THE WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7810, 1 May 1905, Page 2

THE WAR.

cosmopolite ntmocwti OYIMAB COOAO. HEAVY JiPAKESE CiSUALfIBI. OKJii'sllHUciMi A PROLOKED SfXOCGLB. (Ueteivod April 80, 4.10 p.m.) LONDON, April 2», A merchantman which ha* arrived l Shanghai reports that an importint division of Admiral Togo'afl,* sat Thushiiua island.

Admiral Hozhdestvcnsky'* aquad•on, including twenty-five warship*, i tug for battlcshipi*, repairing chip. • uter supply ship, end a nusubvr of olliers, quitted Katuranh Bay with ix months' provision*. H' u m . ocled they will junction «jth vfcuAdiuiiul Piubogutoff. and then atetr for the l'aci/ic, en route to Vladivostok, after sending imtk th* tran*ports and colliers. There are aix Russian colliers at lielavia.

French St. Petersburg advice* «late that an engineer from Madagascar reports that Admiral Hocfer lestvensky, besides repairing Um boilers while there, engaged ■ Creek, Ueriuan. Italian, British, Argentina, and Chilian ex-officers and petty o*i intra to train the crew*. The British warship. AmpttUlUrr* , •Sutlcj and Iphegenia are petJvUing outside Singapore. Russian advices state that KleUMarahal Oyema command*, aix hundred thousand effective troop*. The Japanese are releasing aeven hundred sailors «c*ptwod at Fort Arthurj TOKIO, April a». Uencral Okuuia, addressing th*} Progressive Party's coniniiltee on tho care of the wounded, said the total wounded and sick during the war wars a quarter of a million; Uwm killed or dead from disease number itfty thousand, lite country 'mart exi>ect the prolongation, of th* »U-uf-glc, but be hoped this would not" affect the national sentiment.

MUKDEN AND TUSLIKti. There is both a moral and mater* tul gain to the Japanese in t*« capture of Mukden. The eUyJUeu* lial in ft plain, but was difficult to approach directly from the southward, for tho few nites lying between the city walls and tho Huon riw WO almost entirely marsh kwta *M* narrow and treacherous tracks leading through them. This way have been one of the reason* that indue--od Oyatna to make his main attack* upon either flank at too outaat. Th« Hun river, to the soutlt el Mukdoa. Is a broad, irregular stream* «C many sandbank* which cbeoge with every flood of the river, ao tJaat no [ Information previoualy obtalaud as to the crossing-place*) la of much (value. The river is crossed by a rattwfcy bridge 700 yds In length. Although' Mukden la wailed, it* defences are all of the ancient plan, ind useless against modern artillery The ma'in wall which compamed the city is in the 'orin ot a ,u»re, a inMc on each face and SWft in Iteigfet and 18ft thick. About a mile outside this is a second wall of brick and sand, about 7ft high. Tho Uuv gian ooncesmon. which alwavs lies outside the Manohurian towns, yet completely commanding them, la to westward of Mukden," where they* held an area of about ten i-fiai* miles and had barracks to accoramoilate a garrison of 7000 men. Mukden baa a population of about CUM,000 people, and is a sacred rity In ■ ;he estimation of most Mufi.-hurlan*. There Is a Mahomedan iwmhjoc, and wine sacred Manchu touiiit, on.) of which}, Pieling—where a son of founder of the Mancbu dynasty la buried—lies about three miles to the north of tho city, ou a low timbered range, tho contour of which amy, have been of some advantage to the Russian* in covering their retreat northward. The town formerly had 1 a Roman Catholic and PresbytertM mission, but both these were burned in 1000.

Toilingi, which has for the momrae become the centre of interest, isthw cenlro of tho grain trade In that part of Manchuria, and Ues in the heart of a fertile area. It in' an ancient walled town, with a popukv- ' tion of about 35,000 people, but the. walla, nKc thorn of Mukden, have no military value. The dtrength oi Tiding is the ridge in front of ftp which tho Russians have prepared for defence upon modern scJantifk principles. The war corresnondenUj who came across from St. Petersburg at the beginning of the war, to join KuropatUn'a army, were all Impressed with the strength: of Tilling. As at Mukden, the Rumlmm had built four large barrack* on the railway reserve.- The line rune done to tho town, tho now loop going la» side its western wall, and die River Liao comes within two miles 08, tho tuune side. The outlying village of Mafeng-kou is a sort of river port fur Tiding, and the highest point of navigation on the Llao. Only the " smaller junEw, however, get upaiftf as Ma-fcng-fcou, It woe always ooa* sidcred that tho Japanese wouU greatly increase their own dlfQouKiea thte further they went north, but at Tieling they Bland in exactly the same position as the RusNiantf woeM occupy if Harping wore their bask. It is 254 miles from Tieling to Warping, 800 miles south from TleMaa to Balny, and 165 mile* from Tfi ling to Nowohwang. At Tieling there are three important railway bridges, _* the largest a little over 200 yards in length,

Some of the railway figures serve better than anything elso to show what the Japaascs have undertakes; in their effort to drive the Russians from Manchuria, and to what extent their mission has been accomplished. rtalny marts the most aoutberlv limit of Manchuria, and is distant fr o m Mukden, so that broad. ly, the Japanse* have made flood their occupation of that much territory. Measuring that part of Manchuria still held by the the same plan, there am 8»7 mlies from Mukden to Harping, and 60S miles from Harping u, the frontier of Manchuria-tin all 840 miles to cover More the Janwwaa louch Russian Siberia.