THE WAR IN THE EAST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9598, 24 August 1894, Page 5

THE WAR IN THE EAST.

CHINESE FLEET TO MOBILISE.

EXPECTED NAVAL BATTLE. Press Association.—Electric Telegraph.—Copyright. Shanghai, August 22. Lt Hung Chang lias ordered the Chinese fleet to mobilise and eject the enemy from the Gulf of Picheli. British merchants intend to avoid seizure of arms and munitions by sending them to South American ports and then transhipping. It is stated that 25,000 troops were engaged on each side in Friday's fighting. Besides the loan publicly raised Japanese nobles have subscribed eighty million dollars to the expenses of the war without interest. Berlin, August 23. Germany has further reinforced her squadron in the China Sea.

Thursday Island, August 14. Extracts from the Hongkong Daily Press to Ist August show that the Shanghai correspondent records that eight steamers left in one day for Corea, and four others followed a few days after. One vessel had 1000 men and many so-called soldiers, who were only coolies armed with bows and arrows and spears. Some of the vessels took a number of ponies. Many of the "soldiers" were mere boy*. The world is at the mercy of either the Chinese or Japanese Governments in obtaining news from the scene of conflict, as no news can come through either route- which does not satisfy the demands of the censors of one of these Governments. , Whatever telegrams do arrive should be read with the knowledge of the direction by which they were received in order to judge what credence should be given to them. The Nippon Yusen-Kaisha Company has purchased the following steamers:—Hector, Diorned, Moray, Hesperia, Dardanus, Tartar, Hemptos, Mogul, Gmuilia, and Moyune. The Chinese vessel KowShing was torpedoed while anchored in a shallow bay. All the foreigners aboard, including Mr. Von Hantieken, who was the Chinese military adviser, were killed. From a reliable source we learn that, under what was considered to be provocation, three Japanese men-of-war— one of them the Takachiko— engaged the Chinese naval force near the Corona coast. One of. the Chinese transports nob named (bub evidently the Kow Shing is meant) Was sunk. The Bokiang despatch boat attached to the Peyang squadron Was seized, and the Ching Yuen, also of the Peyang squadron, escaped back to China, while the Kwong-Yut, of the Canton squadron, escaped to Corea. lb would seem, therefore, that the Kow Shing was accompanied by two Chinese war vessels and a despatch boat, and the preponderance of fighting strength probably lay with the Japanese. The steamers of Nippon Yusen-Kaisha are not coming beyond Nagasaki in future. They have chartered several English steamers, and are continuing the trade to Shanghai for the present. During the last few days of July no fresh cases of plague at Hongkong were reported. The Japanese steamer Hirashima Mam was captured by a Chinese gunboat. The Governor of Gukhcin has been ordered to send a force to the Loochoo Islands to take thorn from Nanirang and Kwangtung. The fleets have )een ordered to harass the seaports of Japan, and to seizo all vessels flying the Japanese flag.