MORE GERMAN PIRACY

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 1, 3 January 1916, Page 5

MORE GERMAN PIRACY

KING PETER AT SALONIKA.

ABOARD A FRENCH DESTROYER.

(Reed. 9'.40 a.m.) PARIS, January 2. King Peter h'as arrived at Salonika aboard a French destroyer.

THE KING OF GREECE ILL. AN" OLD WOUND GIVING TROUBLE. SPECIALISTS HURRYING TO OPERATE.. -ATHENS. January 1". King Constantine's wound, made during his last operation, is unhealed. Specialists, who are aboard a Greek destroyer,-are - coming to perform a further operation.

(Reed. 8.25 a.m.)

3MMERCIAL ENTENTE.

, ;A POLITICAL DUTY

(Reed. 9.40 a.m.) PARIS, January 3

L© Temps, commenting on the proposed commercial Entente, between ,the Allies, says the Germans are growing uneasy and this new line of action Hamburg shipowners have pointed out and German newspapers have re-echced the danger. Germany as closing its doors to foreign markets, especially those of the Allies. Our delay in resuming business, coupled With permanent obstacles by invasion of our markets is fatal to Germany. Therefore a 'commercial Entente is more than >an economic necessity, it is a political duty, and a guarantee for future security. THE BTH IN EGYPT.

(Reed. 10.40 am.)

IN THE ENEMY'S CAMP.

GREAT CAPTURES MADE

LONDON, Janauary 1

The -High Commissioner reports: — A report from Cairo states that an advance was made from Mersa Matruh to Harun's camp, capturing one month's supplies., livestock, ami ammunition. GERMAN TRENCHES SEIZED. AT. ARMENTIERES.

. The High Commissioner reports: — LONDON, January 1. : British troops, last night, seized a portion of the enemy's front line of trenehes south-west of Armantieres, inflicting many casualties. RUSSIA AND FRANCE. EXCHANGE OF GREETINGS. WILL FIGHT TO VICTORY. ■ f (Reed. 8.25 a.m.) PARIS, January 2. ■ The cordial New Year's wishes true friend and valiant sill! and in greetings to the expressed his unshakeable confidence in the triumph of their common cause, and hoping that their combined efforts would soon be crowned with success. M. Poincaire replied that'the army was proud to co-operate with the valient Russian army for the .defence of right in Eurbpe and were resolved to fight on together with their faithful Allies until lggfl.l victory was secured.

(Reed. 9.40 a.m.)

THE PERSIA SUBMARINED AMERIGAN PEOPLE AROUSED TO FRENZIED RESENTMENT THE ALLIES AT SALONIKA OTHER LANCING EFFECTED RUSSIA OH THE ROUMANIAN BORDER ffESPERATE AUSTRO-CERMAN RESISTANCE

ITALIAN COMMUNIQUE.

THE ENEMY REPULSED.

AUSTRIAN REPORT.

A SAMOAN CONTINGENT.

(Reed. 8.25 a.m.) ROME, January 3

A communique states that reconnaissances in the Lagarina Valley resulted in capturing a number of prisoners. Enemy attacks were repulsed.

RUSSIANS REPULSED IN GALICIA,

VIENNA, January 3

iA communique states: In Bast Galicia the Russians advanced five times to our entanglements; the assaults were everywhere repulsed. RUSSIAN SUCCESS. ENEMY DRIVEN BACK. (Reed. 8.25 a.m.)

PETROGRAD, January 3

A communique states: desperate •counter-attacks by the enemy with the object of driving us back on the right bank of the Styr were unsuccessful. Two. miles of enemy trenches, on the river Stypa were occupied. We broke through enemy entanglements and consolidated the ground won.

RETURNED FROM SAMOA.

Col. Logan, ex-administrator of the Samoa, returned by the Ratune, also 26 members of SamOan garrison. Twenty-four are returning for duty, and two are invalided. There are also 11 Samoan recruits joining the Maori contingent.

AUSTRO-GERMANS DRIVEN BACK

NEAR ROUMANIAN BORDER

PETROFRAD, January 3

Official:—We crossed the Styr in the Czartovysk region, 'and captured the village of Khriasi. Despite futile counter attacks which followed, we drove back the enemy in the Ussetchko district, to the right bank of the Dneister ,and progressed between the Dniester and the Roumanian frontier. AUSTRO-GERMANS IN GALICIA. BIG CONCENTRATION AGAINST ~ : - RUSSIA. FIERCE FIGHTING TAKING PLACE RUSSIANS HAVE THE ADVANTAGE.

PETROGRAD, January 2

Last week changed the aspect of the Russo-German front, from Pripet to the Galician front and the Dvina front, which suddenly blazed with fierce activity. The previous inactivity has greatly increased the Russian striking power. We have new troops of a fine type of soldier, 'and ammunition is. plentiful. The Russian military authorities estimate that Aus-tro-Germans from Pripet to Rouniania number a million and a half. So far the Russians have had the advantage. _

P. & O. LINER PERSIA.

TORPEDOED OFF CRETE. MAJORITY OF LIVES SAVED. The High Commissioner reports:— LONDON, January 1.

The P. and 0. liner Persia has been sunk, the majority of lives being saved.

The Persia was torpedoed oil Crete.

PERSIA SURVIVORS.

ONLY SEVENTEEN WOMEN.

(Reed. 9.45 a.m.) ' LONDON, January 2

Lloyd s report that 163 survivors from the Persia have arrived, consisting of 59 passengers, whereof 17 are women and 94 of the crew, whereof 59 are lascars.

GREATEST HUN TRAGEDY SINCE THE LUSITANIA.

LONDON, Jan. 1

At present there is no reason to doubt that the sinking of the Persia is the worst tragedy of Hun piracy since the Lusitania outrage. Germany is able to add another to the glorious victories of the Kaiser's New Year speech. The actual toll of life is probably known only aboard the rescuing steamer that is approaching Alexandria. What is certain is that the liner was sunk on Thursday, about one o'clock in the afternoon. Only four boats were able to get clear. They had a capacity of fiO each. It seems the tragedy was swift and sudden. Any computation as to the loss o flife is largely guesswork, but th« figures available bear out Lloyd's statement that most of the passengers and crew were lost and the P. and 0. Company's more guarded announcement that it is feared that the loss 5s very heavy. The latest official, list shows 161 passengers booked from London and Marseillies to points beyond Malta. The Company is ascertaining the latest bookings from Marseilles and Malta. At present the Company estimate that about 200 passengers were aboard w-hen .the. vessel was sunk. The proportion of women and children was heavy. Many were infants in arms with the ayahs. The women would have been more numerous but for the order forbidding women to land in Egypt, which caused - mimber to cancel their passages at the eleventh hour. Many army officers were- travelling home from Egypt and India. Two Americans were aboard. The number of the crew is uncertain. The Company estimates it is between 200 and 300. The Europeans numbered 77. The vessel carried a very heavy mail, little cargo, and no war material. KN AMERICAN CONSUL LOST. (Rec. 12.55 a.m.) WASHINGTON;' Jan. 1. The State Department learns that the Persia was torpedoed without warning, and sank in five minutes. Mr. MeNeely, American Consul to Aden, was lost.

A NEW ZEALANDER ABOARD

HIS FATE UNCERTAIN,

(Rec. 12.55 a.m. L.ONDON, January 3

T-he Persia's passenger's included one, De Renzy, booked for Auckland. His fate is uncertain. BRITISH CRUISER NATAL SUNK. BY AN INTERNAL EXPLOSION. 400 OP THE CREW SAVED.

The High Commissioner reports under date London, December 30: — "H.M.s. Natal, an armoured cnrsor. was sunk yesterday afternoon in harbour as the result of an internal oxplosion. . . ,

"Four hundred of the crew were rescued, the remaining three hundred being drowned.'' (H.M.S Natal was an armoured cruiser of the Warrior class, her sister ships being the Achilles, Cochrane, and Warrior, all of which, were completed in 1907. Her displacement was 13,550 tons, with a length of 480 feet, beam 73-lft, and maximum draught of 271 ft. She was protected with a belt of Gin Krupp armour, 300 ft long amidships, 4in armour in the bow, and 3in aft, while her gun turrets had Sin to fiin armour and the barbettes Tin armour as protection. Her armament consisted of six 9.2irs guns, four 7.5 in puns, twenty-five 3-pounders, four Maxims, and three submerged torpedo tubes, her broadside fire being from four 9.Sin and two 7.5 in guns. Her spee'd was 22 1-3 knots . on a consumption of about 231 tons of fuel per hour. The average cost of the vessels of this class was about £.1.'150,000 per ship, and they were considered to 'be singularly successful sea boats, and held by all who had served in them as being the best cruisers ever turned out. They each carry a complement of 704 men.)

THE PERSIA SINKING.

AROUSED AMERICA

WASHINGTON, January 3

The Administration is aroused as \has. never been before at the torpedoing of the Persia at the moment of the supposed adjustment of the Ancona case. It recalls that while Mr. Wilson was negotiating on the Lusitania massacre, the Arabic was sunk. Officials feel that Austria, since the Ancona reply, has had ample time to notify, submarines not to torpedo before removing noncombatants. THE ALLIES' NEW YEAR. REGARDED WITH CALM CONFIDENCE. AN INCREASING ASCENDANCY

OVER THE CENTRAL POWERS

LONDON, December 31

Lord Sydenham, who as Sir George Sydenham Clarke was well known as a former Goveror of Victoria, and is recognised a s one of the world's greatest military authorities, granted to the Australian Press Association an interview. In reviewing the situation he remarked that the year had ended in shadow and had brought many sacrifices without those visible successes which might seem to offer adequate compensation. He added: "The conquest of the German colonies, in which Australia and New Zealand played an important part, is the only counter-stroke on the side of the Allies to the enemy's territorial gains in Poland and the Near East. A STRIKING COMPARISON.

• "We have withdrawn a great part of the Imperial troops from Gallipoli; at Salonika we are on our defence, awaiting an attack; while a further effort against the Suez Canal may be impending. We have also met with a reverse on the Tigris. In fact, nowhere can be seen a near prospect of a decisive military advantage. If, therefore, we contemplate past events in detail there may appear to be ground for pessimism, but in a war en such a gigantic scale it is essential to view the situation as a whole. The year 1797 ended in the deepest ->om for cur forefathers. The great naval battles of Cape Vincent and HampeVdown had been won, but there v-cro acute internal dissensions and f\ITRC.s& intolerable public burdens. of England suspended cash payments, and when the mutinies at Pithead and the Nore broke out, all hopes of victory might well have seemed to be lost. THE REAL CRISIS PASSED. "We may well consider'these facts new. The real crisis passed in September, 1914, when the German plan of campaign was wrecked and Paris saved. The wonderful preparedness of the enemy and his instant perception of new needs, however, told heavily against the Allies, who are only now beginning to attain 'an ascendancy in material which their superior forces will enable them to establish and maintain in the field. THE ENEMY HELD FAST.

"Having failed in the west, the Central Powers struck widely eastwards, but were finally brought to a standstill by the spledid tenacity of Russia. Her territory and fortresses were abandoned, but the enemy failed to take Riga, and they must now bear the rigors of a Polish winter, with the increasing menace of Russia's masses growing more and more formidable as her armaments increase. The enemy is now held fast on both Eastern and Western fronts, and his power of offensive appears to depend upon the subsidised Turks and Bulgars.

A FUTURE WITHOUT MISGIVING. "Meanwhile the eager efforts of the Germans have failed to destroy the unity of the Allies, who with gathering strength and stern determination await the coming spring. The economic pressure of the Navy is beginning to tell,, aiid; the enemy's internal situation is gradually becoming more acute. Winter is on the side of the Allies, who can face the future without misgiving. "For Australia and New Zealand 1915 will always be associated with glorious memories. Their troops have shown a gallantry and endurance not surpassed in the history of the war: If victory were denied on Gallipoli, they still win.udying fame &g having given enduring examples of devoted sacrifice from which the whole Empire draws hope and inspiration.

"France is showing all the great qualifies which went to bui'd up her finest traditions. Russia has stemmed the fierce OTisl'iughts of the Austrians and Germans with indomitable spirit, and is silently developing her unrivalled resources and her splendid manhood. Italy is fighting bravely, while our owti warlike but unmilitary Empire i> solidly united in the face of the common peril, raising trained citizens by the million. Above all stands the Navy, firmly holding the f-ea& of the world, and to-day far more • powerful than when the war began. "Such are the conditions under ; which the confront "Jvi New

THROUGH GERMAN GLASSES.

A GALI4NG CRITICISM

ENGLAND THE ARCH ENEMY

"WE STAND VICTORIOUS

FROM ARRAS TO BAGDAD." ' (Times 'and Sydey Sun Services). LONDON, December 31. The 'Frankfurter Zeltung' gives the first German review of the whole war. It admits that Germany's intentions . regading France have been unfulfilled, ( and that the Russian campaign has been broken off beyod the Poland fortress area. East of Vilna a glorious victory had been achieved, but it admits the truth of the dictum laid ' down by Clausewitz, the recognised authority on military strategy in the early part of last century, that it is impossible to effect a successful con- I quest of Russia. | The battle on the west front in the , beginning of October was the great- I , est defensive battle in history. The review proceeds: "The Balkan ! campaign joins us up with Bulgaria J and Turkey, while separating the Rus- * sian and Western Powers, and it will ) finally mean the solving of the Balkan problem. Our enemies are at war •under England's leadership, and .she conducted a far-reaching policy. England collected a mighty coalition, and ■ held the Balkans in suspense. She 1 also brought in Italy and involved the United States in the gravest conflict with the Central Powers, but did not succeed in her design. "On the battlefield, realising the impossibility of forcing our lines in the ) west, she decided to force the Dardanelles. The plan was good, but the execution wretched. It might have succeeded'if .immediately Turkey intervened England had forced the Dardanelles wtih large forces. But Turkey's rapid advance on the Suez Canal deceived and terrified the English, and gained, under German advice, the time Turkey needed. It made the undertaking hopeless. The Dardanelles' attempt was made with too weak forces, while the land attack was not comprehensive enough. "London then hoped to involve the B'alkans, but had not the courage to withdraw the troops from Gallipoli, thus admitting defeat. Now the withdrawal has taken place under Turkish fire. "The same game is being repeated ) in Macedonia, where a difficult cam- { paign, with inadequate, resources, and : faced by miserable failure, is being continued at France's demand. We have, in short, broken the spell King Edward laid on us, and stand victorious from Arras to Bagdad."

THE COMPULSION BILL

WILL BECOME LAW.

(Reed. 8.25 a.m.)

LONDON, January 2

Mr Simons' resignation has not yet been accepted. It is generally believed that the decision of the final majority will favour the Government's ! Bill, which restricts compulsion to the duration of the war. It will comprise four-fifth s of liberal, commoners; all conservatives land most labour members. It is now expected that the Labour Conference on Thursday will : support the Bill, and the public generally approve, the women being particularly incensed against shirkers, many of whom have lost their husbands, brothers and sons in the war, while well-paid unmarried men are avoiding service altogether. Groups six, seven and eight of the Derbyists, of from twenty-three to twenty-six, . will shortly be called up. IMPERIAL CONFERENCE. QUESTIONS TO BE DISCUSSED. (Reed. 8.25 a.m.) LONDON, January 2. The Executive Committee of the Imperial Council of Commerce, since the postponement of Congress in Canada to 1917, has matured plans for holding a conference in London 'about June sth, 1916, as cabled on 21st October. It is expected that representatives will be in attendance from all oversea dominions and dependencies. A circular to members of the Council emphasises the desirableness of the adoption of a common policy, preparing the way to some extent for further action in connection with congress meeting in 1917. The provisional programme includes the following subjects:—Prefei'enc© within the Empire, preferential relations with the Allies, measures against enemy countries in connection with manufactures and shipping, and 'also against dumping enemy goods within the Empire, amendment of nationalisation laws; compulsory registration of aliens; the question of licenses, to trade, and other regulations affecting foreign firms:; prohibition of contracts with aliens which might be calculated to restrain Imperial trade; proposed uniformity !r *•"'!.ii.'l.' elc;'ji"":" u~~ trzdo ihuvlip

DURRASZO,

DAMAGED.

law; imperial preference in the taxation question; double income tax; limitation of membership of Chambers of Commerce to British born subjects. Air members of the Council are invited to the conference, together with certain special delegates from overseas and the United Kingdom. BRITISH CABINET CRISIS. LORD KITCHENER INVOKED.

FEAR OF CRISIS OVER

BILL MAY BE AMENDED

LONDON, January 1. Probably Lord Kitchener will be invited to attend the Labour Conference on Thursday and will explain the necessity for the compulsion of the unmarried men.

The Cabinet no longer fears a crisis involving general resignations, thousrh it is agreed that Sir J. Simon -has resigned. It is understood that Messrs. McKcnna and Runelman made fresh proposals yesterday. As a condition of their acceptance of compulsion it is proposed to lower the age" limit, which should place the contemplated expansion of the Army. After hearing Messrs. McKenna's and Runeiman's arguments and statistics, the Cabinet decided to reconsider the matter en Tuesday morning. Some members desired the Bill to apply to the married men who had attested as well as 600,000 unmarried, but this is regarded as going beyond Mr. Asquith's pledge, so the Cabinet preferred to confine the Bill to the pledge. Mr. Henderson is holding aloof from the discussions of the Cabinet. He considers it essential to redeem Mr. Asquith's pledge, but regards himself as bound by his vote at the special Congress of Labour. The members of the House of Commons generally do not desire to face a general election or to break with the Coaliiion Government, but they fear the rank and file of the Labourites will not -agree with them. Resolutions by the branch societies indicate that there is a strong feeling > still to be oveTcome before Labour i accept s compulsion. The Irish Unionists strongly oppose the omission of Ireland from the scheme ou the ground that it would be a national disgrace. The railway clerks' association has tabled a. resolution to the Labour Conference entirely disaproving of the 'policy of co-operation with other political parties in the recruiting campaign. „

PROVISIONS OF THE BILJ

LONDON. January 1

I Great interest is being taken in the ' Bill. The Cabinet met twice on Friday evening. The newspapers understand that the Bill will compel all unmarrieds under 40 to join the Army. BILL'S PASSAGE ASSURED. WILL BECOME' LAW AT END OP JANUARY. LONDON, January 1. The Right. Hon. Sir J. A. SLiTon was absent from both. Cabinet meetings. Messrs. McKenua end Rnnciman decided there was no reason ior' th<?m to resign, but Sir ,T. Simon reported that he was considering the position if he has not actually tendered •his resignaion. The Cabinet have adopted a policy regarding compulsion which was meeting with, general approval. Mr. Asquith will have the support of a. united. . Cabinet in the ■event of Sir J. Simon's withdrawal. The official labour circles are strongly hostile.and in the event of the Labour Congress opposing the Government's decision, Mr. Henderson will resign. The present of t-he Board of Education will have a scat in the Cabinet. The Bill will become lav,- before -the end of January, unless it m33ts with unexpected opposition.

BIG NAVAL ENGAGEMENT OFF

AUSTRIAN DESTROYER FLO-

TILLA WARNED

ONE YESSEL SUNK AND ONE

ROME, Tanuarv l

An Austrian ' cruiser and five destroyers attempted to repeat the exploit of bombarding- Durazzo. They were allowed to approach and open fire, then the Italian. British, and French cruising squadron appeared. A seaplane was launched from an Austrian cruiser just in time to notify them of the Allies ! coming, when a shot through her motor sent the seaplane headlong into the sea. The Allies attacked the squadron, while torpedoers attempted to cut off their re-

treat. The seaplane's warning", however, enabled the Austrians to f3y, leaving the Triglav and the Lika in r> sinking condition. Pome of the Lika's crew wore taken prisoner. The Triglav sank with ail ha:ids.