THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1685, 15 June 1904, Page 32

THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR.

FURTHER JAPANESE SUCCESSES.

PORT ARTHUR INCESSANTLY BOMBARDED.

LONDON, June 10. General Kuroki, co-operating with tlie Takushan array, has occupied Siuyen / (about forty miles north-west of Takushan), and is driving the Russians towards Totuchen and Kaiping (about thirty miles south of Newchwang). ‘V": LONDON, June 11. The Russian forces at Siuyen, which has just been occupied by General Kuroki, consisted of four thousand cavalry, with six guns. The Russians were outflanked on the north and the east, and were driven to Sheinucheng. Three Japanese men were killed, and two officers and twenty-eight men slightly wounded. General Kouropatkin reports that the Japanese, who attacked his force from the south of Siuyen consisted of a brigade of infantry, two mountain batteries and five squadrons of cavalry. The. Russian Commander adds that as other forces on east end of the Fengliwang'Tcheng..road .threaten the Russian line of retreat, the Russians are witlidi awing. Advices from Mukden state that the Russians are retiring slowly from the Samaki..and Siuyen districts before superior .forces of Japanese. General Kuroki, who is in charge of the Japanese forces in Manchuria, has reported .on the recent fighting at S'amaki (east of Liao-yang), when a Russian detachment which was holding that place was driven to the Finchuling Pass, . and suffered, a loss.(according to the report of General Kouropatkin, the Russian Commander) of one hundred and two killed and wounded. _ The 'Japanese General states that three Japanese were killed and twentyfdu’r- wounded. Tire dead bodies of twentydhree Russians were found, while two officers; and five men were captured. • Details of the fighting at Samaki show that two battalions and a squadron of Cossacks (one battery) encountered two Japanese regiments with artillery. There are forty thousand Chunchuses under arms. • • A detachment of Japanese troops which was sent along the Mot-ien road : on Monday last defeated seventy Russians at Linchatai, to the northwards of Feng-hwang-cheng. On Tuesday the Japanese detachment jncountered at Changkinshai six companies of infantry and three hundred cavalry. An engagement ensued which lasted two hours. As a result of this fight the Russians ■ were driven to-(north-west of- Feng-hwangrcheng), near to- Motien. The Russian casualties numbered eighty,. ' The' Japanese had four killed and sixteen wounded. - ! . ‘ ‘ LONDON, June 10. -Two English ladies, who had had ex■perience in the South African war, in- . speeted a Japanese field hospital' at Feng-hw’ang-cheng, and declare that it surpasses’ the’ British hospitals: Sir Frederick Treves, Sergeant Sur-geon-in-Ordinary to. the. King, who is visiting Tokioj; is equally complimentary in respect to the equipment of the hospitals. i -

••• • LONDON, June 11. During tli© recent battle at Nanslian, General- • Osaka’s troops - were wading

along the-shore, when they encountered the 'Russians, who were waist-deep in water. When the Russians retreated the water was literally crimson. Tte Russians also used balloons at

Najishan. A. desultory fire has been proceeding for- • days to secure positions in the vicinity of Port Arthur, but there have been no general engagements. < Both combatants have excluded correspondents from the scene of fighting.' Japanese agents at Washington and British Columbia are purchasing ten thousand;.tons .of flour for delivery at Port- Arthur in six-weeks. The Japanese' Consul at Chefoo, on the Shantung peninsula-, has discovered an ethergraph attached to the flagstaff at tlie Russian Consulate at that place and used for the purpose of communicating with'the beleaguered garrison at Port-Arthur. Negotiations in connection with the matter are impending. •' •: ' . . SYDNEY, Juno 12. The Japanese Consul here has received a message from the authorities at Tokio wliich- states that General' Oko, the • commander of the Japanese forces near; Port;Arthur, reports'that the Military Administration Commission and the gendarmes have buried .top Russian officers and 664 men, in addition to about

thirty buried by Japanese troops, in the - vicinity of Nanshan, as the result of ■ the recent fight there. LONDON, June 12. Britain has protested against Russia’s declaration that rice and foodstuffs 1 are contraband, The English Red Cross Society sent £2OOO to St; Petersburg in aid of the Russian sick and wounded.

LONDON. June 13.

The Japanese are steadily and cautiously sapping towards the Port Arthur fortifications. They are throwing up earthworks under cover of heavy bombarding. According to a Reuter message, it is alleged in military circles at St. Petersburg that the sole responsibility for the war operations now rest on General Kouropatkin, the Cominan-der-in-Chief.

Under these circumstances, it is not anticipated that any serious attempt will he made to relieve Port Arthur. (Japanese Parliamentarians and correspondents and others attached to the troops, including Colonel Hoad, the Australian representative, have started from T’okio 6y the steamer Manchuria on a tour of inspection of the Korean and Liao-tung coasts and the Elliott Islands. . ’ ... ,i This is supposed to indicate that the main assault on Port Arthur will not occur for at least ten days. Repdrts have been received at Rome that wounded Russian officers arriving at. Liaoyang declare that many land battles have occurred. It is also stated that the population of Port Arthur expect Sunday’s attack to prove decisive. The port has been incessantly bombarded for seven days. The western portion has been destroyed and several ships struck. The “ New York Herald ” states that the occupation of the Sisu Pass has placed the principal strategic point on the road to Mukden in the bauds of the Japanese. It is reported that a Japanese fleet entered Kaiping Bay, on the west- coast of the Liao-tung peninsula. The fleet bombarded and damaged the Russian fortifications, and succeeded m stopping the departure southwards ol military trains.

Siuyen and Samaki, in Manchuria, where the Japanese have recently been successful, are regarded at Tokio as positions of great strategic importance.

The former controls the roads to Kaiping and Haiclieng, in the south; and the latter the roads to Liao-yang and Mukden in the north. '

General Kuroki is thus enabled to atoid tlie Motien-ling mountains. General Kuroki is building a light railway from the Yalu to Feng-hwang-cheng. The Japanese ' are maintaining a strict blockade at Newchwang. Four or five trains, conveying Russian troops, reach Mukden daily. Persistent reports are in circulation that a submarine boat protector lias been smuggled from Newport for Japan. Tlie Russian press demands an explanation of the occurrence. There is great distress at Vladivostock. It is feared the town will soon be without light, as the stock of petroleum and candles is nearly exhausted.