AUSTRIA AND RUSSIA.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 42, 18 February 1908, Page 5

AUSTRIA AND RUSSIA.

CR'SFS OVER RAILWAY^

PERSISTENCY MUST MEAN "WAR.

(By Cii'-.'e.— n-ess Association.—Copyright) 1 : —

; LONDON, February 17. . The "Daily Telegraph's" Vienna correspondent reports that it is expected that startling action will be the outcome of the Novi Bazar railway incident, which threatens to reopen Austrian and Russian rivalry with regard to the Danubian aspect of Balkan policy. This correspondent adds that if Baron Aerenthal, Austrian Minister for Foreign Affairs, pursues his plan without satisfying Russia, war in the Near East is an ultimate certainty.

THE CONFLICTING INTERESTS.

Although Bosnia-Herzegovina has been practically a portion of the Austrian Empire since the Treaty of Berlin (187S), it is necessary to remember that it is in strict political sense still a province of' the Porte. The Sultan's lrade had, therefore, to be—and duly was—obtained, permitting of a line linking Novi Bazar, with the Austro-Hungarian system of' railways. Servian interests are at stake,' because the new railway would reach within seven miles of the Servian frontier, whereas the present terminus in Bosna- Serai is fully 50 miles distant., with difficult country lying between. Turkey proper would be very directly affected by the new line, since Novi Bazar and Mitrovitza, the present northern terminus of the Turkish railway system, are only about 32 miles* apart, i and the connecting link is an obvious' part of the scheme. Russian objections are far more general —Austria being her natural rival for supreme controlling interest in , , the future of the troubled Balkan-States. For some four years past the two Powers have worked together for the pacification of Macedonia—in which there have been two collateral arrangements: The Austro-Russian, and that of the general concert of the Powers. The former of these agreements, as an earlier cable indicated, is threatened with disaster, and disaster which may mean more than a failure to co-ordinate for reform.