Violation of His Sovereign Rights

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 40, 22 January 1916, Page 5

Violation of His Sovereign Rights

THE FLEET AT WORK Bombardments on Bulgarian Coast Artillery v and Aerial Duels in the West Hints of Invasian of Egypt

CURRENT WAR TOPICS.

turos we have made, but these figures are not supplied by our too paternal authorities, and so we must grin and bear it or stew in the enemy’s juice. At the same time there are those in authority who won’t allow any disparagement of the British air fleet, and this should be all that we want to know. It is good t" read that Mr Tennant in the House of Commons, replying to question regarding the reported feats of the Fokker machine, pointed out that if at any time the offensive was taken by the enemy airmen and he ventured over our lines, then he would find that the Allies were not as slow as some people delight to make out, hut that we have machines quite as fast as theirs. Mr Tennant’s parting shot was that our service was giving a good account of itself.

King Constantine is profoundly indignant at the Allies’ highhandedness, and in an interview with the Associated Press he was, we are told, greatly moved. A long list of encroachments upon Greece’s sovereign rights, culminating in the seizure of Corfu and the destruction of the Demirhissar bridge (he did not mention the landing of troops near his beloved capital) was sufficient ip make him squirm, hut lie will be lucky if he does not have much worse than these to moan about before the Allies have left—if ever they do entirely leave Greece! He knows as well as any one what was the reason for the base at, Salonika, i.e., the assistance of Serbia, hut for this they were protected by treaty. The occupation of Corfu was essential to the interests of the Allied shipping in the waters of the Mediterranean and Adriatic, for was it not being used as a base for German submarines, petrol having been stored on the island a year before the war began. Then the argument for the destruction of /the Demirhissar bridge on the SalonikaSeres railway is that it also was a preventive measure from enemy attack on the troops.

Mrs S. E. Lewis, of Stanmore road, Christchurch, forwards to the Wellington Post an interesting extract from a letter from her son, Private William Lewis, of the 3rd Contingent, Canterbury Infantry, in a note covering the excerpt, Mrs Lewis says;— “This extract is forwarded for publication in Wellington, in the hope that it will catch the eye of some friend or relative, who would be glad to know how well and bravely their soldier boy had conducted himself. For patient suffering and tenacity ot life, I think this particular case will not have many parallels.” The extract is as follows:—“This hospital (Poignton, Devonshire) has a splendid record-—only six deaths since the war started. The last death was one of our corps, and it was wonderful how ho fought for his life. What none of the doctors here—-or the big surgeons who were called in—could understand was how he lived to get here. Hi s skull was fractured, and the inner skull was smashed in, and he had a largo abscess on the brain; yet he lived for three weeks on a hospital ship and for another five weeks after he was operated on here. Everything that could be done to save him was done, and no trouble or expense was considered. They had a special ward and two special sisters with him all the time, and he was fed mostly on champagne, but, /poor chap, his time had come. He made a great fight for life. His name was Hughes, and he belonged to the Wellington Mounted Rifles.”

The Allies’ Fleet) is hard at work, as usual, and the bombardment of Dedeagatch is reported with good effect, barracks being blown up and a train destroyed, while the fleeing troops were located and shells dropped in the midst of them to hurry them up.

jThen, again, to-day’s cables state that Port Algos was bombarded, a landing party going ashore on Wednesday and searching the coast, afterwards re-em-barking successfully. This is very good news, and will give the Bulgurs an idea of what the Navy can and will continue to do in the war. Port Algos is in Karagatch Bay, fifty miles westward of Dedeagatch, and about forty miles from the Graeco-Bulgarian frontier. At Xanthi, some twenty miles northwest of Port Algos, Turkish troops were reported to be stationed—from there to Gumuldjina in a straight line eastward.

Straws show which way the wind blows, so the invasion of Egypt is to be found in the direction indicated by the stray cables concerning preparations by both sides for this event, lodav we are told that 20,000 Germans are replacing the Turks on Gallipoli Peninsula to allow the latter to undertake the Egyptian offensive. There appears to be good ground for believing that this talk about Egypt and the Canal is not all bluff, and as some confirmation of this we find General Maxwell issuing a proclamation placing restrictions upon travelling on the railways in the zone of the Canal ami confining the issue of tickets onlj to those who hold special permits, douching the Suez scare, the reason why the first attacks on Egypt were met m Egypt may have' been lack of men for an advance or it may have been realised that the attack would fizzle out as soon as it reached the Canal. But there ought to be men enough now, and if there should he a Turco-Germau advance in force it will lie extremely surprising if it is not met before it reaches Egypt, either directly by a force marching over the desert from the Canal of by a Hank attack by a force landed somewhere on the Syrian coast.

Xn the 1 West there has been, and > s still proceeding a general bombardment, and it is satisfactory to learn that our artillery has been keeping up its reputation for good work, the enemy works at Cliaulncs suffered by fire and explosion, and north of the Aisne our gunners got on to a toumn of the enemy marching along the road. The aerial warfare is also being continued with west on 0 i sides" and losses and captures of machines are a matter ot course, late mention has several times KH ’ n made in the cables of a now machine 1 called the Fokkor, which the Gei mans arc said to have perfected to a degree that has left the units ot the Allied service in the background. 1 nmachine carries a machine-gun in a fixed position, and it is churned that it is much faster than anything hith'orto seen in the air, thus accounting fur seventeen of our aeroplanes since December 16. On the other side, of course, must be put down the cap-