PORT ARTHURS CAPITULATION

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12758, 7 January 1905, Page 5

PORT ARTHURS CAPITULATION

— - m THE RUSSIAN PRISONERS. Js> —;„, ir i RUMOURED WRECK OF RUSSIAN BATTLESHIP. BALTIC FLEET'S RECALL, SAID TO HAVE BEEN ORDERED. j By* Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.

GENERAL NOGI'S REPORT. LIST OF THE PRISONERS. I 32.207 MEN: (Received January C, 9.3 p.m.) 9 London, January G. General Nogi reports that the transfer of Port Arthur has been completed. The surrendered number 32,207 men, inclusive of 16,000 sick and wounded. The prisoners include: Eight generals, Four admirals, Fifty-seven colonels and majors. One hundred naval captains and commanders, Five hundred and thirty-one army captains and lieutenants, Two hundred naval lieutenants and naval officers, One hundred and nine surgeons, Twenty chaplains, } Twenty-two thousand four hundred and thirty-four army rank and file, Four thousand five hundred naval rank and file. Four thousand one hundred and forty - five non - combatants connected with the army and navy. There were also delivered 100 saddle horses and 1870 draught horses. The majority of the volunteers are included. amongst the non-com-batants. RE-FORTIFYING PORT ARTHUR, THOUSANDS OF CHINESE EMPLOYED. (Received January 6, 3.10 p.m.) London, January 6. General Nogi is employing thousands of Chinese coolies in re-forti-fying Port Arthur. Vast quantities of cement, timber, and iron had been accumulated at Yalu for the purpose. THE TSAR'S THANKS, (Received January 6, 0.10 p.m.) London, January 6. The Tsar has sent a cablegram to General Stoessel and his officers and men for their brave defence of Port Arthur. DISPOSING OF PRISONERS, 10,000 TO RETURN TO RUSSIA. London, January 5. Of the soldiers and sailors taken prisoners at Port Arthur, 10,000, being invalids, will be permitted to return to Russia. The non-combatants also are to be jriven their liberty. The Daily Express says the Tsar informed General Stoessel that his officers could choose between parole and remaining prisoners. A supplementary agreement made between Generals Stoessel and Nogi provides for the release of those civil officials of Port Arthur who did not serve as volunteers. JAPANESE PRISONERS. London, January 5. Two hundred Japanese prisoners taken during the siege were found at Port Arthur, and have been released; SUCCOURING THE GARRISON THE ANDROMEDA'S HELP. London, January 5. The fact that the British cruiser Andromeda, of the China fleet, has conveyed food and medical comforts to Port Arthur for the garrison is warmly appreciated in Russia. THE FORMAL ENTRY. London, January 5. The Japanese will make their formal entry into Port Arthur on Sunday. JAPANESE REFUSE ASSISTANCE. (Deceived January 6, 0.37 p.m.) London, January 6. The cruiser Andromeda has returned to Wei-hai-wei. The Japanese had refused to allow her to enter Port Arthur, on the ground that the Russian mines had not been discovered. They also declined the assistance in drugs and provisions brought by the Andromeda. It is expected that the wounded Russians will remain at Port Arthur and be nursed) there. Thousands of lives will be saved when drugs and medical comforts are available. COMMENTS ON THE SIEGE. London, January 5., The First Lord of the Admiralty (Lord Selborne), speaking at Wolverhampton, paid a glowing tribute to both besiegers and besieged. i

! THE SPOILS. I COAL AND RICE. '/ London, January 5. Renter's Chifu correspondent reports that the Japanese found littlebooty in Port Arthur, except 80,000 tons of coal and two months' supply of rice for the garrison. ! RUSSIAN LOSS IN OFFICERS. PROMOTION FROM THE , RANKS. London, January 5. i General Stoesscl lost 200 officers during October and November. Owing to the scarcity of officers it was necessary for him to give commissions to sergeants and other non-com-missioned officers who had displayed heroism in the defence. Out of 2(50 naval officers belonging to the Port Arthur garrison at the beginning of war, ISO have been killed or wounded. Many of them were wounded when serving in the forts. THE ESCAPING DESTROYERS PERMITTED TO LEAVE. London, January 5. It is reported that Admiral Togo permitted the four destroyers that have reached Chifu to leave Port Arthur as a mark of his appreciation of the brave defence of Port Arthur by the garrison. THE NAVAL OPERATIONS. v REPORTED RECALL OF THE BALTIC FLEET. j ORDERED BY IMPERIAL COUNCIL. (Received January t>, P.lO p.m.) London, January 6. The Daily Express reports that there has been a meeting of the Russian Imperial Council, the Tsar presiding. It was decided to continue the war energetically, and to reinforce General Ivuropatkin with 200,000 men by the end of February. It was also decided, the same report says, to recall the Baltic fleet to Europe. A RUMOURED DISASTER. i BATTLE SHI!' KNIAZ SUVAROFF WRECKED. (lleccired January 6, 0.10 p.m.) London, January H. The Paris edition of the NewYork Herald publishes a report from St. Petersburg that the Kniaz Suva- j roff, of the Baltic fleet, has struck a rock and sunk. The. same paper says it has received a later telegram confirming the loss of the vessel. (Rccehcd .l*!iudry 7, V.'.SO a.in.) London*. January ('. The -inking of the Kniaz. Suvaroff has been officially denied in St. Petersburg. The Kniar. .Suvaroff was built in 1902. She is of 13,100 tons, 16,300 horse-power, «nil carries four 12ii>, 12 6in, and 20 3in guns, and lias six torpedo tubes. Her speed is 18 knots. The Kniaz Suvarofi is one of the vessels that tired oil the trawlers on Dogger Bank. IF THERE IS A BATTLE. « WHERE WILL IT BE FOUGHT? (Received January (i, 9.1t) p.m.) London, January- 6. Mr. Bennet Burleigh, the Daily Telegraph's war correspondent, reports that the Japanese believe that Admiral Togo will encounter the Baltic fleet off Amoy, a port of China, in the Straits of Formosa. THE THIRD SQUADRON. LACK OF MECHANICS. London, January 5. The supply of artificers for the Russian third squadron, now beingfitted at Libau by Rear-Admiral Birilcff, is still hopelessly deficient. THE SHADOWING ALLEGATION. London, January 5. The British Ambassador at St. Petersburg, Sir Charles Hardinge, has protested strongly against the allegation tha-tr* British ships are shadowing the Baltic fleet. DISORDERLY RESERVISTS. ■ St. Petersburg, January 5. The: reservists in the province of Lithuania have pillaged several i churches.

FRANCE'S NEUTRALITY, A JAPANESE PROTEST. London, January 5. The Japanese have delivered to France a remonstrance concerning the provisioning and coaling of the Baltic fleet at ports in Madagascar. The French Government have replied stating that a strict observance of the laws of neutrality bad been enjoined upon their officials in Madagascar. The Japanese cruisers are patrolling Sante Mardino ('?) Strait. Does the French Government, asks the Jiji, a Tokio newspaper, referring to the Japanese protest, mean to deny that a purl, of Iho Baltic fleet coaled at Cherbourg on the way to the Mediterranean, or does it intend to assert that such an operation is not contrary to the principle of neutrality. The Jiji declares its full comprehension of Franco's difficult position, and its sympathy with her embarrassment in choosing between her sentiments towards her ally and her duties as a, neutral. If her European ports alone were in question, the thing might not matter seriously, but she has in the Far East harbours which Mould be of the greatest possible use to the Russians. Should these bo placed at tho disposal of the latter, the French Government will have ceased to bo a neutral, and will be plainly taking a belligerent part. In that event, the Anglo-Japanese alliance would become practically operative, and the sphere of the combat would be unhappily widened. GAIETY OF ST. PETERSBURG NOT AFFECTED BY THE WAR. (Received January 6, 0.10 p.m.) St. Petersburg, January 6. The misfortunes of Russia in. the war have not had the effect of diminishing the gaieties of the society people of St. Petersburg. They did not slacken in their search for pleasure even when the fall of Port Arthur became known. Tho newspapers comment on the fact, and denounce " society" for its callousness. FEELING IN RUSSIA, OUTSPOKEN NEWSPAPERS. St. Petersburg, January 5. The newspaper Russ says that if the newspapers of Russia had not .been gagged, a national agitation would have compelled the despatch of the Baltic fleet in time to relieve Port Arthur. The country, it adds, is panting for the truth, not for bureaucratic deceptions. The new liberal St. Petersburg newspaper, Our Land, publishes a remarkable article in 'which it denounces what it terms the bureaucratic war." It invites the people to demand that Russia shall propose peace, believing that! Japan will accord terms honourable and acceptable to the true dignity and the interests of Russia. Other journals attribute the Russian defeats to her 'historic sins and faults, and says that Japan has been successful because she possesses freedom and independence. The new St. Petersburg journal, Our Land, and the Russ have been suspended from public sale on ac- < count of their outspokenness regarding the war and reform.