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Otago Witness, Issue 2607, 2 March 1904, Page 43

The Otago Witness.

WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY (WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 190 U.)

THE WEEK.

" Nunquam aliud n»tur», «iiud «apientia dUit."— Jitwal. " G«od caiur* and eo'od lonse must erer joio.'V- Por», The Trar news which has filtered througk the cables during the week The has been of a more or less Week's disjointed' character. - The War. Japanese , have preserved a commendable secrecy concerning their operations, but whatever intelligence has come through their official channels bears "the hall mark of reliability. The same can scarcely be said of the Russians, who have manufactured victories in the most unblushing fashion, and even sung Te Deums over their imaginary triumphs. The only important item of fresh intelligence is the attempt on the part of the Japanese to block the entrance of Port Arthur by sinking four vessels laden with stones and painted to imitate warships at the month of the harbour, but as several of the Russian cruisers have since been outside, it is evident that the Japanese attempt has -not been thoroughly successful. A part of the Russian army has crossed the Yalu, and invaded Northern Korea, for the Japanese artillery are reported to have encountered the Russian cavalry northwards of Ping-wang, about midway between Seoul and Yalu, when, after a sharp fusilade, the Russians are said to nave retired. Whether this affair of outposts is preliminary to righting on the Yalu the next few days will probably declare. But whilst Japan, taking advantage of her naval supremacy, is transporting her troops to the scene of operations with all despatch, Russia is daily proving the weakness of the Trans-Siberian railway as the sole means of communication with her base. Russian authorities proclaim that the Siberian railway is able to land 3000 troops daily in the Far East, each contingent" taking six weeks to complete the journey. On the other hand, German reports estimate, assuming Russia had 133,000 troops in the Par East on February ID, it will be April before her forces can number 208,000, and this only under the most favourable conditions of climate and transit. But the present conditions are not favourable, for although the railway across Lake Bailkal has been completed, thus obviating the necessity of detraining, yet the perils of this mode 3T travelling are shown in the fact that a locomotive ha.s fallen through the ice, whilst a number of the trops were frozen to death whllsl marching along the railway line. And a further cause of congesting the traffic is the large number of fugitives who are crowding the trains en route for Europe, necessitating long stoppages. Another aspect of the war all im favour ol Ja.pan is" the attitude o! th^ money market. For whilst the Japanese war loan has been covered four-fold, such] is the depreciation in Russian securities that she is compelled to go into the market on her own account in order to support the London and Paris bourses. So far, therefore, as the war has gone, the advantages we all on the side of Japan, but it remains to be seen how long this state of) thinas will continue. If; is not to be ex-,

sected that Japan will be able to avoid the asual reverse which follows early "triumphs. Fhe means adopted by Viceroy Alexeieff to command the co-operation of Russia's Modern are truly Russian, and- deskethodsof War. the Manchurian peasantry tined to play right into tha lands of the Japanese. The Viceroy has W proclamation warned the Manchurians Jo assist the Russians in every way, and fchat any display of hatred or antagonism ■will lead to their extermination. Doubtjtess with a view to showing that this is So idle threat, the Russian troops promptly anged a number of men accused of destroying the SungarT River bridge on the {Siberian railway, following this up by burning a large village adjacent to the bridge and massacring all the inhabitants, including the women. This is the Russian wi/ of making the Manchurians responsible for the protection of the railways and telegraphs. It is quite In keeping with these jnodeni methods of waging war that the Russians are reported to have killed a Jiumber of defenceless people in Northern iKorea ; but most abominable of all is the statement of the Times's Tokio correspondent that 100 Japanese women, the wives and daughters of respectable men, have arrived at Nagasaki from Port Arthur with .the complaint that the Russian soldiers outraged them and stole all their belongings. In war time these atrocity reports j have always to be received with great caution, but unfortunately Russia has an unenviable reputation in this respect. The invasion. of Manchuria by the Russian army in 1900 is thus described by a trustworthy •Russian eye witness : — "The Russian entry into Manchuria was not merely signalised iby flaming dwellings; nothing and nobody tras spared. Women, children, and the aged were pitilessly slaughtered 1 , young £irls violated and fhen slain. Such were •the deeds of ' our Keroes,' as General Grode•koff in his despatches called these •warriors, for whose ' brave deeds ' he ' could , not find words to express his admiration.' i •But even some of his officers themselves told •■with a shudder of the blood-thirsty instincts developed by these ' heroes ' in a war against unarmed men, women, and children on Chinese soil. A rich and thicklypopulated land was reduced in a few months to a barren desert, where charred ruins "were visiole here and there, and corpses ■were left to the wolves and the vultures." r Aa army trained amidst such terrible tradifjjoris is capable of all that is reported In , tie jray of atrocit-"-. and more. And, incredible as it may seem, it is actually alleged that the corruption of Russian contractors was at the bottom of these outrages at Blagovestchensk and elsewhere. 'A commission of inquiry had been named at St. Petersburg for the purpose of discoveiing the gigantic frauds committed in connection with the construction funds of the Tfrans-Siberian railway. The Chun-chuses, at the instigation of Russian Agents, de; stroyed the vast non-existing stocks of material- of the Manchurian' railway. Someibody had to be punished; although this imaginary misfortune filled the contractors •with a great joy;J-for it paralysed the pos- . sibility o-f the much-dreaded inquiry. And so the Manchurian peasants were merci■lesslv punished for complicity in the supposed outrage, and General Grodekoff congratulateß his troops on their valour. In the face of facts such as these, it is not surprising to read of the embezzlement and •corruption reported with regard to the victualling of Port Arthur — that sand has been supplied instead of sugar, and that large quantities of military stores are norf-exis-tent. 411 this augurs badly for the future of Russia's campaign. Persistent attempts are being made on the Continent to excite opinion Anglophobia, against Great Britain, rend its Outcome, presenting that Japan is merely the advance agent of Great Britain in the. Far East, and that '^Hie- Imperial Government is not maintaining an attitude of strict neutrality. Lord Selborne took occasion in the House of Lords to contradict what he was pleased to vCall "these wicked falsehoods," at the same time expressing his opinion that come evil influence was at work. It is quite in keeping with the Russian character ,to fan such evil rumours in the hope of attracting an ally tc hej* side. At the present -time all eyes are on Germany, especially remembering the bitter outbreak of Anglophobia which passed over that country at the time of the Boer , war. Next comes the question, Can Germany afford to go to war? A question which jnay to some extent be answered by a cojiBideration of the Imperial Estimates for the present year. Although Germany is credited with being in a prosperous condition, these Estimates show a total deficit ©f something like £11,000,000 to be met, made up of the deficit on the Extraordinary Estimates (which include the Army and Navy, the Imperial railways, and the expedition to Eastern Asia) and the deficit on the closed accounts of 1902. To quote the words of the Times' correspondent : "In a time of profound peace the German Empire proposes to resort to the expensive expedient of drawing upon its loan credits to the extent of 35A million marks more than last year, in order to meet its contemplated ordinary expenditure." The memorandum accompanying the Estimates frankly recognises the serious position of affairs, and declares : "It is evident that the 'Empire, unless its revenue should be increased, cannot provide for its growing financial necessities, and that until it can do so recourse must once more be had to the loan credit, undesirable as the expedient may be from the point of sound finance." The German Empire has evidently reached that period in its- history •when, with all economy, there is a deficit in its income, and that fact is strongreason why it should use all means to avoid being entangled in the ruinous expense of a great international conflict. Probably, when all is said and done, it is the cost of war which is the biggest argument against it, for there is not another nation except Great Britain which could ' emerge from a conflict such as she success-

fully waged in South Africa ■without, metaphorically speaking, turning a financial hair. At the same time, although the prospect of a general European war Great Britain's may appear exceedingly rePreparedness, mote, it would be folly to •be unprepared for the worst. The awful exposure of the Eoyal Commission on the conduct of the South African war has published far and wide the news that when that war began England's arsenals were practically empty ; there were only 80 cavalry swords and 500 cavalry saddles in reserve, and not enough guns for service in the field without stripping the fortresses. The supply of ammunition had sunk so low that hardly a week's supply was left. The army authorities had to borrow from the Navy and from India, and buy from Germany, and this in spite of the fact that Great Britain was spending £30,000,000 annually on its army. The publication of the Army and Navy Estimates give indication that the Imperial authorities are alive to the needs of the hour. Naturally, the greatest stress is laid upon the Navy, the new ship-building programme involving an expenditure of nearly 37 millions. The meetings of the Navy League in the several centres have called timely attention, so far as New Zealand is concerned, to the importance of the Empire's first line of defence. At the Wellington meeting Lord Ranfurly emphasised the necessity of keeping our Navy up to date, whilst the Premier announced that one of the cruisers of the re-organised Australasian squadron was to be manned entirely by New Zealanders and Australians. In addition there were to b& three drill ships, and one of these is to be manned entirely by New Zealanders. Best of all, a muchneeded want will be met by the establishment of a training ship, the gunboat Sparrow having been presented to the colony by the Imperial authorities for that purpose. Here our young men can be trained for the Navy and drafted into the drill ship and the cruiser. If the ardour for the Empire's defence which breathes through every pore of this colony is a reflex of the sentiment throughout the Empire — and Canada's proposal to establish a citizen army 100,000 strong shows that the sentiment is by no means isolated — then the Britons of to-day are worthy to uphold their country's splendid military traditions. At the same time we are bound to recognise the truth of Kinglake'a famous dictum : that Great Britain is a warlike, but not a military, nation ; she can fight great battles, but in soldiership as a permanent occupation the average citizen does not take undue delight.