RUSSIA.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 October 1917, Page 5

RUSSIA.

THE NAVAL MUTINY. ACTS OF VENGEANCE. MORALE OF MEN IMPROVING^ MAY NOW FIGHT WELL. Times Service. Received Oct, 10, 11.45 p.m. Petrograd, Oct. IG. There are signs of improvement in the morale of the Russian navy. Bolshevik's influence is losing ground, and the men may fight well in the Baltic. The navy is recovering quicker than the army. At the outbreak of the present revolution, Bolshevik started a mutiny on the small warships at Helsingfors, invoking vengeance for the punishments awarded in 1!)05. As the fleet was frozen in the ice, the agitators had a free field. Admirals Viren, Xeplnin and Nebolsin and other officers were slaughtered like cattle, burned at the stake, and dropped alive into holes in the ice. Indignities and acts of brutality took place towards the widows and orphans who were searching for the rem'ains of their loved ones. The handiwork of tlm Petrograd agitators was abetted by German spies. The subsequent recovery permitted the repulse of the German fleet in the Irben Channel.

THE CAPTURE OF THE iSLANDS. CLEVER PIECE OF TRICKERY. Reuter Service. Received Oct. IT, 1.50 a.m. London, Oct. 10. Well-informed circles in Petrogratl consider the Oesel and Dago Islands and the Gulf of Riga as lost. Nevertheless, the value of Riga to the enemy is small until the Teresten fairway to the gull is cleared, which is impracticable as long as the forts hold out.

The Russians destroyed the fairway two years ago by sinking interned German craft laden with stone and cement.

The preparations for tlie landing, whien was undertaken by two divisions, were made with the minutest care. They included a clever piece of trickery, enemy light craft succeeding in altering the positions of the buoys marking the minefiHds between the islands and the mainland, causing a number of Russian scouts to run ashort, thereby warning the; en* emy that a landing could not be given. DEFENDING RIGA GULF. RUSSIANS PRESSED BACK. London, Oct. 15. A -wireless Russian official message says:—The enemy occupied Arcnslmrg on Saturday, their aerial and naval forces supporting the land operations. Squadrons of enemy cruisers and torpedo-boats attempted to* force an entrance into the Irbe Channel, but our long-range guns on Oesel Island cover further movements in the Riga Gulf. Enemy torpedoers between Oesei and Dago Islands pressed back our patrol boats in the direction of Moon Sound, but nor naval craft were reinforced a«:'i compelled the enemy to retire.

GERMAN DESIGNS ON FINLAND. Stockholm. Oct. 15 The Germans are expected to atlcm-pi to seize the Aland Islands and effect :i landing in Finland .before the i«e forms,