RAIDING CRUISERS FOR THE RED SEA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12624, 3 August 1904, Page 5

RAIDING CRUISERS FOR THE RED SEA.

TWO VESSELS LEAVE THE BALTIC. London, August 1. Tvro Russian torpedo-boats and two large steamers, flying the naval flag, have traversed the Great Belt which connects the Baltic Sea and the Kattegat, steaming northwards. It is surmised that these vessels are proceeding from the Baltic to the Red Sea to succeed the cruisers of the volunteer squadron in raiding operations there. (Received August 2, 11.50 p.m.) London, August 2. The Russian cruisers which have traversed the Great Belt are the Don and Ural. The torpedo-boats that were accompanying them have returned to Li ban. 1 RUSSIAN CONTRABAND LIST. A BRITISH PROTEST. (Received August 2, 10.22 p.m.) London, August 2. In the House of Commons, the Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Earl Percy, announced that Britain j had forwarded to Russia a protest against the inclusion of foodstuffs in the contraband list. NOTES ON THE WAR, Whether Port Arthur has bec-n captured or not is not yet definitely known. The bombardment Logan, there is no doubt, on Tuesday of last week and was continued until Friday. On Thursday or Friday assaults appear to have been made. The actual results have not been. reported. All we get from the Japanese side is a complaint by FieldMarshal Oyama of barbarities on the part of the Russians. It may be safely assumed that so far the Japanese are not in full possession of the fortress. Even if they had captured all the forts except those on Golden Hill, they would not report. When, they give the news to the world, it will be that Port Arthur is their own. An estimate* made by a Russian officer a few weeks ago was that the garrison could not withstand a determined attack for moro than a week. There would be not only determination, but heroic daring ih the attack. The Japanese-, however, undertook a tup on duo us task, which will cost them many soldiers. While the terrific struggle proceeds, the world is listening eagerly for news. The capture of the place in a week would be a crowning j glory for Japanese arms. Prior to beginning the bombardment of Port Arthur last week the. Japanese made the formal demand for surrender. In that demand they placed before the garrison the hopelessness of relief, becauso of the repeated defeats of General Kuropatkin. The Russian reply was naive. It professed belief that Field-Marshal Oyama and his staff and the siege guns had gone down in the transports Hitachi Maru and Sado Maru on Juno 15. There is a possibility, of course, that the Russians believed that the two transports carried siege batteries. If they did, the fact has not been allowed to reach the public through Japanese sources. The professed ignorance of the Japanese victories cannot be more than pretence, for Port Arthur had been in communication with Chifu until two or three weeks ago. Then the ! destroyer Lieutenant BurukofF made her sensational trip to Niuclnvang and got back to Port Arthur on or about July 7. At that time the Japanese had captured the passes. The Japanese are fighting decisive battles at Port Arthur, Ha iohen g, and Liao-yang. On Sunday General Kuroki attacked the Russian position that faces Motien-ling. It will be remembered that after the second battle to the north of Liao-yang, General Kuropatkin retreated to near An ping, a place on the Motien-ling road, and about 10 or 12 miles east of Liao-yang. It is this position doubtless that General Kuroki has attacked. The Russian force consisted of three divisions, or about 40,000 men. General Kuroki has set himself the task of capturing Liao-yang, from the eastern side. If the Takushan army, as was reported recently, is advancing from the south-west, upon Liao-yang, the Russians will find it difficult to withstand the attack. Should Liao-yang be captured the retreat would have to be to the westward, unless, indeed, General Kuroki has withdrawn from the positions he seized to the north of Liao-yang. The details of the battle that are given show once again that the Japanese infantry are magnificent fighters. It has yet to be ascertained to what extent this latest victory affects the safety of Liaovang, General Oka's report of the battle of Tashi-chiao shows that the Japanese were very near defeat, just as they were at Nanshan. They made repeated frontal attacks at Tashi-chiao and failed. Finally a night assault on the Russian left at Tangchi was decided upon. This was successful. From the captured position the Japanese would have been able to roll up the Russian troops from east to west. To avoid certain disaster General Sakharoff stole away before the dawn. There was a pursuit, but the Russians took care that it should not be attended with such onslaught as- occurred a £ Wafangkau. The Japanese lost about IQOO men and the Russian losses are estimated at about 2000. The disparity in view of the character of tlio fighting can be accounted for only oil the assumption that the Russian rearguard suffered heavily in the retreat. The Japanese newspapers say that the capture of Tashi-chiao was urgently needed, no matter how costly the frontal attacks might be. The urgency lay in the fact, that the .Japanese desired to occupy Niuehwang and Yinhow. This they could not do so long as General Sakharoff with 40,000 men lay at Tashi-chiao. Defeat of General Sakharoff was necessary abo to enable Generals Oka and Nodzu to march northward to the support of General Kuroki at Liao-yang. With this end in view the victory at Tashichiao was quickly followed up. The attack on Haicheng began just a week later. The first account of that attack spoke of a fierce infantry assault on the left wing; the second, which conies from Kuropatkin, describes the defeat and retreat of the Russian rearguard on the right wing. The Russian general speaks of the Japanese cutting in between I Shimucheng and Haicheng. The former j place is on the road to Suiyen, and it lias | never been made quite clear whether the I Japanese captured it after the battle of the , Passes. If it is still in Russian hands, the 1 advancing Japanese have cut the garrison oft 1 from II aid i eng. When <vor broke out the Japanese mail steamers of the Nippon Yusen line which traded to Australian ports ceased running. They were required for uso as transports. Now, however, the Japanese have got nearly | all of their troops at the seat of war. is a rather peculiar time for resuming the mail service when the Vladivostok squad., is at sea. People will be somewhat chary just now about, making the. trip to .Japan. Admiral Alexeieff has supplied a report of the outrageous sinking of the Br n.4i '14, Hinsane by a Russian torpedo-boat. ii i~ ovent occurred at the time hat | ti s"ship Minister for Marines order that Lutibh ship ninsr must e harassed was in force. About die same time, too, the Vladivostok: squadron sank the Knight Commander. Hie reference to the use of small arms in response to quick-firing cannon is hardly believable. Some excuse had to be made for an act of wanton destruction, and that given is very weak It- is fortunate, ik>wover, that there were Europeans on the Ilipsang. Tneir evidence may put another aspect upon the Ilipsang question..