PORT ARTHUR.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXV, Issue 202, 24 August 1904, Page 5

PORT ARTHUR.

A TREMENDOUS CONFLICT. THE CKISIS BEACHED. VICTORY IN THE BALANCE. LONDON, August 23. Rentes*' Agency says that a toemcadtms conflict i« raging at Port ; Arthur. Tie extent of tte engage- ' mest is encli ai to encourage tke belief tsiat the real crisis has been reached, a»d that a great victory is hanging in the balance. GERMAN ATTACHE'S EXI PERIENCE. NOT PERMITTED TO SEE FIGHTING. THE JAPANESE REINFORCED. (Received 7.58 a.m.) LONDON, August 23. Captain Hoffman, the German military attache at Pert Arthur, was quartered in the Tiger's Tail battery, else hundred feet high. He states that he was mot permitted t» »cc aay of the fighting. Only a few -women and children remain in Port Arthur. Captain Hoffman also stated that thirty thousand Japanese had lateliy arrived from the nort!; before Port Arthur. THE RUSSIAN MINE FIELD. JAPANESE TROOPS BLOWN UP. AGONISING SCENES DESCRIBED MORE MINES REMAINING. i Received 7.58 a.m.)

LOJJDQN, August 23. jkn e ye-witness of the recent explosion of a Russian mine-field at Port Arthur, while the Japanese were passing over it, gives a vivid picture of the disaster. Hβ declares that while the Japanese were advancing; not a, single Russian was visible, nor were guns, rlflee or fires to be seen. Suddenly a series of terrific explosions -were heard, accompanied by the shooting to a great height of immense quantities ef debris. Each explosion appeared to open up a wide gap, and the ground immediately afterwards was seen to be littered with limbs and piles of dead Japanese. Agonising cries rang out from the ranks ©f the survivors. It appears that four areas of the mines etill remain unexploded.