JAPANESE AT KAMTGHATKA

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12662, 16 September 1904, Page 5

JAPANESE AT KAMTGHATKA

SEVERAL ENGAGEMENTS. ■ ■ ■ London, September 14. Small detachments of Japanese have hoisted the flag of the Rising Sun on the western coast of Kamptchatka. Several engagements have taken place, and 17 Japanese were killed in one engagement and about 50 in other engagements on the coast. Kamptcbatka is a peninsula of Eaitcrn Siberia, oil Bearing Sea. Its area is 4bs,'JfO square miles. The southernmost point is only seven miles from the Kuril© Islands, which belong to Japan. The population is only 6500, including a few Russians. 'There is a Russian port at Petropavlovsk, a magnificent harbour on the eastern coast. THE RUSSIAN RAIDS. CASE OF THE CALOHAS. London, September 14. The British steamer Calchas, which was seized by the Vladivostok squadron late in July and was taken to Vladivostok as a prize, has been released. The Prize Court ordered the confiscation of the flour, cotton, and timber which, the Calchas was taking to Japan. * A Russian cruiser boarded the Cardiff steamer Derwent at a point to the westward of Gibraltar. The Calchas, 4279 tons, when seized was bound from Puget Sound to Hongkong mid Yokohama with a cargo chiefly of flour and machinery. ' SUBMARINES FOR JAPAN, •London, September 14. Five greatly-improved submarineboats are being built in Massachusetts, United States, for the Japanese Government. They are to cost 175,000 dollars each. GERMANY AND RUSSIA, THE ALLEGATION OF THE TIMES. BERLIN NEWSPAPERS ANGRY (Heeeived September 15, 10.52 p.m.) London, September 15. The Berlin newspapers refer in angry terms to the allegation of the Times that Germany and Russia have a secret understanding with regard to the Far East and the terms of peace with Japan. NOTES ON THE WAR: By his own confession General Kuroki was nearly beaten at Yentai. Crossing the river at Ponnsihu, he moved through the hills to Yentai and then made good his hold upon HeiYentai. The main hills run north and south, rising abruptly from the cultivated plains between them and the railway. At HeiYentai, howt*VM, a cluster of low hills jut out like a promontory from, the main chain in the direction of the railway. With possession of this promontory, Genera!. Kuroki could have commanded the railway with his guns. Ho hold on to them for two do- ! sperate days and nights, and then was re- ' licved by Generals Oka and Nodzu. The < experience of the Japanese on these hills must have been like that or the British on ' Spiofiikop. That the Japanese held on ■ until relieved is proof enough of their grit. ! Battles are- won by tenacity of that kind, , and it was Kuroki's tenacity that forced the Russian retreat. ]

General Kuropatkih has given a graphio account of this battle of Liao-yang. He dates his misfortunes back to the battle of Anping and the ibwM that followed. They were renewed when General. Orloff met With disaster in attempting to prevent the advance of General Kuroki on Yentai. Then the Russians strove for two days to drive the great Japanese general off the Yentai hills and failed. Retreat upon Mukden next became necessary.' It might have been thought that Kuropntkin could Mv& held on and beaten the Japanese back from Yentai. fie dared not take the risk of failure, because ho had reserve food foi only eight days at Liao-yang. After months of preparation the loss of the railway for a few days would have caused the surrender of the whole «riny. A previous telegram had stated that the railway could not supply the army in Liao-yang, and so no doubt the stores collected had been used. Kuroki at Yentai made a bold bid for the Russian army, and just missed it. The retreat to Mukden was the nearest approach to a victory the Russians have hath

A cablegram says that General Kuropatkin has telegraphed to a friend that another battle is to take place shortly, and that he hopes to adopt vigorous offensive tactics. The Russian commander-in-chief is not the man to confide in any friend such an important fact as that ho means to take the offensive. That he sent the telegram is probable, and that he meant it for publication is also probable. The Russians are adepts at throwing dust in the eye 3 of the world by cable. Kuropatkin's only hope at the present time is that the Japanese will leave him alone for a while. He needs supplies and guns and ammunition and men. If the Japanese were now to make one of their great advances, they would probably find the Russians getting ready for going back to Harbin. Kuropatkin is not in a condition for fighting another great battle. The Japanese are doubtless more afraid of the Russians retreating to Harbin than of their taking the aggressive to the southward of Mukden. : •-

The story of a countor«attoke in Corea by General Linevitch has bet'di contradicted. At tho same time we discover that the l report sent out from St. Petersburg some days ago that General Linevitch was within two clays' march of Mukden with 30,000 men was not true. The military authorities in St. Petersburg are not above that kind of thing. If an expedition were to be sent to Oorea 01 to Mukden, General Linevitch is hardly likely to be given the-command, as he is a very old man. Then, the Russians have no men to spare for wild-goose chases. The Siberian Cossacks who are reported as returning to Vladivostok from Ham Heung have been on. such a mission. They went into Northern Gorea in March and hav© raided there ever since. It is three months since they were reported at Mam Heuug. These are the men who refused to fight at Anju, though they greatly outnumbered the Japanese sent against them.

The Russians are said to be placing fortifications on both sides of the Liao River at Tiding. The place lies at a bend of the great river. From above Sinminting the river turns north-east to Tieling and then bends away to the north-went The placing of fortifications on the western bank of the Liao is a breach or the agreement made by Russia to hold only the territory east of the river. China, therefore, would have something to say in the matter of the placing of fortifications in her territory. A breach of China's neutrality by Russia might bring the armies now being trained in the interior upon the scene. Already General Ma lies near Sinminting with a considerable force. The Chinese sympathise actively with the Japanese, and that accounts probably for the part th© Chunehuses are taking in the war. It is legitimate for the people of Manchuria to assist the. Japanese, for they have been oppressed by the Russians, : .- Bebellion by them would not affect China's neutrality, as they are really subject to the Tsar. - - ':■■■-■:■■

From time to time news has come to hand of China's military preparations. The troops ar© said to be drilling undor Japanese officers. This is, only another evidence of tile foresight of Japanese- statesmen. They see that the Russians may be driven for the present out of Manchuria, but that they may return in a year or two and seize the country, e,s they did in 1900. Russia may be prepared to undertake-a series of wars to finally fasten her grip this province of China. It cannot, on the other hand, be Japan's desire to undertake repeated wars to preserve the. integrity of her neighbour's territory. She is therefore preparing China to fight her own battles in the future: Should Russia, therefore, seek to reoccupy Manchuria she will have to meet the Chinese army, which would soon have the support of the Japanese. Before long Russia will find the province formally handed over to the Chinese. r '