THE POSITION IN GREECE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 233, 6 November 1909, Page 6

THE POSITION IN GREECE

WHAT IvI.NT! (iEUItUK HAS UU.NE l'Oli tIHJSKCIi. While agreeing that inefficiency in the 1 ii rmy or in any other form of ailminis- ' tration is a weakness and a waste, the ■Spectator thinks that an armed Greece intli an earth-hunger would be worse. "]f tin' programme of the .Miljtmy League brings 11mm precisely and only what i. demanded—the purification of Parliamentary life, which is corrupt, the efficiency of the anny and navy, and the reduction of civil expenditure—nearly as nueli good lv ill tic done in Greece ;.6 ; was done by tile military revolution in Turkey. Hut we very much fear that it ■ til,, army and navy were put into such a state of repair us to possess the confidence of the nation—a confidence very easily earned, we must remark would become the engines of a thoroughly troublesome and ambitious policy which would unsettle the Balkans from end to oiul. That is the danger, and a very real danger It Is, ".\ T or would there bo any serloun chance of the Greeks satisfying th'.ir appetite for territorial acquisition in this way. Whenever the Greek Army had finished a war, Europe would be ready to step in as a kind of official receiver and satisfy all political credifoys, of wTibni Greece would only be <>m-. Military power will always lie a clumsy and expensive weapon for Creeec to wield, whereas the agi of the King, who is liked and respected in every Court in Europe, provides her with ail excellent chance of getting most of the tilings to which she has a moral claim. During his reign tile lonian Inlands and part of Thessaly have been added to the xmgdoin, and even after the disastrous JVi 1 '. '""7 there was only a slight rectification of the frontier to the disadvantage of Greece, while Europe actually gave her tlie substance of what she fought for—virtual possession of Crete! It Gicece wants an army simply as a means of extending her borders, sbc will do well to rem that the Kin- is •lie best army she is ~y,.r likplv to have." i riie king „f Greece, according to n i' PVO '' V « tour j fliroiigh „io>t parts of Europe; he is <'">■»>* '.I" V tour, wh.it may be called ft ' i""'"''."-'-" 1 I mveil,.,, for his ,„u„lrv; at < nip gin „y„ rv „„ v |M> ( . i|n • ' Mends, concession?, alliances for fircece I •"'■l milting her ca-, f„ r ,|,. v< . . * I incuts persistently and 1 "'' Powerful King of England is his I l'<'dlew "on'" m' 1 ' 1 ' f Z: "' -' f !<i ' ,is I ■, <« on, of his sons i, married to a ; , tlu ; l'"'.peni|- Of ficriiianv, and iV I •!'<■ mislianil of „ p,-i, l( . r _^ «'"• <•' Hie richest heiresses ■ l-"'o!ie a, l( j,,,.,,,!,,.,- 1 1„. ~t ]loUjii •hi ii" 'u"" s ' innueuce relationship ,i V( , s 'su-,1 eiitirely forth,, benefit of I " l ' lll '"l | c who have uudei'slo ( id' I 'so'«v||'' no'ie bettei. not .uVlh L of England - the business of a I'iien' he w /"t""! <" throne le'us |, st, ': ,,lh, « nf ''ighteen ssatrri ~,,',1. ll ' v " ,1| l |11 " had just dcoosed i' r"' i n" I ''''' 1, rfvo 'ution I Gon of Greece" ° nm ' n,al 00m, M