THE BRITISH BLOCKADE.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 99, 27 April 1916, Page 6

THE BRITISH BLOCKADE.

THE RIGHT OF SEARCH. SIR E. GREY REPLIES TO U.S. NOTE. LONDON, April 25. Sir E. Grey Las replied to the American Note of November 6th. He quotes Sir John Jellicoe’s opinion that it is impossible to confine the search of vessels to the actual spot where they are encountered owing to the size of cargoes, the danger of submarines, and the subterfuges employed to conceal contraband. Hence it is necessary to make pbf-t. The French Minister of Marine concurs in Sir John Jellicoe’s opin-

Sir E. Grey adheres to the contention of Britain’s incontestable right to intercept contraband under any circumstances. Regarding prize courts he denies the existence of international procedure, each nation being a law unto itself. Odd rules are unworkable, hence their abandonment. He denies that American oversea trade has been hampered, and quotes figures showing an enormous increase during the war period.

VON DEE GOLTS’S DEATH. LUKEWARM COMMENTS. GERMAN INFLUENCE SUFFERS A BLO;W. (Times and Sydney Sun Cables). LONDON, April 25. The German Press comments on the late Field Marshal Von Der Goltz are lukewarm, several describing him as an admirable theorist, but unable to demonstrate his strategy in the present war. The “Echo de B’alge” wonders whether Von Der Goltz really died of typhus, pointing cut that his death occurred immediately after the fall of Trebizond, for which he was personally responsible. The French Press think Von Der Goltz’s death and the fall of Trebiaond will probably ruin German influence in the East.

SMYRNA’S COMMANDER. GERMAN REPLACES TURK. LONDON, April 24. The Times’ Salonika correspondent says the Turkish commander at Smyrna has been replaced by a German general. ® MADAGASCAR PLOT. COLLAPSE OF CONSPIRACY FED BY GERMAN PROPAGANDA. PARIS, February IS. A communique issued by the Ministry of the Colonies reduces to its exact proportions the plot which has been discovered in Madagascar. _ "The plot,” it states, "was hatched by a number of former school students, assisted by two or three priests and some native pastors. A secret society was founded by them, apparently intended to foment Malagasy patriotism, and then to formulate political demands upon the sovereign authority. "A number of hotheads, having committed indiscretions of speech, and suggested insurrectionary schemes, the Governor-General, in view of present conditions, had the ringleaders arrested and an inquiry opened, which caused a certain amount of excitement, .but permitted the great majority of the Malagasy population to manifest strongly its loyalty towards France and its indignant reprobation of those who had been led astray by ill-digested teaching and reading.

"The courts were placed in possession of the facts, and the GovernorGeneral stated on February 11th that the proceedings against those implicated were being conducted satisfactorily. Judgment will be given shortly.” According to the Journal correspondent at Antananarivo there was a plot to poison a number of European officials and soldiers. "It is clear,” he says, "that the means for carrying on a propaganda had been supplied by the Germans residing in the colony.”

BRITISH COMPULSION QUESTION. JEOPARDISING. NATIONAL UNITY „ LONDON, April 25. The Daily News says the question of further compulsion is second only to the issue of the Premier’s authority. The Cabinet arrived at a decision which does not necessarily correspond with any of the varying predictions: but it is difficult to believe they justify anything approaching the compulsions demanded. When at the outside compulsion can procure a further 300,000. it ig difficult to assume that tiie Cabinet will jeopardise national unity.

ANZAC DAY. AT THE ABBEY. LONDON, April 25. A great event written deep in Australasian history, under date April) 25th, was celebrated by a religious ceremony in Westminster Abbey. That venerable building has been’ closely associated with every great national incident since the Norman William was crowned there. Its vaulted roofs- have witnessed State funerals, public thanksgivings, and coronations, besides the routine of daily services, for 800 years. Today’s great religious service will touch the furthest fibres of the Empire. The first anniversary of the Australians’ and Now Zealanders’ landing on Gallipoli, devoted to honouring the memory of those heroes who fell in the campaign, thus opened a new and wonderful chapter in Australasia’s record. The Gallipoli fighting was so full of stirring and tragic incidents -that for days there had been signs of a popular desire to pay tribute to those who gave their lives in the Empire’s service. Another ' incentive was the prospect of seeing many of the actual heroes who had returned from the land of death and slaughter. Of Australians and New Zealanders now in Britain, nearly 2,000 participated in the service. Many are convalescents, some 1 having quite recovered. Of those present, over 500 wore drawn from Monte Video, 400 from Abbey-Wood, 200 from Horsoferry Road, and 200 from such hospitals as Harcfield. The New Zealanders, under Major Dawson, detrained at Temple station and paraded on the Embankment. The Australians, under Lieutenant-Colonel Johnstone, a battalion belonging to Abbey-Wood and Monte' Video, arrived atcrossed Waterloo Bridge, and combined with the New Zealanders, at Kingsway, The precession marched along the Strand past Whitehall! to the- Abbey. Many Anglo-Australasians were accommodated in the yindows and on the roofs of the Victorian, Queensland, West Australian, and New Zealand offices. Sir Thomas Mackenzie and his staff have already moved to these new premises. The arrangements in the Abbey were complete. The massed bands and 600 fit men of the 'Australian contingent were accommodated in the north transept. The New Zealanders entered the Abbey at the Poet’s Corner and occupied the south transept. The found themselves among memorials of England’s most noted men, on every hand being reminders of those whose writings have stirred the imagination and patriotism of the race, from Chaucer to Dickens.