FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1904. THE WEEK.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 8099, 30 September 1904, Page 2

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1904. THE WEEK.

Whilst the attack and defence at Port Arthur continue with unabated fury and stubborn resistance, and the forces in the field are gathering for another death-grip, the most congratulatory item in Russian despatches is the long withheld but at length sufficient acknowledgment of Japanese heroism. The Yellow Dwarf is no longer present, in print, squirming at sight of the Russian bayonet, but his gallantry of attack, even bayonet attack, his resourcefulness in strategy, his splendid equipment and his aptitude for the initiative take the place, which indeed it has been to the stultifying of the Russian soldier rather than the Japanese to deny. Now journalist effort is expended in proving that the present operations are establishing a sanguinary record, and comparisons are drawn between them and FrancoGerman and American engagements. It is sa^d thajb already the losses of Japan before P,o?t> Arthur exceed in killed the total losses of Gre.^t Britain in the Boer war. IJut whilst Russia at length does justjeje to the enemy, there is by no means unanimity of intent in the command of her qwn forces. When the Czar appoints a new general to important command and to co-operate with the com-mander-in-chief, it is quite uncertain whether by (the latter Ajexieff or Kuropatkin is meant- Oploff is not only sent home, but dismissed the army for failing to adequately support thp rear-guard at Liaoyang.

An identical position to that of Ljaoyang has been established at Mukden. Uf tho former a writer in the Speaker says: "A decisive action 1b one in which you not only cause your enemy to retire, but in which you destroy his force. There are only two ways of doing this ; one is to ride it down and break it up; the othci is so to surround it as to cause it to capitulate. Thus Waterloo was & decisive action, so was Sedan, but Talaveras, although Wellington was compelled to retreat, was not a decisive action. Now, it is absolutely certain, from all the past course of the war, that the Japanese cannot pursue, and are equally unable to envelop the Russian position, because they are working on much too wide a front." The present front is less than the Liaoyang one by far, and outflanking movements trouble the Rqssians much. At Port Arthur forts have been taken and retaken, and being taken again the Japanes command town and port with their guns, Th/B preset advance is along the railway Jinc, and the waterworks being subject to bombardment, if, js reported the garrison is dependent op condensers. The most awful bombardment continues night and day, tho garrison, is much reduced, and cholera is reported to have made its appearance. There is room for the most lurid writing in purple patches, but that the truth may be told in view of the censorship, the future is left for revelations.

In the field behind an impenetrable screen of cavalry, Japan i» seizing the passes and hills which command the approaches to Mukden. A considerable retirement from the advanced'positions attained in pursuit has taken place, and Oka and Nodzu' have headquarters at Yentai, whilst those of Kuroki are tp the' i north-east. Silence reigns as to Japa- j ; nese movements to the west of the railway, but much is there going on. Mukden is on the Hun river, and the front

of the Russian rearguard is some miles J south of that river. There has been in- 1 tcrruption for four days on the Siberian • railway, nevertheless we are told that it brtngs 1700 fully-equipped troops daily to Kuropatkin. Japanese reinforcements have landed at the mouth of the Liaoyang. Engagements have been confined to the east of the line of Russian retreat, and although success has fluctuated temporarily, the general result has been victory for Japan and Russia driven northward. But there are indications that the Russian army is not so closely tied to the line of railway, and time will be required to drive in their left, or their retreat will be continued on a broader front, giving less opportunity for one decisive battle. Both armies have hitherto been fighting on the lines which they respectively excel in, ltussia in defence, Japan in attack. Now the Czar is inclined to order a Russian advance, and will doubtless be anathematised as a med.dler.

Meanwhile in Russia the war is most unpopular. Reservists refuse to join, in mass, and the wires give but little indication of the intensity of resistance to joining the colors. Troops ordered to attack rioters refuse to obey. The silence with which the new Minister's promises of reform are received by the European press is eloquent tribute to their unreliability. Concessions to Jews must be in practical evidence before the Jewish capitalist opens his pursestrings, and Holy Russia hates the tribes; whilst the Government is more than half ecclesiastical. Russia's loss of prestige is abundantly shown by the open declaration of Germany that she needs now less frontier guards, by the ignoring by the Sultan of Austro-Russian Balkan reforms, and possibly in the increase of Austria's navy, which is following her late enlargement of the army. The attitude of ihe Powers at the coronation of Peter of Seryia was a non-committal one, whilst Britain ignored it altogether. The chief regicide was present, though it is Mated that those criminals are to be weeded out of office. And it is recognised that the sole party supporting the king is the regicide party. Dispute as to an eligible successor alone delays a change, and Austria's preparedness is not without significance.

Though Russian and German papers are prophecying disaster to Britain by a Bhuddist rising in consequence of our advance into Thibet, our retirement, treaty in pocket, without attacking the holy city, robs Russia of the reason for the rising she had fomented in Western China. ' We know that Russia gained a hearing by allowing Thibetans to believe all Russia was Bhuddist, and the Czar the head of the church. But all Asia knows that the millions of Indian Bhuddists have protection and never that persecution which is the lot of alien churches in Russia. Faction fights are and were expected, on our retirement. Russia now has the deposed Lama, of whom Lord Curzon says "he has shown himself to be the evil genius of his people, refusing to hold any communication with us, or even to receive letters of communication from the representatives of the British Sovereign, at the very time he was conducting communications with another Great Power situated, not at his doors, but at a great distance away, and was courting his protection." He has got that protection, but he will have to fight not the British, but his own people, to regain his throne.

President Roosevelt has found time amidst the struggle of the pending elections to inform representatives of the Powers that he intends soon to ask those Powers to arrange for another Hague Conference. There is an immense amount of work which might come before such a conference, from Asia, Africa, and America, as well as from Europe, but the most urgent is the" necessity of defining the right and privileges of neutrals and belligerents in war time. In many respects never clear, they have been cast to the winds by the ruth'ess aggression of Russia. The Smolensk and St Petersburg have returned through the Red Sea, and with a scant supply of coal sailed, not home to the Black Sea, but to Libau, in the Baltic. They struck a fearful snag in the Malacca. Says the Daily Mail : — "The proudest of all the nations has been stopped short in the middle of a prancing, buccaneering, high-handed enterprise on the seas by a blunt order and a threat, and the result is anything but pretty." It was in effect an order that Lord Lansdowne gave to Lamsdorff. "It was a noteworthy document, and gave no opportunity for the peculiar diplomacy which is at home in Russia. 'Don't talk, hut give up that ship,' was the effect of it, and there were cruisers unleashed in the Mediterranean to enforce it as soon as the Minister hesitated to obey." Russians then spoke of a Russian Fashoda, but the general result in Russia is that "Nothing has so weakened the Government for years, and it is impossible to calculate the full value of this defeat when it filters to the knowledge of the moujik. V

The German cutting of Atlantic steerage rates has ended in a victory for the British and American lines, in so far as the Germans were the 'first to "let up." The struggle, costly to all, has been most expensive to Germans. It began in consequence of British shipping competing for the Austrian and Hungarian emigration trade. To retaliate Germany brought steerage passages from Liverpool and other ports down to £2. Now she has raised them again, and American and British ships have followed suit. Germany has aUo lowered the rates to and from Austria and Hungary. It appears to us that will suit the British too.

During the past week or two the bulk of tne dairy produce contracts for the season have been fixed up, though some important companies have not yet absolutely settled matters. On the whole, though contracts are not quite so favprable to settlers as tney were Ipitt year, they are much better than many people at the beginning of the season thought they would be, and they assure a profitable season to prooucers. As to producfon, though there have been one or two severe set-backs, the grass has come on very well, and there is every reason for expecting that the output in Taranaki will this year be still larger than in any pra vious year.

The celebration on the West Coast of Mr Seddon's parliamentary jubilee is, wo think, a unique event in the history of the colony. Few men are able to secure such a hold on a constituency's confidence as to hold a seat continuously for a quarter of a century virtually without a serious contest. Fewer still have such long services publicly recognised with such general manifestation of enthusiasm. If Mr Seddon has been loyal to "the Coast" and old friends the loyalty has certainly been reciprocated. Mr Seddon has put up many records, and certainly that now being celebrated is not the least creditable among them, and people of all shades of opinion will join in congratulations both to member and constituents.

Few will refuse sympathy with Lord Ciirzon in the illness of the Americau ■wife who has" filled the position of the highest lady in India so tactfully and well, and all' will hope for her speedy recovery.