The Balkan States.

Manawatu Herald, 25 August 1903, Page 2

The Balkan States.

TURKEY AND*THB POWERS. The Times says that Great Britain is firmly supporting Austria and Russia -with reference to Turkey. The paper adds that Sir Nicholas D’Conor, British Ambassador at Constantinople, has been instructed to warn the Porte that Mr Balfour s recent speech in the House of Commons, in which he declared that the balance of criminality was rather with the revolutionary bands than with the Turkish troops, was purely Parliamentary, and designed for purposes of esoteric debate. The Daily Chronicle’s Vienna correspondent reports that a Note from M. Zinovieff, Russian Ambassador, to the Porte demanded strong official censure of Hilmi Pasha’s laxity in permitting Turkish excesses in Macedonia, He adds that Austria and Britain supported Russia, and Sir Nicholas O’Conor produced telegrams from British Consuls showing that the situation in Armenia also was almost desperate. There are a hundred and seventy thousand Turkish troops of all arms m Macedonia, costing £170,000 per month; The Greek Government, the Metropolitan, and the people are showing active sympathy with the Turks. THE RUSSIAN SQUADRON AT INIADA. The Russian Black Sea squadron has arrived off Iniada, about eighty miles north of Constantinople. Its arrival has produced a deep impression in official circles in Turkey, although the daiqpnstration is interpreted in some quarters—-in Vienna and elsewhere—aa being directed equally against Bulgaria. The Brussels newspaper “ Independence Beige ” states that the Powers have agreed to suppress the revolt and apply reforms through Russia and Austria, operating respectively on sea and land, Italy exercising surveillance in Albania. After peace is restored the Powers will withdraw.

RUSSIAN DEMANDS AC CEPTED.

Reuter’s Agency reports that M. Zinovioff has demanded, in addition to the recent demands, the reinstatement of officials unjustly dismissed, the liberation of Macedonians accused of furnishing foreign Consuls with information in respect to the state of the country, and an exhaustive inquiry to determine whether the death of M. Rostovsky (Russian Consul at Monastir, who was killed by a gendarme) was pre-arranged, inasmuch as his carriage was fired at when re-entering the town. The Agency also states that M. Zinovieff explained that the despatch of the Russian squadron did not imply hostility to Turkey, but waintended as a demonstration to hasten the acceptance and application of the Russian demands. Tewfik Pasha, Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs, has accepted _ all the demands and begged for the withdrawal of the squadron. Seventeen cases of explosives were seized at Dede Agateh, a port on the Aegean Sea, and the terminus of one of one of the branches of the Bd-grade-Constantinople railway.