SOLDIERS EVERYWHERE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 908, 27 February 1930, Page 16

SOLDIERS EVERYWHERE

BANDITRY BAD, SAYS MR. RADICH CONDITIONS IN YUGOSLAVIA Claiming’ that his remarks concerning the state of the Balkans had been misunderstood by the delegation from the Yugoslav community of Auckland which protested to The Sun yesterday, Mr. Ivan Radich explained the position this morning. Hie statements concerning banditry and the maintenance of an army were borne out by a clipping from the “Melbourne Herald” containing an interview with Mr. W. M. McPherson, a Riverina grazier, who has just returned to Australia after a visit to some of the lesser European states. He said that he was escorted across the Yugoslav border by troops from that state, being met the other side by Albanian soldiers, also armed and ready to fire at a moment’s notice in case of provocation. He saw armed bands of police and soldiers stationed half a mile outside every town as a protection against marauders. Mr. Radich claimed to have a more accurate knowledge of the position in Yugoslavia owing to his visit having been recent. Several of his cdusins had been forced to serve in the army at a wage of lOd a month, and his father was one of those affected by the low rate paid by the Government for tobacco. The hope of salvation for the five Balkan states to which he had actually been referring throughout the. former interview, Czecho-Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Albania and Yugoslavia, was a factory system under the one control of either Britain or America. Peace and its resultant prosperity could be found only under unified control which would smooth away the many internal misunderstandings and bring happiness again to the Balkans.