to pulverise tthe position and open a road into Ladysmith. But the cost, etc. ; so many reasons were interposed. The Japanese, wiser in their gmueiiaiion, lo 0 k ahead, and put the material upon the ground sufficient for the work. And they carefully have everything ready before they start to hammer their opponents.