GREEK CRISIS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17282, 25 September 1916, Page 7

GREEK CRISIS.

CABINET'S OFFER. READY TO PLACATE ENTENTE. Renter's Telegrams. ATHENS, September 22. The Director-General of the Foreign Office visited Sir Francis Elliot, the British Minister, and assured him that the Cabinet was only a business Cabinet and not political, It was ready, if j recognised by the. Entente, to sacrifice the Germanophile Ministers, who boforo assuming their portfolios indulged in attack= upon the Entente. FACING BOTH WAYS. NEW CABINETS DOUBLE GAME. " The Times " Sorviee. LONDON, September 22. A well-informed .correspondent at Athens defines the remarkable position and the occult influences governing Greece as consisting of tho Stroit-Gou-nais-Dousmani:is clique surrounding King Constantino. The King has appointed a new Minis tr;.- whose position is daily becoming more absurd. When the Royal nominees wero appointed, patriotic Greeks, fomented movements, realising that it was hopeless to expect the new Cabinet of pupl>ets and intriguers to attack the Bulgarian invaders. The Government, belatedly, is realising the growing strength of tho feeling against Bulgaria, and is alarmed at the numbers of officers and men smuggling themselves towards Salonika. It issued an authoritative report asserting the King's intention to <le-, claro war on Bulgaria, and at the same time issued another authoritativc report for the pro-Germans stating that there would be no intervention before two months hao. olapsea. It issued the latter because the Government believed Germany would do-

stroy Rumania before that 1 date, and then send a sufficient force to the Dardanelles to render intervention impossible. THE TWO RULERS. KINGDOM A MERE NAME. VENEZELOS'S POWER EQUALS THEKING'J*.', United: Service. (Received September 24, 5.5 p.m.) . LONDON, September 23. Mr C. Jeffries, writing from Athena, says:—Tlio Kingdom of Greece is merely a name. Athens no longer govorns Salonika, Lemnos, Ramas or Mitylonci An independence proclamation has bo«n issued at Epirus and Larissa, and following suit are Crete and tho Cyclades f while Phocis and AcarnairLa are wavering. Only Athens and Peloponesos remain. The walls of Athens are placarded with tho newspapers' last appeal to the King: " O King, O King, abdicate,!" The journal " Asty " publishes the declaration of a former royal courtier:. "Wo made the revolution-. We disobeyed tho commands of the King and. Government because of the treason ato Kavala, the magnitude of the catastrophe impelling me nnd others, who hitherto were fanatical enemies of th« Liberal Party, to join the rising." . Tho placards are not removed', be* causo King Constantine's authority and proi.tige are practically gone. Quan-r tities of arms are stored unhindered in' private houses. King Constantino and M. Venezolos ,are . holding co-equal.' powers, the King not daring' to chatfenge Venezelos's acts. Constantine^s: rash promise to the Kaiser of no intervention is responsible for the tthole tiouble. He appointed Gaunaris aufl Skouloudis because they were unlikely' to do anything, and subsequently temporising continuously, he saw the tid« turning nnd stubbornly imitated Canuto, patronisi lg the Reservists' Iveaguo and pandering to the antifZaimis resigned because' ho was overriddei by Streit, Stratos,. and other Kaiserites and pro-Germani surrounding Constantine. Stmt actu> ally forms the Ministries and is con* temptuously and openly stating thai thero is no need to worry about th« Pincus fleet. BARON SCHENK'S VIEW. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Received September 24, 5.5 p.m.) • LONDON, September' 23. Baron von has returned tft Berlin, and in an interview stated that Greece was completely under M. Venezelos's thumb. alleed fleet: MORE SHIPS AT SALAMIS. (Received September 24. 5.5 p.m.) ATHENS, September 23. . ' Tho Allied fleet at Salami's has been increased to eighty-five ships, and is prepared for a long stay. THE KING'S SPEECH. ADVERSE CRITICISM. COPYING THE KAISER'S METHODS. (Received September 24, 5.5 p.m.) ATHENS, September 24. The King's harangue to the recruits is widely commented on. He passed in silence the ignominious surrender of an army corp; to the while ' he fiercely denounced the revolutionaries. Tho newspaper " Patris" says that the King has considerably extended his constitutional powers and has assumod the Kaiser's autocratic methods. THE REVOLUTION. GREEK NAVY AFFECTED. (Received September 24, 5.5 p.m.) , LONDON", September 24. The "Daily Chronicle's"' Athens correspondent says ihat the Government, suspecting thft three hundred of the crew of tho Georgio Ayeroff were preparing to join the Salonika movement, ordered the rest of the fleet to surround the cruiser. ; (The armoured cruiser Georgio Avoroff, fitfati tons, was built in 1910 in Italy. Her complement is 550.) BATTALION LEAVES SALONIKA FOR THE FRONT. Router's Telegrams. (Received September 24, 5.5 p.m.) SALONIKA, September 23. A battalion of Greek revolutionaries parndjd wepar.itory to going to the front. General Zicbrakakis exhorted them to expel the invaders. Women thre.v flowers from windows.