TOUCH AND GO.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 38, 15 February 1916, Page 2

TOUCH AND GO.

GREECE AND THE ALLIES. A SENSATIONAL >; \ RWATTVE. GUNS TRAINED 015 BRITISH CAMP. FLEET CLEARS FOIS ACTION. (On December !) ia3t the Manchester Guardian, ia cr.mpany with the Daily Telegran 1 !, published what must be regarded as one of the most sensational stories of the year. The Guardian's special correspondent at Salonika, in an article bearing the date November 26, stated that prices had been Taised extortionately against the British, they were called upon to pay in advance in gold for troop trains, that the Greek troops were actually sitting on the defensive positions round Salonika, behind barbed wire, their guns trained on the Allied camps. Submarine mines, stored as if ready to be launched, were discovered at the mouth of the Vardar River, the Karaburnu Fort (mentioned in recent cables'! at the entrance to the UppeT Gulf of Salonika had been secretly strengthened and heavy guus mounted. In fact, so acute had the position become, that one Sunday the British Fleet cleared for action. This sensational narrative was passed by the censor at Home — a fact of some significance. The article follows.)

The correspondent Mr. G. .T. Stevens) began 'as follows:. — To try to send by the Greek tel.»•rraph service the facts which aroused the'suspicions of tiro Entente against Greece and influenced our military, and aaval authorities to consider the position of the Franco-British troops in Salonika as unsatisfactory and oven precarious would be to submit my telegram to suck mutilation and even to

suc-a' of its tnxt as to render it, to say the least, incomprehensible. The Greek censorship has no seniles about adding to or perverting the ►est of telegrams, and this has specially been the case since the appointment at the head of the censorship service in •Uhens of an individual who until reUtly was in the pay and employ of Baron Sckenk, ths German propagauo.-

I have followed very closely for the last three years events and deveiopmnts in this country, and without any boast on my part I believe I can lay claim to exceptional knowledge of all those events and developments that have taken place in Greece since the bginning of the European war—events which changed the attitude of «UB country from one entirely friendly at the beginning of the war into one almost openly hostile to-day A large minority of the Greek people, by the means, introduced by our enemies, of bribery and corruption, have been cabled, influenced, bought, and won oyer to the Germans, and as this minority includes the King, his entourage, affd the military officials, Greece must for fte present at least be- considered by us as unfriendly. To do otherwise and to persist in the belief that we can detach fee nding oligarchy in this country from German influence would be to expose ourselves to the same disappointment as we met in Turkey and Bulgaria. MONEY-SQUEEZING ON THE EAILWAY. I will now give you, quoting irrefutable facts,'how the situation developed to the present cr.sis. Since the first" landing of troops in Salonika the local Greek authorities, civil and military, in that town took up an attitude of veiled hostility. The inhabitants and the business community of the town, at the prospect of a flow of British and French money, gave us an interred welcome. No sooner had the first contingent landed than the prices >f all commodities were promptly doubled and trebled. To th's

exploitation of our puckets we quietly submitted, but the example set by the. people was followed by the State in the exploitation of the need we were in to use the State-controlled railways.

The highest tariff is applied for the transportation of munitions, supplies, etc., augmented by a super-tax, exclusively applied to us, of 5 per cent. This is even in the case when supplies are shipped in special trains entirely hired by us, which in ordinary circumstances would enjoy a substantial reduction. For each soldier transported the full passenger fare is exacted, augmented by a 7h per cent, super-tariff especially created to apply exclusively to us. jSTo objection was raised to this exploitation of our needs, but these exactions were followed by a humiliating demand to pay in advance in gold the cost of each train before it left Salonika station. This was rather an affront to the solvency of England and France. The State director of the railway, however, insisted on compliance, and to avoid further discussion and friction a compromise was reached by making a deposit in casli at the Greek National Bank. The veiled hostility of the authorities towards us gradually developer into an open one. If we find a house to rent at double and treble its ordinary rent, the military authorities step in annulling the contract and claiming the use of the house in question for the needs of the State. The same is clone for any horse, cart, or carriage that Ave hire. With the visit of the Greek Crown Prince, who came lure accompanied by the Germanophile officers of the General Staff', officers of

the garrison adopted an overbearing attitude, and I heard many of thern hold conversation openly in the cafes discussing the approach of the Germans and the time when they will have to help them to sweep us out to the sea. STJBMABXNE mines discovered. The Karaburnu Fort, at the, entrance of the Bay Salonika, has been secretly strengthened, defence vvcrks constructed, and heavy guns mounted. The p?esenc of submarine mines was discovered, stored as if ready to be launched, at the mouth of the Vardar River. Trenches and barbed wire defences were constructed en the heights above Salonika turned towards the direction of our camps. Even artillery is mounted on these heights with the muzzles of the guns turned in our direction. Instead of concentrating the mobilised Greek army along their eastward frontier, from where the Bulgarian danger threatens, it has been concentrated around Salonika and along the routes that would be followed should the Franco-British and Serbian troops have to retreat from Gihevgheli and Monastir A Frenchman who passed an innocent remark, sitting at a cafe with friends, about the German appearance of certain officers accompanying the Crown Prince, was falsely accused as having expressed himself irrevelently about the Crown Prince himself, and was thrown into prison. A Greek divi-

sion quartered at Salonika, whose com

mander gave utterance to his indignation at the thought of Greek arms being directed against the benefactors of Greece, was immediately deprived of his command, and two of the regiments composing the division were removed, one to Floria and the other to Ka.valla.

At the critical moment during the recent attacks by the Bulgarians, when reinforcements from Salonika were urgently needed to be sent to the front, tho ncessary train was refused on the excuse that the line was then occupied —a statement which was afterwards found to be untrue.

THE ALLIES' FIRST 'DEMARCHE.' All these facts gave food for thought,, and with the intention of dissipating the suspicion they raised the French Minister in Athens asked M. Skouloudis ,th e Premier, what Greece intended to do if the troops of the Allies had to retreat from Serbia into Greek territory. Th c reply M. Skouloudis cave was that, as to the French and British troops, they would be disannul by the Greek army, and as tc the Serbian troops they would be disarmed and interned.

It was a disconcerting reply, ar when M. Skouloudis saw the bad effect it produced he tried to palliate it by explaining that such would have been the dutv of Greece as a nw J

State, but that in reality he had no irtcntion of doing so. This explanation was naturally not accepted as sincere. Especially as th e Athens Press favourable to thc Skouloudis Cabinet openly discussed thc question, and asserted that it was the intention of the Government to enforce the disarmament ■■£ thc Allies in case of a retreat.

It must also here be said that the reports conce '.'ling negotiations between Germany and Greece and of the preparation of a eeup by the latter country on our troops in Macedonia if confirmed by the fact of the visit te Athens of Prk.ce von Hohenlohe, about which complete secrecy has been kept. The Prince, a"companied by Colon'

von Marbach, arived here from Dedeagatch on the 26th ult., and immediately loft in a Greek destroyer for Athens. NIGHT ATTAC'v FEARED.

On the 19th inst. the British Legation in Athens, in a communication to the local Press, announced the decision of the four Entente" Powers to apply coercive measures again'st Greek commerce until they received adequate guarantees from -the Greek Government as to the safety of the army in Macedonia.

The situation in Salonika last Sunday had become so critical owing to certain military movements made during the day by the G.reeks that it was suspected that the Greeks were preparing to attack us that sam e night. Our fleet in port cleared for action; fill steamers along the quays and docks were ordered to leave: and a constant watch was kept up throughout the night from various points in the city. Fortunately, nothing happened, cither because the steps taken by the fleet became known to the Greeks or because in reality no harm was intended.

Prince Andrew of Greece, in an interview with a jouralist of a neutral

country, said that his brother the Kin;: would never agree to demobilise, be cause that would strengthen the party of M. Venizelos, and on no account will he tolerate a return of M. Yen.;..

los to power, preferring tJ go, as the Prince added, to the extent of abdicating. As to a possible bombardment of Athens, Prince Andrew told the jeuirnalist that so long as 80,000 French soldiers in Macedonia were hostages of the Greek army the Allies would never dare to fire a shot at any Greek town. The threat of Prince Andrew is believed in by many of our officers. I,

however, dissent from this opinion, and feel more than confident that if it' is necessary to resort to a regrettable bombardment of Athens it would cause such an upheaval and revulsion of feeling that the people would rise and sweep away all those on whom the responsibility for such a catastrophe would rest.