The Balkan States.

Manawatu Herald, 5 September 1903, Page 3

The Balkan States.

BARBARITIES BY THE MILITARY.

Hilmi Pasha, Turkish Governor

of Macedonia, has imposed a blockade at Veles, in ths Uskub district, nn order to prevent the inhabitants joining the insurgents’ bands. The authorities subjected them to the utmost cruelties. The Bulgarian agent at IJskub reports that the troops garrisoning the towns throughout the vilayet are speaking terror and destruction and committing every conceivable outrage. The authorities are powerless to check them. In official andrevoutionary circles in Sofia it is feared that the condition of Macedonia will precipitate a conflict between Turkey and Bulgaria. OolonelSarafoff is directing the insurgent operations near Salonica. The tone of the French press is more outspoken in condemning the the passive attitude of the Powers in connection with the Macedonian trouble. v SLAUGHTER OF VILLAGERS. Consular despatches from Prishtina states that most of the Christian villages in the Dibra and Caceoo districts have been pillaged and burned. It is not stated whether Albanians or Bulgarians were the assailants. . Advices from Sofia state that Turks plundered and burned. Volkoder and Pokarnifc, southward of Reseu, attacked Soilivi, northward of Malkotiraovo, expelling the insurgents. Troops then entered and massacred the whole of the population and destroyed the villages. STRONGER MEASURES URGED.

M. ZinoVieff, Russian Ambassador to Turkey, and Baron Mwsohallvon Bieberetein, German Ambassador, have recommended greater energy against the insurgents and the appointment of a capable commander, entrusted with the full direction of operations. The Sultan has replied stating that he prefers that operations should be directed from Constantinople. Diplomatists fear this will lead te disaster, THE BULGARIANS. The Bulgarian leader, Tchernor'efF, with two hundred men, has entered Macedonia. The Bulgarian authorities eaptured and interned a party of insurgents who were trying to cross the fronting. The' Forte has informed the foreign Ambassadors that the committees in Bulgaria are shipping supplies of ammunition for the insurgents to the coast near Iniada, on the Black Sea.