SILESIA TROUBLE

Hokitika Guardian, 10 May 1921, Page 2

SILESIA TROUBLE

AUSTRALIAN AND N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION. POLES IN SILESIA; CLAIM GREAT SUCCESS; THE ALLIED ATTITUDE. • LONDON, May 8. The “Times” Sosnnowitcz correspondent pictures chaos and turmoil in Silesia. 'The Allies authority, backed by 10,000 soldiers, tanks and artillery, is set at nought by the insurgents, and our distinguished colonials are forced to parley with beardless pit boys, Ivorfantys commanders, who are ruthlessly expelling the Allies from the country. The insurgent army is a ragged band, including many women, but mostly boys. Fifty thousand are armed and the discipline is excellent. The older men are acting as a police patrol, a system in operation throughout the country. As a result, there is no license or disorder except youthful exuberants who fire rifles and throw bombs in their exultation at the success of their national cause. Karfantry controls the whole movement. His principal lieutenant is a veung German officer. He brought industry and the railways to a standstill, closed shops, stopped publication of newspapers and refuses to allow an ounce of coal to be raised, until the socalled Korfantry line is recognised. He is ready to sit tight, backed by Poland’s national opinion, to defy the world. The French beat off the insurgents attacks at Kattowitz with heavy losses, but Korfantry bolds undisputed sway of the surrounding country. Tanks did grim execution among the Poles, but they do not seem to mind. News from Warsaw indicates that Government have lost control of the try. , PARIS, May 8 The Conference of Ambassadors has proclaimed the inhabitants of Upper Silesia recourse to force will not influence the Allies decisions as regards allotting the disputed territories. The latest reports indicate that the insurgents movement have reached the zenith, and show signs of abatement, hut Korfantry asserts he will never give up an inch of the newly acquired territory.

RUSSO-GERMAN UNDERSTANDING

LONDON, May 8. The London “Daily Telegraph’s” -correspondent, referring to the Silesian situation, says;— There may be something significant in the fact that a Russo-German commercial treaty was signed on Friday. It has been long believed that a secret Russo-German Treaty preceded the one just signed and that it pledged Russia to help against the Germans in Silesia by exerting pressure on the eastern Polish frontier.

A FRENCH WARNING. (Received This Day at 8.30 " m.) BERLIN, May 9 The French Ambassador has notified Government that any incursion by ' Reichwehr in Upper Silesia will be considered by -France as a violation of the Treaty.