POUT ARTHUR RE-VISITED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 13990, 20 February 1909, Page 1 (Supplement)

POUT ARTHUR RE-VISITED.

| BY G. W. S. PATTERSON.

The glory of Fort Arthur lias departed, and "Ichabod" might -well be. writ large on the ruins of that devoted fortress. And not only where shattered casemates, dilapidated hast ions and crumbling glacis on, every eminence demonstrate to the beholder the decadence of the mighty defences, but in the old and new town alike there | is visible on every hand the depressing result of the terrible bombardment to which the ill-fated settlements were subjected in the year of our Lord, 19(W. To those acquainted with the. pre-war aspect. of Port Arthur, the latter day condition of the fortress is a startling revelation of the destructiveness of modern engines of war. ami other things. And in eider to present the contrast- as distinctly as possible, a. word-picture of the state of affairs before the outbreak of hostilities may not bo out of place, if not distinctly advisable. Port Arthur, then known to the Chinese as Lti-shun-kow, is situated, as all the world knows, cm the southernmost point of the Lian-tung peninsula, and, together with the ports of Dalny and Tai lien-wan formerly represented the Russians' share of the spoils m the game of general grab, which took place at. the termination of the Chinese-Japanese oinhroglio in 1898. The harbour is a, natural one, land-lock-ed, except for a narrow entrance, at the southern end, some three hundred yanks wide. Extensive dredging works were in progress for many years prior to the Russian occupation, and were continued in the eastern harbour and elsewhere up to a few weeks before the last war. Approaching the port from the sea, the view is desolate in the extreme. Lofty and barren hills, destitute of trees or foliage, rise abruptly from the water's edge surrounding it on every side, and dominating with their bristling fortifications both land and sea for many a mile around. The port may be reached in forty-eight hours' steam from Shanghai, whilst from Chefii, Wei-liai-wei, Taku, or any of the Korean ports of the north-western coast, the journey is only a matte- of a few hours. Landwise, a railway connects with Dalny, thence ! through Manchuria to Europe, and there are serviceable roads to the, northern pro- j vinces, Pekin and Korea. In winter the ! climate is cold, but not unpleasantly so ; | and. unlike Vladivostok, the harbour is j never frozen; the summer mouths are, j however, intensely hot and the prevailing I dust storms, lack of drainage and a decent j : water supply do not add to the doubtful j charm of a continued residence there. At no time could the town itself have : been said to be in anything but a state ! of transition, and from first to last it j could not l>e reasonably regarded as any- j thing but a military station. Flat caps ! and grey coats were always the prevailing ! note of Port. Arthur, and the fact that '

there were sumo 60,000 men, of all ranks, iu garrison, three months before the crisis, makes it evident that the place was never looked upon as a mere seaside resort. On the front, of the inner harbour the old Chinese village reaches to the water—and a very dirty, dusty, and unsavoury settlement 1 found it —while higher up the rising ground, but too close to the Chinese quarter to be pleasant, the trading portion of the community, of all races, had their places of business ; under no circumstances were shops, stores, or offices permitted elsewhere. A. mile and a-half to the westwardstill following the harbour line—is the residential quarter, laid out on symmetrical lines, and with all duo regard to the ultimate formation of handsome streets and boulevards. Five years ago a multitude of -finished private residences, official buildings, and handsome structures of all sorts were the leading feature, of this quarter, while praiseworthy attempts at gardens and shrubberies —there are no trees in the neighbourhood of Port Arthur and very little vegetation—were just beginning to repay the unremitting ca.ro bestowed upon them. Two largo modern hotels and a cafe chantant supplied evidence of western civilisation, the latter especially being extensively patronised by the officers, both naval and military, of 'the garrison and the Eastern fleet. The barracks, store-houses, and magazines were situated a mile or so inland; they were most solidly constructed of stone, and were unmistakably intended for permanent structures. The fortifications, looking seaward, were possibly amongst the strongest in the world; a continuous chain of forts and batteries fronted tho ocean, many perched on almost inaccessible cliffs, and heavy guns occupied every point of vantage within tho harbour itself. The. whole of tho outer harbour was mined; powerful searchlights peered from every jutting point, and immediately opposite the town was a torpedo-fitting station, where the deadly machines, brought in pieces from Europe, were being rapidly turned out at the rate of 10 a day. i was indebted to an ex-resident for the information that, roughly speaking, ; the armament of Port Arthur, in those j days, included 64 12in guns, 70 6in, and over 100 4in quicklirers, exclusive, of innumerable scattered machine guns occupy-

ing every position where they could most easily and most effectively be utilised. Bearing in mind the fact that I ho Japanese themselves were unable to capture Port Arthur from the Chinese by a seaward attack, it requires little demonstration to prove the utter impossibility of their taking it when opposed by the better disciplined and armed troops of the Tsar of all the Russias. Then, as now, Port Arthur to seaward its an impregnable fortress. Inland, a second ami parallel lino of defence originally existed wherein tlio names of such forts as Golden Hill and 203 Mitre Hill recall the slaughter in the vicinity of those ill-fated spots. Indeed, tho long sweep of batteries reached almost from tho end of the Tiger's Tail to this most eastern point of the peninsula, and although figures as to their armaments were kept strictly secret, tho world knows by this time that the weight of metal was sufficient to obviate any possibility of capture. The mere fact that Port Arthur surrendered does not by any means invalidate this statement. Well, that was briefly a picture of tho famous port in pre-war clays. It remains only to bo added that even to tho last day when the Japanese opened fire on the illfa.ted Varyag and her consort in Chemulpo Harbour, tho Russians declined to contem—that is, the majority of them—tho beginning of actual hostilities. Even whilst the cliffs of the Korean port echoed to the scream of the lOin shells, tho garrison were holding high revelry in Port Arthur, 48 hours away. Famous dancers who had charmed Continental audiences floated on the .stage of the, cafe in the new quarter; venal beauty, of which there was never any lack, disported itself under the stars in the summer garden, and when the awakening came the transition from mirth to stein reality must have been sudden indeed. As sharply emphasised is the comparison between then and now. For the whole place hears Hie impress of war in it's sternest mood. In the residential quarter, whole terraces of fine buildings lie in ruins, and no man puts his hand to their re-erection. Shell tiro has torn and wasted every building of note; the gardens are desolate, the erstwhile Bier #ardsa hut * mawwy. J3ut

the most noticeable feature of the place, under the new regime, is the behaviour of the. inhabitants, and where once the bearded Cossack swaggered through the streets, and the While Hussar strolled in immaculate uniform, the energetic Japanese, in, kit, borrowed from France or (Jermany, now pursues his business-like way, secret and inscrutable, and as unlike his burly, good-natured predecessor as could possibly lie imagined. Kven before I landed a hint I of the changed conditions was visible in the obtrusive impiisitiveness of the new | owners. .Formerly, the tourist was suspected, occasionally, (l a. desire to gather information regarding the fortifications, but to a duly accredited visitor, few difficulties were presented, and many Englishmen were shown nearly everything there was to see in ami about the forts. Now a distinct air of suspicion is apparent, and no matter how highly vouched for, the stranger of alien race is never afforded any opportunity of inspecting the real thing. Moreover, he is always suspected of designs of a trading or commercial nature, and whereas the Russians could be cosily satisfied as to a traveller's bona tides, the Japanese prefer to remain unconvinced of (lie good faith of anyone. And lie takes fright, more easily at a packet of samples than at a camera. Thanks to my introductions, a couple of Japanese officers had been specially told oil' to look after me, but though 1 found them cherry fellows enough, the limit of authentic in format ion. they allowed themselves to give was easily reached. Also hey were adepts in evading requests it; by any means, they did not accord with, 1 suppose, their instructions. "I suppose 1 may take my camera up to Golden Hill'''' 1 asked one of my guardians, once. "Of course,' lie replied, instantly, and with the soothing complaisance one usually associates with a nursemaid's acquiescence to 'one erf her charges' demand for more cake. "Of course, to-morrow," said my mentor. But that to-morrow never came; there was an inspection; the day was too hot, and excuses were never hard to manufacture. When we parted, on my leaving the place. 1 remarked regretfully that I had never seen the new forts on the hill. "Oh. no," said this Machiavelli, despondently, "how stupid of me to forget." Then he brightened visibly. " Never mind, you gel good new photograph in Mukden, in Moscow, quite new and good, eh." Alas, the photograjhs procurable were'ancient ones, taken months ago, and I found that the suggestion of my amiable friend was the usual one given to strangers. He knew, none better, that no pictures were permitted to be taken of the new defences} but why lie could not say so, straightforwardly I could never understand. But the trait, such as it is, is characteristic of the Japanese. Still, 1 was indebted to them for much of the sightseeing 1 enjoyed. Under their surveillance I wandered through the almost deserted streets, gazing at the wrecks of the buildings, the desolateness of the favourite resorts of the Russians and the shot-scarred hillsides and devastated slopes. And through it all one feels out of all accord with the present state of affairs. For, as a. famous journalist, visiting Fort Arthur a few months ago, wrote:—"No Furope.ni, however he may admire the achievements of the present owners, and sympathise with the objects they have had in view, can see this place as it is now without some sore thought for the men vho staked and lost- so much there. The claim of race, made oftener than one cares

to count in any progress through Manchuria, obscures, with a pulse that is almost physical, the dictates of. reason. The traveller admires and applauds, but not wholly. He. learns many tilings upon these battlefields, but, the thing of which ho i« surest is that Russians are not aliens." And that was the impression left me by j my two guardians, when, having carefully | escorted me to the train they bowed themj selves off the platform, as the long lengtl : of carriages drew slowly out of oho station. So far as we know Port Arthur, both as : a place of commerce and a groat naval cr | military base, is a thing of the past. Peoj pie who ought to know state that the I Japanese hide their fortifications, not because of their strength, but their weakness. Also, it is generally understood that many of the forts will never be rebuilt. The Japanese will content themselves with making the harbour secure from any sudden dash of a. hostile fleet, but will rely far mora on their undoubted naval strength both for ((fence and defence, should occasion arise. The dockyard and coaling station will have their uses, but I doubt if money will he wasted to keep up or even partially repair the damaged defences on the landward side. Only one thing can restore the pristine 'glories of Port Arthur, and that, will be in a. commercial sense only. If (ho ports of Newehang and AnLung are found inadequate for the volume of trade which must sooner or later flow from Manchuria—Mind both these ports are frequently icebound in winter, whereas Port Arthur and Dalny are not— some outlet must be found for 'the increasing trade of the rich province to the northward. And though not in the direct route from the great trade centres it may not improbably be, found necessary in the near future to provide safety valves for the overflowing commerce which must shortly flow from that undeveloped but stupendously rich and favoured land, Manchuria. j