ALBANIA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 65, 3 August 1912, Page 2

ALBANIA.

RIVAL AMBITIONS. Tli." pn sent nphoav;il in Turkey lends special interest to the attitude of tlie neighboring Powers towards Albania. In the Fortnight]}' Review for January, Mr. J. I'.llis Barker described the special attentions which Italy has always paid to Albania, and incidentally remarked how, in drafting, her. troops for Tripoli, she retained, and oven increased, those on her Austrian frontier, apparently as a precaution against any Austrian move 011 Turkish territory. Mr, Barker, in the course of liis article, said: The King of Italy, the Italian Government, and the Italian people have shown that they take the strongest interest in Albania. Numerous Italian travellers have visited,,, studied, and described the country, and n'itimferous Italian'capilalitss have financed Albanian enterprises. The Government has endeavored to befriend the Albanians and to win their goodwill by creating and subsidising Italian schools in the country,, and ,by,.sending, there medical, scientific and charitable missions. It is worth noting that the Italian Government does not subsidise the Roman Catholic Church, except in the Balkan Peninsula, and especially in Albania. It • has created commercial agencies- and Ims subsidised ■■ linfes; sol steamers tradipg 'between Albania and Italy, and the result of these, endeavors has been very gratifying to the Italians, but not at all pleasant to the Austrian*! MONTENEGRO'S PART.

The marriage of King Vittorio Emanuele of Italy to the fourth daughter of King Nicolas of Montenegro, which took place in 1896, was not by any means devoid of political significance. ' Already in 1896 Italy looked towards Albania as a promising field of expansion, and was concerned about the future of the Balkan Peninsula, The young Italian King testified to his interest in the Balkans by marrying a Balkan Princess. Montenegro is the neighbor of Albania. The country is very small. It forms a natural mountain fortress of great strength. It has only 250,000 inhabitants, and the population is exceedingly brave and warlike. Montenegro is likely to play an important part in the settlement of the Balkan question. , One daughter of the King' i ot Montenegrp 'has .married the ,Kihg of I|a;ly, VnotHer one has married the Kingioi .Servia, and two others have married- Russian Grand Dukes. King Nicolas is on the best of terms with the King of Italy and the Czar of Russia. Owing to his powerful friends and relatives he wields an influence which is quite out of proportion to,, the size of -lib ecrantry. • He is"""the father-in-law of Eastern Europe," and his little State is a.pivot of European policy. Montenegro stands', so to say, under Russia's and Italy's joint, protection, 5 and Russia and Italy have provided the little State with an ample supply of guns, rifles, ammunition, etc., for the country is too poor to supply its own arms. Thus Montenegro has become a fortified Rus-sian-Italian outpost on the road from Vienna to Salonica, and it is able to block that road. Herein lies its great importance. AUSTRIA AND SALONICA.

Austria's ambition, to acquire- Salonicais nearly as old as Russia's ambition to acquire Constantinople. Austria recognised the strategical importance of Montenegro in connection with Salonica many years ago, and in 1879, at the Congress of Berlin, she took steps designed to bring Montenegro into her povver, . Article 29 of the Treaty of Berlin placed the policing of the port of Antivari, Montenegro's .only po.i;t, under Austria's ..control. i It:erased Antivari.to the warahips of all' nations, and forbade the Montenegrins to have a navy of their own. It also allowed Austria to control the building of a road and of a railway an Montenegro. • Last, but not least, Austria insisted in Berlin upon, the cession of Spizza, a point which dominates the harbor of Antivari, and upon the right of fortifying it, and. she obtained what she had asked for. When the King of Montenegro looks out of the vindow of his palace at Cettinje, he can almost look down the muzzles of the Austrian guns mounted at Oattaro, and when he goes down to Antivari, his only seaport, he is within range of the Austrian guns at Spizza. Austria has deliberately tried to strangle Montenegro. She is not beloved in Cettinje. Salonica is likely to become the most important harbor in the Mediterranean, being situated clo.se to Constantinople and the .Suez Canal, arid, on the most direct route from London, Paris, Berlin and Vienna to the countries of Asia Minor and the Far East. It may in the future almos't monopolise the European trade With the " East, via the Mediterranean. But, in order to be able to hold that port, Austria must secure the possession of its hinterland, of Albania, and she cannot tolerate that Albania should fall into Italy's hands, Freiherr von Chlumecky wrote:— ''The possession of Salonica is our hope for the future. At a time when Asia Minor has been opened to civilisation, and when railways cross Mesopotamia, Macedonia will flourish greatl t y, Salonica will become a place of very great importance. However, the possession of Salonica could never make up for the loss of the Adriatic, which would be caused if Albania should become Italian. Salonica would be of value to us only as a complement to Trieste and Fiumc." Eleven years ago, on June 7, 1901, Signor Cuicciardini, who at one time was Minister for Foreign Affairs, said in the. Italian Parliament:— "The principal interests of Italy are in the Mediterranean. They centre round Tripoli and Albania. Whilst Tripoli is a great Italian interest, Albania is an absolutely vital interest of ours. We can never allow Albania to fall into the hands of a first-class Power, and we can still less allow it to fall into the hands of a second-class Power which belongs to the political system of a first-class Power. We have tolerated the rise of Bizerta, but we cannot tolerate the creation of another Bizerta at Valona or at Durazzo." J Yalona and Durrabo are the principal harbors of Albania. The foregoing quotations show—and many similar ones might be given—that Austria's and Italy's aims and ambition's in Albania are incompatible. Apparently Austria aims at obtaining the direct control of j Albania, whilst Italy, in conjunction with Montenegro, aims at creating an independent Balkan Federation.