THE LATEST.

Bush Advocate, Volume XVII, Issue 4, 6 January 1905, Page 5

THE LATEST.

,P«M»t Arthur. Stoessel's Losses In Officers. IO f OOO Prisoners Return to Russia. The Escape of Four Destroyers* A Useful Capture— Bo,ooo Tons of Coal. Received 7.40 a.m., this day. London, January 5. General Stoessei lost 200 officers in )ctober and November. He promoted ergeants and other non-commissioned fficers, who had behaved heroically. Ten thousand of the Port Arthur prioners, as well as non-combatants, return o Russia. It is reported that Admiral Togo perlitted four destroyers to escape to Chifu 3 mark his appreciation of the brave desnce of Port Arthur. Two hundred Japanese prisoners Dund at Port Arthur were released. Reuter's Chifu correspondent reports iat little booty was found, except 0,000 tons of coal, and two months' ice rations. Out of 270 naval officers at the begining of the war, 180 were wounded, tany while serving in the forts. The Daily Express states that the zar has informed General Stoessei and is officers that they are at liberty to tioose parole or remain as prisoners.

The Laws of Neutrality. A Japanese Protest. Birilett's Squadron. Engine Room Artificers Deficient. (Received this day, at 9.11 a.m.) London, January 5. The Japanese are remonstrating con- ; cerning the provisioning and coaling of the Baltic, fleet at Madagascar. Prance replied that strict observance of the conditions of neutrality was enjoined upon the officials. Japanese cruisers arc patrolling Santemardino Strait. The supply of engine room artificers for Admiral BirilefFs squadron is hopelessly deficient The Doomed City. / Russian Account of Life in Port Arthur. The Russkoye Slovo of St. Peters- ' burg, on November 14, contained an article, from which the following are extracts : - Yesterday the defenders of Port Arthur completed their six years of service. Sir months have passed since j Port Arthur was cut ©_ from the outer , world, and yesterday we received a new consignment of the Novy Krai, via Chefoo, which were brought there by a junk which succeeded in running the blockade. Jn the first copy of the paper we read : — "From the editor's office.— The present number with shorter text than usual, is issued by the office with the half pf a most limited number of workmen: of the printing press, who have remained unflinchingly at their posts in spite of the enemy's cross-fire over the town, and despite the fragments that fly into the office." In the next number there is this note : — "Two or three shells have dropped into the stream behind the house occupied by the printing office, and the editor's office. The explosions were evidently deadened by the slime of the riverbed, and the few fragments caused no serious damage to the building and those employed m it." A few days later: — " Yesterday our office was included in the sphere of the enemy's fire. About ten shells exploded in the neighbourhood of the office, fragments driving into the walls and breaking the windows, but leaving all our men unfounded." A comical figure in the background at Port Arthur, which so rapidly recovered from its first panic, is that of an apothecary; M. Bischoff. The "Novy _.rai" pursued him so relentlessly with taunts and reproaches for his lack of courage in having left a part of the town without its medicines, that after a fortnight's baiting the unfortunate man issued an advertisement, informing his townspeople of his new address. The Russkoye Slovo also publishes an interesting account of the condition of Port Arthur under bombardment, -. compiled from extracts taken from several issues of the Novy Krai. The Novy Krai quotes a saying of Dostoyevsky. "Man is a being who accustoms himself to everything," and proceeds, "The impression produced by the howling of the enemy's shells is no longer the same as at first. Now people listen calmly to the sound and divine where the unwelcome guest will arrive. "Life begins now to return to its normal state, as is seen from the advertisements. An old acquaintance (through the former numbers of the Novy tKrai) a tuner named Kudravtzoff, continues to make daily vain inquiries concerning the whereabouts of a piano that has disappeared! from a house in the town. Other trifles also appear. Jokes and laughter are not , infrequent. You read parodies of well-known ( songs, writtio by a sapper on one of the vanguard positions. One of the parodies is not without originality, and a smile is worth something when death looks you in the face. Men busy themselves with trifles, laugh, lire througk moments of high enthusiasm, and above them rages the storm." Here is an account of a bombardment ;—" Que sit§ in his room. The window panes rattle deafeningly in the room; something buzzes through the air. Then, some ten or fifteen seconds later, the dull, distant sound of the shell, which has just exploded, reaches Sou. They are firing at us now. You sten more intently. That one dropped far away; the next fell into the' water. But now it is nearer, nearer still. Suddenly you hear the rattle of broken glass, you are covered with a shower of small stones and sand, an unimaginable noise in your ears. You do not understand immediately, but tbere can be no doubt that the shell has dropped here, behind your window. A fragment has broken through one of the walls, and has struck that opposite ; here it is behind your chair, still hot, with pieces of wood in its indented steel edges."

— _— « _ n— ____ _ ■iniHmmr" 1 " "— _■_■—_——« are wasted and do no damage. The slain are mostly coolies, averaging about thirty a week; tbe city is remarkably tranquil, the shops are open, and the children are playing about in the streets. "Particularly noticeable was an officer who was teaching some women to learn to ride a bicycle while bombs were flying overhead." General Stoessei learned from the correspondent of General Kuropatkin's defeat, and was astonished to hear that Kuropatkin was at Muken. "There is no help, then," said the General, "but to die or to go to Matsuyama Prison."