CARVING UP ROUMANIA.

Hokitika Guardian, 7 March 1918, Page 3

CARVING UP ROUMANIA.

CZERNIN’S WARNING. TO WIPE. OFF ROUMANIA. WASHINGTON March 5. The State Department is advised that Cxernin warned Roumania that if she failed to accede to the AustroGermnu terms, she would be wiped off the man of Europe. London advices state that the evacuation of Petrograd has begun. TERMS OF THE PEACE TREATY. BEING SIGNED TO-DAY. .

This Day at 10.15. a..n.; AMSTERDAM, March 6. Tho peace treaty, carving up. Roumania will be signed to-day, ceding Dobrudja to Bulgaria, fixing a new I Roumnnian-Hungarian frontier, and J granting Die Central Powers economic ■ | concessions. > I KINO’S ABDICATION DEMANDED. | ! BERNE Marcli 0. i ,y Vienna, message states the Kings jj abdication is the first condition of Ron- jj mania’s pence terms. ; jj \N AUSTRIAN PROTEST. f ■AMSTERDAM March G. jj '| - he “Arbeiter Zoitung” of Vienna, j : protests at the conditions '‘offered Ron. jj manian as disquieting, and which bear jj no resemblance to Count Czernin’s pro- (j irramme of no annexations and no in- jj demnities. i ' ROCMANdTsTONS PEACE. NEW .YORK, March. G. A Berlin message states that -Ronmania has signed peace with the Central Powers on Tuesday.' Under the terms she cedes part ot Dobrudja. THE TRACERY OF ROUMANIA

fn “A Roumanian Diary. 1915, 1916, 1917.” Lady Kennard Ims wi'iiton a moat interesting account cf Die part pinved in tin? war, by an Ally whose efforts and tribulations have been somewhat scantily commemorated. The author is singularly well equipped to describe Rou mania's varying fortunes. She was a member of the very last party to enter Roumania from the south ; a few hours afterwards Bulgaria’s intervention closed the route to tile Allies, and made Roumania. accessible only through Russia. Alter Roitniania’s declaration Lady Hennard nursed in several military hospitals, shared the,trials of the withdrawal to Jassy, saw the effect of the Russian revolution on the armies in this theatre,, and only left Roumania a few months ago, when it had become clear, that the position in Roumania was at a deadlock and would have to remain so until the attitude 'of Russia to the war and to the Allies was defined. The diary falls into three parts—anticipation, suspense, and something not far short of despair. Lady Henri oar cl gives a pleasant, picture of RouTnani‘| when she urs. arrived, of a. Lit , land, rich in its corn anil oil ol a gay pleasure-hiving people, with bright cities *atkl a peasantry primitive hut extremely prosperous. Everything was booming in Roumania. War Jiad appreciated the value of her petrol and grain; she-had just brought off some j big deals with various Allies. Her 1 sympathies were pronouncedly anti- | German, although there was a German I element, assiduous in propaganda, j Long before, Roumania had actual- '{ lv entered the war t-lieVe were demonstrations against the Government for j its delay and disturbances outside the . embassies of the Central Powers.. The army was eager to try its strength , a gain t the hated Austrian. There was 1 a tendency to dismiss as the croakings ■ of pessimists the warnings of the more i thoughtful, who. in point of fact, included representatives of the Allies. , •These remembered that though the j. army was smart and‘efficient, it was. j after all, a. small army. Tfhacl not artillery on the. sealo> demanded by mod- ■ era war, its st.aff work had not been ; proved by the test of modern wajb' j which has shown that a month of prac- . tical experience teaches more than ; years of theory. Above all, for munitions the army depended, on external ■ supplies, and these could only come; from the west, via A.rchangel. Not ot| - : lv for the whole paraphernalia essential j to war, but for the most insignificant j. requirements of life beyond corn and j oil, Roumania relied on one railway 1 line to Petrograd. If anything happen- j ed to this what would their plight he! And in this connection tlie author now > feels herself at liberty to say that in ! somt* quarters there was still “a vague distrust” of Russia, a distrust which ’ future events justified. If Russia failed for any reason or in any way Roumania’s isolation was complete. , j Tin; early days of the fighting were . promising enough, although here again j some ‘“pessimists” had the uneasy feel- j ing that Austria was baiting a trap. ; Bucharest suffered from hostile air j raids, assisted by local Germans and j Germanophiles. These raids became ; less harmful when the Germans wen' j interned, and practically ceased when j French and British- airmen arrived on ; the scene. The first hint that all ws”*j not well at the front was provided by i the sudden but complete cessation of news. There were rumours of defeat, ■ but the. author tells us that the outer world knew far more about what was • happening during these tragic weeks ; than did the Roumanian public. There was nothing for it but to sit still an' l ' wait in suspense, and meanwhile to \ carry on as best one could. The order ' to evacuate Bucharest and to go to .Tassy contained, at any rate, the relief of definiteness. Lady Kennard gives a vivid glimpse of the. ( xodns : that followed. There was one road, nl- i most impassable, and a single line of railway which soon became a scene of utter confusion. The horrors of the exodus were increased by a train colli. Sion, in which hundreds lost, their lives. Jassy, on which all the traffic converged was a little country, town with nei- : tber the accommodation or the sanitation for its now population. Soon rich •and poor alike found it hard enough ■ to get enough to eat. and to crown their misery the congestion produced an epidemic of cholera. Behind all was the grim spectre of the invader who. for aught the man in the street ktm-v, might 'he within gun raimc during the next hour. ■ Lady Kennard believes that the war has produced few more harrowing tragedies than the

jfi sequel to the fall of Bucharest, bir ‘ Jtounmnin., was a remote theatre of th< | "war, and the world did not quite realise j its sufferings. It was the tragedy of n | .'small nation overwhelmed by a power- ; ini and relentless adversary, -a trai gedv four times repeated in this war. | In these dark days the French and I British in IRouinania did what they ;-could. Some improvised hospitals, , some mended roads and railways, some . scoured the country v endeavouring to j Imrn as much stored grain as possible | some put the petrol plants out of action ; for six months. The duty of the last ! was a particularly painful one, for ofton they were destroying the laborious ; work of their own hands. The first . -step was to locate and send en masse i -every man and boy who know anything I 1 about petrol, to Moldavia, so that the I j Germans would find no skilled workmen [j lo impress. Next they broke up the machinery, and then “they, poured j benzine from the roofs of factories down their walls and set them alight; ' they dug trenches round* the vats and i started blazing channels of flame towards the reservoir. These blew up each in turn, and shot and fumes made of what had been sunlight an eternal night where the fire king went rnad.” This orgy of provident destruction was flic work of a flying gang, whose personnel was contained in Mur swift cars, and went practically without food and sleep till their task was fin. ished. Meanwhile a French General Staff had arrived and had put up the defence of what was left of Houma nia -on a satisfactory basis. Russian troops

j: though after March, 1917 they soine|j times hohavoil rather casually for disi| .ciplinod soldiers. But still there was .j a fooling of insecurity horn of Bou. ij aria ilia’s isolation. That single line of 1 railway to Petrograd and thence to | Archangel was the sole link with the | 'Western Allies. Even hy .Tune. 1917, ;■ developments in Pussia had made that !' link a precarious one. Lady Kemiard

•J had some queer stories to tell about the Russian army of the new regime, S; hut, she is more interested in the re j; organisation and recovery of moral ol [■■the "Roumanian army, for which shf i. entertains the most cordial feelings t Recent events have confirmed fears Vhich she -scarcely permitted herself ;■ to express. Russia’s defection has ; made further Roumanian,resistance im. i -possible. and a loyal ally has had in it; ! desperate position to consider terms | 'v'ifli the enemy. '( innunniwwwiiiii—w