COUNT HOLLWEG EXPLAINS

Hokitika Guardian, 31 March 1917, Page 2

COUNT HOLLWEG EXPLAINS

, r Statement to Roicststag t ( Australian & N.Z, Cabin AesocS-anon 1 and Renter). 1 i (Received Match 31, ai B.dO 1 L9SUOK, Match 30 l Count Hollweg, referring to R nMa, < said the time honored LiunrUhip bad | ended with tlo death of Czir A c-xan-der, who was a sound Emperor. . Nicholas had drifted into tb > Entente’s wake and into pan-Sh. v.atio currents and finally became a pu: titan of the war. He declined to listen in July, 1914, to the Kaiser’s appeal. When in 1905 the Japanese war and ensuing rovolution had reduced Russia to dire stress; the Kaiser had urged the Czar to no longer oppose t ie nation’s wisues for reforms, but Nmbo'as preferred other roads. Had Russia cunosa<r>ittd upon internal recoostru ition, she would h-ve avoided the kbUm* policy of n, vision leading to the war. Count Hoilvitg eharaotetis* das• es and as slander the repo?*, that Gormany dusirsd to abolish Russ-, as hardly won freedom and that, the V XT _ ’ ... 1/) Kirn f va.ft." hp IliSkll l.hfl

Kaiser would li&(3 to r«»-6 caui.bn tao state of Czaidom over her ec’slavad subjects-', The methods of reconstruction cf internal affairs was purely a business for the Russians themselves. We would not meddle therewith. We only hope that the conditions in Russia will develop in such wise as to make her a 3trong, firm bulwark of peace. Bsthmann Holiwsg asserts that China’s rupture, of relations was the result of outside pressure. Ha was confident the old friendship with China would revive after the wa-, when Germany would recover her trade in the east of Asia. Warm thanks were due to Generals Hindenburg aud Ludendorff for what

they had accomplished on the western front. He boasted of the success of eubmarinism, and concluded by referring to internal questions. 1 He declared that speeches in the Reichstag had not convinced him of the possibility of beginning the reform of the Prusnau franchise. It was a most serious matter to decide such a question while millions of m9a were in the trenches. German Wounded. Cambrai, Valenciennes, and Lille are full of wounded men, and long trains of wounded have gone to Charleroi and

□ Namur. Feverish work is proceeding at Carabrai and elsewhere, and civilians ate compelled to dig trenches. Berlin Optimists(Australia & N.Z. Cable Association) London, March 28 All German oomment on the retreat re-Bchoes Colonel Moraht’o suggestion that it is a second Tauuebcrg. Tba newspapers recall how Field-Marshal Hindeuburg drsw the Russians away from their communicatioua into the open then pounced upon thorn with tremendous force. The Dutch are sceptical regarding the repetition this triumph. “ Maasbode ” says—- “ It ia sheer nonsense to maintain that • Germans are retiring entirely voluntarily.” “ Tyd ” points out that HiDdenburg’s game must be fully known to the Allied commanders, who would never fall into kuch a, crude trap. An Important CentreLondon, March 28 Cambrai (which the British troops are approaching) is the centre of distribution for a wide district. It is well equipped with factories and warehouses. Thete is also a great railway junction, with six lines equipped for the heaviest traffic, while numerous roads meet in the town. The loss of Cambrai would be a serious blow affecting the German forces oven as far as Lille and Tpres, as it would cut not only the great feeder line from Cologne through Maubeuge, but also sever the line from Metz and Sedan to Lille and Ostend running parallel with the old front. Recognition of Birdwood. . London, March 28 An Adz ic, writing in the Times, draws attention to the lack of recognition of General Bird wood’s great services in conducting the Auzac evacuation of Gallipoli without the loss of a man. Tha authorities, the correspondent addle, expected losses between 40,000 and 50,000. Mooting of Internationals. London, March 28 The Times correspondent {states that the Council of Labor and the soldiers’ delegates met at the Tauris Palacs, Petrograd. M. Cheidze, who presided announced the advent of internationalism, but refrained from, explaining how the new era would ba i introduced in face of tha German 1 guns thundering at tha Allied fronts. Consternation was caused by the i arrest of two delegates \vhosß names were found in a list of police spies, i