DRASTIC, SWIFT REFORMS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 561, 14 January 1929, Page 9

DRASTIC, SWIFT REFORMS

NEW YUGOSLAVIAN LAWS WHOLESALE DISMISSALS (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) LONDON, Saturday. Tho authorities in Belgrade, the capital of Jugoslavia, continue to permit only official news to be sent out. It is announced that in conformity with a new law all political bodies are required to deposit within five days copies of their articles of association, together with the names and professions of their officers. It is learned from other sources that General Zivkovitch has decreed the immediate dissolution of numerous trades unions. The political parties are busily redrafting their constitutions in the hope of escaping suppression, but it appears certain that the Groat Peasant Party will be banned under the law prohibiting political agitation. MILITARISED POLICE It is reported that the Belgrade Government has ordered wholesale dismissals of staffs in the Ministries. The police force is now being militarised and Parliament buildings ar* to be converted into barracks. A message from Berlin says the “Vcyssiche Zeitung” sserts that King Alexander had no alternative but to risk his crown. Everything in Jugoslavia except the King and the army seemed to be tottering. These two forces represent the links which bind the Slovenes to the Croats—the army because it is the only power with which Italy can be confronted. the King because he commands the respect of the Croatian peasants. Therefore, it is logical that these forces should be at the helm at a moment when the nation is threatened with collapse.