THE BALKANS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 299, 14 December 1908, Page 2

THE BALKANS.

—■—■•» A.N Ull-i.Olfcjj Bill .iilOX. RcceiuM li, Uo pa,,. ."H. . Hie Auniuweriuan ailualuu has improved. lilt Mam.,,, xUiIXCE. "I A.U .\OX A FIIUCMUXD." A Belgrade correspondent has thus dtsculled uj truwn rrinee, about whom a £>od deal lias been heard lately:—l ( w.is received ill pri\ aiu aud.euce by thu Crown Prince, oi Scrvia. His Uoyul Highness is a young muu of 21, dark, »nu prominent features, and un eager manner. Conversation turned almost immediately ou tuc present situution in the JJalicaiis, U nd uie Prince expressed himself wiin irauiaiess and decision. "Students of tue problem in tlie X'ear tast,'- He said, -are agreed that the ileafy of Berlin was an unsatisfactory attempt to deal wita I He, problem. And with u all what has happened! After thirty years of independence Servia has e.,uu)r,ned order and security throughout her territory. Xne people are happy and contented. After thirty years of Austrian occupation and tyranny the nihab.tauU 01 Bosnia-Herzegovina are miserable and unhappy. "ft is the übsolute truth that the Bosnians have been most sorely oppresstil by the ruinous Austrian taxation, iet the general western opinion appears to be that Die Austrian adminis..v.) 111 * hem a blillia "t success." "Yes," 1 assented. "Vienna has immense advantages as a aews-distribdt-iag centre."

i "I am, afraid," the Prince went on, they have a very poor opinion of ma 111 the West. you must have seen somel of my terrible doings reported in the Vienna press. If a hundredth part of them were true f should be a very dreadful person indeed. "Personally 1 have no faith in the results of the conference. It is eaiy to talk of compensation, but where is compensation to come from? Meanwhile Austria is suffocating us. You know something of her methods. "If only Europo could realise that for us this is a question of life and death! Lnless we have access to the sea w» must perish, if we iig | lt alld j O6e _ well, we perish. "Liu not mistake me, however. 1 s-a not the irresponsible firebrand of the J newspapers. J wisli for peace with my I whole heart, but if the Powers do aot I seu_ tin, impossibility of ratifying and maintaining the dismemberment of the- ■ Serb peoples, we will fight, not of choice, but 01 necessity. We are prepared to siicrihee everything in the struggle, and although we are small and Austria is great, she has many elements of weakness which we would emphasise. "And 1 hold more firmly with William the Silent that there is a sure way to save our country from the oppressor, and that is for every man to die in the nust ditch."