RUMANIA AUTHORISES BIG WAR CREDIT

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2689, 8 February 1916, Page 5

RUMANIA AUTHORISES BIG WAR CREDIT

IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENT GOOD STROKE OF PRACTICAL DIPLOMACY By TeleErajh—Press Association-C'opyrljlit _ , London, February 6. Importance is 'attached m some quarters to Rumania's new Bill authorising a supplementary military credit, of eight millions sterling. Messages received by tho Rome Press assert that the feeling in Rumania is optimistic, and that the position in Galicia and at Salonika is restoring confidence. Rumania has now nine-tenths of her mobilised forces disposed ■ along' the Bulgarian and Hungarian' frontiers.. There are none on the Russian frontier. The whole of the Austrian and Gorman Press fear that Rumania is only awaiting a favourable moment to strike on the side of the Entente. They admit that England's purchase of eighty thousand wagons of Rumanian grain was a- great stroke of practical diplomacy. A Budapest message states that Austria and Germany are seeking to place an order for a hundred thousand wagons of wheat. BULGARIAN FORCES CONCENTRATING AT RUSTCHUK. Salonika, February 6. . Important Bulgarian forces have been'withdrawn from this front and sent towards Rustcluik (on the Rumanian front). Austrians and Germans are replacing them. There are indications that new units, exclusively German, have been massed at Monastir, where the army totals 80,000. AN ULTIMATUM FROM THE TEUTONS STURDY REPLY BY THE RUMANIANS. • ' (Rcc. February 7, 10.25 p.m.) " London, February 7. The outlook in Rumania has taken a sudden and important aspect. The correspondent of the Milan journal, "II Secolo," says that a Rumanian representative telegraphed on Wednesday that.Austfo-Germany had formally notified Rumania that they regarded the election of the two Transylvanian Irridentist Parliamentary candidates at Galatz and Caracal, and the sale to England of over 80,000 wagon-loads of grain, as acts of hostility to the Central Powers, which will tako measures accordingly. Rumania immediately replied that her constitution did not permit tho Government to thwart the election of Irridentists—it would only be possiblo for Parliament to nullify it by declaring it illegal—secondly, that the sale of the grain was purely an economic question; the Government must necessarily safeguard its economic interests, and could not be deprived of its sources of gain. The latest messages from Rome atate that Bulgars and Turk 6 are moving toward the Rumanian frontier. A message from a- German source alleges that Rumania has offered a compromise by supplying Austro-Germany with an extra consignment of one hundred _ thousand truck-loads of cereals. Confirmation of the news of the presentation of tho ultimatum is lacking, but a correspondent of the Chicago "Daily News," writing froin the Rumanian frontier, declares that Germany's latest demands on Rumania include most complete and written guarantees of neutrality favourable to the Central Powers; the demobilisation of tho army, which is entrenched on tho Transylvanian frontier, scarcely fifty yards distant from the Austrian Landsturm. Tho fact that new Russian guns are churning the Austro-German trenches have fortified SI. Bratiano (the Rumanian Premier) iu rejecting demands. The German. Minister is besieging M. Bratiano with propositions and menaces regarding the sale of grain to England, whose chequa for ten millions profoundly impressed'the Rumanians. The Russian successes are also a source of gratification. Tho pro-Gorman clique in Rumania, seems to have been permanently discredited. The German election intrigues have aroused the most violent resentment. DECIDING THE MASTERY OF THE BALKANS (Rcc. February 7, 10.25 p.m.) London, February 7. The Chicago "Daily News" correspondent, writing from the Rumanian frontier, says:— "Tho mighty destinies of civilisation are revolving round tho fighting at Czernowitz, which for the moment is the capital of Europe. Here may be shortly decided tho right to dominate the Balkans. Tho Russians are steadily advancing, and their shells are daily falling nearer Czernowitz. The enemy is receiving reinforcements from every available source, including two Bavarian army corps from tho West front and also von Mackonsen's Serbian army.". The writer concludes: "The Kaiser presided at a council at Nish, von Mackensen and General Jekoff (tho Bulgarian comrriander) being in attendance. It was decided that the Bulgars .forthwith should advance on Salonika, but Bulgaria is newly, embarrassed regarding the concession of territory by Turkey, and also requires explicit guarantees of Rumanian neutrality before embarking on the Salonika adventure." ACUTE DISCORD BETWEEN BULGARS AND GERMANS WHO WILL LEAD THE ATTACK? London, February 0. Renter's agent at Salonika reports that there is friction between tho Bulgars and the Germans in consequence oT the Germans' attempts lo dominate them in tho same way as the.v have tile Austrians and Turks. There is most acute discord concerning the proposed attack on Salonika, in which tho Bulgarians would be compelled to take the lion's share of heavy losses. Even if the attack were successful, the result would compromise the Bulgarians' military strength as compared villi that of her neighbours. TERRIBLE REPRISALS FOR THE ZEPPELIN RAID. London, February 6. Renter's agent at Salonika states that the immediate and terrible French reprisals, which barn practically laid waste the country as far as Petrich, are calculated to discourse the Germane from undertaking a. repetition attack* an. Salonika