TURKEY'S CAPITAL.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 99, 22 October 1915, Page 2 (Supplement)

TURKEY'S CAPITAL.

AS IT Its TO-DAY. Xu doubt exists any longer in the mind of any Turk (says Mr. Henry Wood, special correspondent of the A mehcan United Press) that the existence of the Ottoman Empire is at stake in the fighting now going on at the Dardanelles. Tiiis is believed to explain to a large degree the manner in which the last men of the Empire are still coming forward to fight, and in which the Government is permitted, without protest, to drain the entire country of its last resources for tl:o conduct of the war. Not a day passes at Constantinople that the trains and boats do not bring in small but freok continge. = of men from the farthest points of the Empire. For the securing of food supplier fui' the army, the Government has adopted the rule of requis tioning everything it needs. Only in a very few instances has even a small portion of the pricebeen paid for in cash. The rule is to give a receipt, winch states that the Government, at some indefinite time in the future, will pay.

e::di.ess stream of WOUNDED. In strange contrast to the official announcements of continued successes by the Turkish troops on the peninsula is the arrival of the wounded. Even without the official announcement that an engagement had taken place, tho population of Constantinople would know it within twenty-four hours liv the arrivai of the wounded. When the aproach of a hospital transport -is Rignailed, all of tho public cabs are ordered to the water front to bring the soldi' > up to the hospitals. Street cars, flying the flags of the Ttirki-1 Red Cross T ciety. are also used. One nisrht this interminable cortege of wounded begun passing nrv hotel at 10.30 in the evening Tn as far as possible, the wounded are made to arrive at night It makes le<s impression on the public. It is now believed that there are not les* than 100.000 at Constantinonle, but they are all soldiers with slight wounds, as the most seriously injured nre kept at I'todosto. where more prompt attention enn he given them. In % n effort to raise additional revenue for the war the duty on imports has been raised 30 per cent. This does not appiy to thines which can be u?ed in the conduct of the war. They come in without duty, the Government reserving the right to requisit ; oil them as soon as they arrive.

POLICEMEN EVERYWHERE. The restrictions for the government of foreigners still living in lurkey have been redoubled. To quit the Empire a special permit must be secured from the police. To have this it is necessary to give forty-eight hours' notics of the intention to leave. Then, after the police have secured all information poetiible from outside sources, the ap plicant must present himself personally and submit to an interrogation. U he can convince the police that his ir.tentions for leaving are purely legitimate, he is granted the vecika, or permit, without which he cannot cross tie border. But while he may be permitted to cross the border himself, In no case is he ever permitted to take with him a line of written matter. And more and more as the existence of the Empire becomes menaced, rnoie and more does the Turkish Police Department —the one and only department for which the Turk has ever shown a real genius—increase its activities. The Turks insist they have a million and a quarter of men under arms. One would be tempted to believe that they were referring to their number of policemen instead. There is a policeman seemingly at every step, watching not only the foreigners, but even the Turks themselves.

OFFICER'S MYSTERIOUS DEATH. During the last week I was at Constantinople, Colonel Leipeiz, the Military Attache of the German Embassy was killed. He was a magnificent type of the German officer, over six feet tall, a gentleman both in appearance and in actuality, known and loved by everyone. The official announcement said that while changing from uniform to civilir.J dress in a little railway station, upon Irs return from the Dardanelles, his revolver had been accidentally discharged, the bullet entering his forehead. I -bank I am justified in saying thrt there was not a foreigner in all Constantinople who did not see in tin., t ysterious death, the culmination, at le : iot in part, of his convictions that, sooner or later the Turks will turn on tho German officers now stationed at Constantinople. But I feel also equally instilled in saving that not a single person in all Constantinople once expressed this suspicion. "They say it was accidental," is what everyone said to his most intimate friend, and to this remark silence alone followed. A word more uttered micbt. have been overheard by secret police officers and the ind'vidnal hauled up for treason. That the position of the Germans at Constantinople is becoming daily more delicate there can be no ouestion. But there is every indication that the German soldiers, sailors, and officers now in Turkey will stay to the end.