RUSSIAN NAVAL PROGRAMME.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 11122, 14 January 1899, Page 3

RUSSIAN NAVAL PROGRAMME.

Received January U, 1 a.m. Si; PETEBSBUiId, January 13. The Russian Budget allots 34,000,000 roubles for naval Construction. PORT ARTHUR AND WBI-HAI-WEI. Lord Salisbury's viewti of the relative value of Port Arthur add Wet-haUwei are as follows : — We -were boiind by our own policy not to commence anything that could be called the dismemberment of China, but I have ho hesitation in saying that the result of the action of others has been to plate tig in a most advantageous position by having obtained the port which ive have obtained in China. (Cheers.) It has enormous advantages of its own. It has this great advantage, Which should be considered above all other advantages by this country in selecting the objects bf its efforts— namely, that the port of Wei-hai-Wei can be defended, and defended without difficulty, from the sea ; and upon the sea we fear no opponent; (Cheers.) It is said that we have Committed ah error in allowing Russia to) go to Part Arthur. I think there is bo point of policy St which we were more Convinced than that nothing should induce us to undertake the responsibility of Port Arthur, or to hand down to those who followed us a possession so full of difficulty, so pregnant with coat and danger, and possessing so very little advantage to compensate for the evils that it inflicted upon us. I think Russia has made a great mistake in taking Port Arthur. I do not believe ie is any use to her whatever ; but I am quite sure it would have been no use to us, because, if we had possessed it, as soon as the Siberian railway was at our doors we should have had to maintain a lengthened, desperate, and costly struggle for that which was not worth a hundredth part of what we were spending upon it. (Cheers.) But I have said I think it was a mistake in Russia to have taken Port Arthur. Ido not think It has added to any very material extent, certainly not since we have taken Wei-hai-wei, to her influence over the Court of China. Her influence is great, and must be great, because of the conquests which she made 40 years ago, and which have given her -1000 miles of Chinese frontier before her. You oan in some degree compare the value of the two positions if you take this example. Tn the days when Scotland was a foreign country, the presence of the French along the line of the border would have been a danger so conspicuous and so formidable that you would have cared, compared to it, very little about the ships that might have been assembling in Dunkirk or Dieppe. It is the neighborhood of Russia to this great land line which gives her her power. As long as the Chinese Empire remains upright, I do not think that that ]jower can be exercised, even if Russia desires to exercise it — which I am by no moans asserting—to the injury of the rest of the world. But if the result of all these events is to bring the Chinese Empire to its collapse, there will commence a series of confusions which will sorely tax the energies and imperil the prospects of peace /to all the nations concerned in Chinese commerce, and, I think, may give opportunities of extension, which we shall not welcome, to the Powers that stand upon her border. I have asked you to judge by the results, and I say that the possessions of Wei-hai-wei, which we can defend, in place of Port Arthur, which we could not, is in itself a great result, but it is only one.

LORD C. BERESFORD'S TOUR IN CHINA. In tho prosecution of his mission in China Lord Charles Beresford arrived at Niu-Chwang, a treaty port on the Gulf of Liau Tung, which is an arm of the Gulf of Pe-clii-)i. The town is about 120 miles north of Pert Arthur. Lord Charles is, says the Times correspondent, deeply impressed with the importance of NiuChwang and with the necessity of maintaining open tins, the only, door into the magnificent provinces of Manchuria. Having been courteously provided with au escort of armed Cossacks — a striking sight in a Chinese treaty port — he visited the river terminus of the Russian branch line, which is nearly completed. The line runs 18 miles eastward to the junction with the main line. Three things impressed Lord Charles Beresford. First, there is no Russian trade at; Niu-Chwnng, but great Russian railway activity. There is no Russian consul; therefore appeal in case of complaints would have to be made to the Russian military authority. The second thing is the disregard of the maritime customs by steamers carrying Russian railway material. Cargoes are landed without customs supervision or payment of duty, immunity being secured by the fiction that the railway is partly Chinese, whereas not a single share is held by Chinese. The railway is a purely Russian military and strategical line. The third thing which struck Lord Charles Boresford is the Russian action in securing positions of advantage, all making for military domination. Thus, there are armed Cossacks in the treaty port, Cossacks patrolling the railway, and Russian military posts along the railway throughout Manchuria. Railway connection will soou exist between NiuCkwang and Port .Arthur and Ta-lien-wan. The Russians have secured at NiuChwang an exclusive concession of a square mile for the iiver terminus of the the railway. Their dispute with the British landholders is in course of amicable settlement. The British community urge that the Government should take strong measures to safeguard their interests at this important port. I'he trade of tho port now amounts to nearly ■£4,000,000, and is increasing. A new British concession in place of the old concession, which has been washed into tho river, is also desired.