BRITISH POLITICAL CRISIS

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 219, 14 December 1916, Page 5

BRITISH POLITICAL CRISIS

ACROSS THE FLOOR. MR. ASQUITH'S COLLEAGUES PREMIER'S POLICY SPEECH. LONDON, Dec 12. The House of Commons was crowded to-day, all the Liberal members of the exGabinet being seated on The Opposisition benches. The Unionist rank and file retained its scats on the Opposition side, forestalling the Liberals, who intended to cross the floor. Mr Bonar Law moved the adournment of the House till Thursday, when Mr Lloyd George would move a vote of credit. Mr Reginald McKonna suggested that Mr Lloyd George's statement of policy should be postopned till next week to enable Mr Asquith to be present. The House agreed to this course.

GREECE

CONSTANTINE EXPOSED. LONDON.. Dec 13. A wireless from Berne states that information from an official German source states that the commander of the Greek Army Corps who was nominally interned at Gocrlitz, Juts received orders from Constantino to hold his force in readiness to co-operate with the Ger-mo-Bulgars agianst General Sarru.il. Preparations have been mad,, (hiring the past week, and a transport corps towards Macedonia is now believed to be en route. The troops were treated as interned. They received systematic training from German instructors, and there arc indications that from the outset Constantine and the Kaiser arranged to use them against the Allies at the first, opportune moment.

(This was the army corps which surrendered at Kavala and ostensibly became prisoners of war in Germany.)

ANARCHY IN GREECE

LONDON, Dec. 13. The Times' special correspondent in an uncensored despatch from Greece says anarchy still prevails. The inquiI sition against the Venizelists continues. | Gounarist judicial functionaries are ' daily conducting house-td-house searj ches, imprisoning increasing numbers j of Venizelists, who are reported to j have been shot in the prisons at night . time. A reign of terror exists, surpassing the worst record of Abdul Hamid. The Allies are still unable to protect , their friends. The Germanophile press ! published a forged political letter in Venizelos' name as proof of an antiRoyalist plot, in order to bolster up the I abominable royalist outrages and at- • tacks on Allied troops. 1 The Government are complacently ! permitting their press organs to launch ' every conceivable accusation against ' Venizelos and his supporters, knowing I that the Vcnizelist journals are unable | to reply. All the property of the iniprij soned people has been destroyed. No ' Venizelist paper has been published since December 1. Government organs ' are taking advantage of the Allies' nonj reprisals for outrages. They now as--1 sert that Greece has no desire to fight the Allies so long as the Allies, having learnt their lesson, abstain henceforward from interfering in the internal ! affairs of Greece.

! GERMAN CASUALTIES.

I ' Received 10.45 German casualties are officially re- | ported to number 116,176, of which 29, i 729 are killed, making the war's total 1 3,921,739, of which 889,957 have been i killed. i " ~~

ON THE SEA.

| CAPTAIN ELAIKIE'S CASE. : Received 11.40 i LONDON Dec. 13. The Admiralty is watching develop- : ments in Captain Blaikie 's ease. Sir A. 1 J. Newton, head of the War Prisoners' , Department, believes a firm warning ! is necessary to prevent his execution.

FRENCH HIGH COMMAND.

j PARIS Dec 12. I General Niville is the hero of the j Verdun offensive. The new general- ■ issimo was a colonel at the outbreak of war and made his reputation by capturing 24 cannon which were the first trophies of the war. His most j famous feat was on the Aisne on September 16, 1914. I Official.—General Nivelle has been appointee Commander-in-T'hief of the armies in the north and north-east. ! The Cabinet numbers ten. A War J Committee has been appointed, comj prising M. Briand (Premier), M. Ribct (Minister of Finance), M. Lyaute (Minister of War), M. Laeaze (Minister of Marine), M. Thomas (Minister of Munitions). General Joffre. as Generalissimo, will attend the committee as technical military adviser. Technical directors will be appointed ?or mines and merchant shipping. PARIS, Dec 12. It is stated that General Castlenau will accompany Joffre to the Allied War Board.