Blaze in the Balkans AUSTRALIAN POLITICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 131, 21 October 1912, Page 5

Blaze in the Balkans

AUSTRALIAN POLITICS.

SUDA BAY.

FREE COUNTER LUNCHES. _ By Cable—Press Association—Copyright.

Sydney, October 19. In the Assembly a Bill was introduced to abolish counter lunches at hotels.

Berlin, October 18. The Vossiclie Zeitung declares that the presence of the British fleet at Suda Bay signifies that though Crete may now be regarded as belonging to Greece, it is in Britain's distinct interest to see that Suda Bay falls into no other hands than those of Britain. THE TURKISH OPERATIONS. Constantinople, October 18. The Turks are operating from Mustafa. The Bulgarian advance guards are retiring on the main body. A telegram from Uskub says that the Turks attacked the Servians at Prepolatz and captured the blockhouse and other positions, together with arms, ammunition and provisions. The Servians retired. CONCENTRATING ON TUZI. Podgoritza, October 18. The Montenegrins are concentrating at Tuzi, preparatory to advancing on Scutari in force. ALBANIA SUPPORTS TURKEY. Constantinople, October 18. The Albanian chiefs at Monastir, Uskub, Janina and Scodra have intimated to the Porte their willingness to support Turkey with two hundred thousand followers. They declare that they will not-allow anyone to occupy Albanian territories.

ROUMANIAN ATTITUDE. London, October 18. Renter's Bucharest correspondent say 9 semi-oflieially that Roumania has decided to prepare for the mobilisation of three army corps to await events. It is feared that the Bulgarians' eventual success may prove serious to Roumania's ambitions. PROTECTING FRENCH SUBJECTS. Toulon, October 18. Five warships are proceeding to Syria to protect French subjects.

SERVIAN ADVANCE. GREEK FLEET ON THE MOVE. Belgrade, October 18. It is reported that the Servian vanguard has reached Prishtina. The Servians have occupied Ris'tovac, in the direction of Uskub. Athens, October 18. The fleet has left Phaleno*. CAPTURE OF MUSTAFA. Received 20, 5.5 p.m. London, October 19. The Bulgarians have captured the town of Mustafa Pasha. THE HORRORS OF WAR. THE MOSLEMS' DEMEANOR. Received 20, 5.5 p.m. London, October 19. The Times' Constantinople correspondent .emphasises the admirable demeanor of the Moslems in Constantinople towards the Balkan Legations. Though the war is undoubtedly most ferocious on the part of the army, the leaders do their best to prevent the horrors extending to non-combatants.

HEAVY FIGHTING NEAR ADRTANOPLE. Received 20, 5.5 p.m. London, October 19. Router's Constantinople correspondent reports lieavy fighting northward of Kirk Kilissia. Large forces are engaged on both sides. THE BULGARIAN ARMY. RAILWAYS DYNAMITED. Received 20, 5.5 p.m. Sofia, October 19. There are indications that three of the main Bulgarian armies, each of three divisions, have concentrated against Mus-tafa-Pasha, whence the Turks retreated, leaving twenty thousand at Adrianople. The remainder are camped behind field works stretching. eastwards to Kirk Kilissia. Besides the destruction of the

FURTHER BULGARIAN SUCCESSES HEAVY FIGHTING AROUND ADRIANOPLE TURKEY ATTEMPTS TO PACIFY GREECE CAPTURE OF MUSTAFA

Roumanians preparing for eventualities by mobilising her troops, fearing that the ultimate success of Bulgaria may prejudice her ambitions. Bulgaria has captured the Turkish town of Mustafa Pasha, the Turks retreating to Adrianople. Heavy fighting is .also proceeding in tHe neighboring town of Kirk Kilissia. The Bulgarians have also occupied Kowikale, a strategically important position in the neighborhood of Kirk Kilissia.

Turkey has been making attempts to detach Greece from the Allies by various promises, but the Greeks have declined to be pacified, and the Greek fleet is clamoring to attaek the Turkish fleet.

King Ferdinand, in a picturesque manifesto, say® that the war has been declared for the human rights of Christians in Turkey. The Servians are still conducting ti vigorous campaign near the frontier, where they have occupied several villages. It was reported that they had captured the town of Prishtina and are advancing on Kumanovo but v a'la.ter cablegram states that the report is premature.

telegraphs, many miles of railway at U«kub and Salonika were dynamited. OUTPOSTS DECAPITATED. PRISHTINA CAPTURED. Received 20, 5.5 p.m. Podgoritza, October 19. , Three of General Martinovic's outposts 'were surprised and conveyed to Scutari, where they were decapitated. Belgrade, October 19. The Servians have occupied several villages. It is reported that Prishtina has been taken and that the Turks are recreating, while the Servians are advancing on Kumanovo unopposed. i | BATTLE AT NELUNA. THE BULGARIAN'S BUSY. Received 20, 5.5 p.m. 1 London, October 19. | A battle is in progress northward of Neluna, in the Elassona district. The Bulgarians have occupied Kourtkale, a strategically important point, ■ear Mustafa Pasha.

BULGARIANS CONCENTRATING. Received 20, 5.5 p.m. Sofia, October 19. The Bulgarians, to the number of 250,000, have concentrated in quadrilateral form at Esldzagara, Novazagora, Harlanlu and Hafkov. | ATTEMPTS TO DETACH GREECE. GREEK FLEET EAGER TO FIGHT. Received 20, 5.5 p.m. i Athens, October 19. M. Coromilas, Minister for Foreign Affairs, has informed the Chamber that, the Porte has striven by all sorts of promises to detach Greece from the Allies, The Minister for Marine stated that the fleet was eager to attack the Turkish fleet. A SERVIAN MANIFESTO. A CHRISTIAN WAR. IMPRESSIVE SERVICE. Received 20, 5.5 p.m. Sofia, October 19.

King Ferdinand, in a manifesto to the nation, says that war has been declared for the human rights of Christians in Turkey. The Bulgarians are indebted ; for their peaceful life to that great Christian liberator they often remembered—the Czar. Their liberator's prophetic worils were: ''The work begun must be completed." The manifesto adds that ;in the struggle of the Cross against the Crescent and Liberty against Tyranny, [they were assured of the sympathies of all lovers of justice and progress. | The Queen, Count Gueshoff, President of the Cabinet, and the Servian and Greek Ministers attended an impressive service at the Cathedral. Prayers were offered for the Czar and the Sovereigns of Greece, Servia and Montenegro. The service concluded by the Bishop asking God in bis justice and mercy to grant a victory to the united armies of the Christian Balkans. Thousands gathered in the square outside, and there was frequent cheering.

A PREMATURE REPORT. Received 21, 1 a.m. I Belgrade, October '2O. | The Prishtina report is premature. | The Bulgarians merely captured a small town, and the Turks .retreated, destroying the railway. MONTENEGRO AND TURKEY. A BELLICOSE NATION. "United Montenegro stands ready for war," wrote, a correspondent of the London Daily Chroniele from Cettinje a few weeks ago. "'She is displaying restlessness under tlie tutelage of the Great Powers, who have hitherto appeared to condone Turkish aggression, often at the expense of the little kingdom and of its national dignity. The Montenegrins are demanding an immediate settlement of their long-standing and long-neglected grievances. In the frontier villages the feeling is intense, and in Cettinje itself the people are holding frequent demonstrations. "These simple but warlike people, anxious to preserve their freedom, are holding daily demonstrations—marching to the palace and demanding that their King, imitating the example of his an-

cestors, should appear at the head of his devoted array, and lead it against the old enemy of Montenegrin freedom. Wearing the picturesque national costume, the people, armed to the teeth, gather nightly in the streets and discuss the situation. They ask when Montenegro shall go forth <to conquer or to die. It has needed both skill and patience on the part of the King and his Ministers hold the bellicose spirit of the people in check, and to appear unmoved before the popular demand for war against the Turk. King Nicholas, beloved of his subjects, has endeared himself still more to them by his spirited protest against the counsel of the Great Powers urging her to discontinue active military preparations. This attitude of the Powers aroused the fighting spirit of the Montenegrin mountaineers, and evoked the reply:-', Settle the frontier onestion! Keep my people from massacre bv J3»shi-Bazouks, and -Montenegro will never break the peace of Europe. If jou cannot guarantee to accomplish this, I l eannot undertake to be responsible. 1 The army that to-day stands behind Montenegro's King is ready and eager to resort to the arbitrament of war. It is vastly different from the Montenegrin army of a few years ago. The military officers lent by the Czar of All the Russias have welded the mountaineers into a magnificent fighting machine. The Montenegrin army now boasts of its high efficiency, its discipline, and its cohesion. The zeal for reformation has attacked even the gaudy dress of the highlands, of Montenegro—so full of color, so essentially adapted to scenes of comic opera, but so full of the romance of the hills.

'Gone is the round, brimless kapitza, gone also the red zouave jacket, the loose blue knickerboeker, and the brightlycolored waistbelt, with its varied and •wondrous collection of yatagans and ancient pistols. The Montenegrin soldier to-day is clad in serviceable khaki, reminiscent of the South African veldt, and he is armed with the modern rifle and bayonet. The intrepid fighter of the mountain kingdom has learned his military lesson well.

Thousands of men, trained by Russian officers, are assembled on the eastern frontier, eagerly waiting the command to strike. They are well equipped in artillery. For some time munitions of war, in large and ever-increasing quantities, have been finding their way to the mountain kingdom, and have been landed at the Montenegrin port of Antivari. The grim material of war has reached various parts of Montenegro without arousing the suspicions of the watchdogs of the foreign Powers. But the army that guards the frontier—an army of readiness for any emergency—disclaims any attention to assume an aggressive attitude against Turkey. Its commanders have issued orders strictly forbidding the soldiers, pending the result of negotiations, from engaging in any act of hostility unless they are attacked. "This notwithstanding, Montenegro will not demobilise her forces until a satisfactory arrangement of the dispute with Turkey is reached. The authorities declare that they have had enough of Turk-< •islh bluff—of Turkish violation of international law."

CHAOS IN ALBANIA. •MURDERERS, ROBBERS AND THIEVES AT LARGE. The Uskub correspondent of the Kolnische Zeitung paints the situation in Al- ; bania in very gloomy colors. "Since the departure of the Albanians from Uskub," he says, "almost all Government authority in the vilayet of Kosovo has ceased. The conditions in Albania simply beggar description. All the prisons have been opened, and thousands of murderers, robbers and thieves have been released and are sweeping the country from one end to the other, intensifying the insecurity to an incredible degree. Of authority there is no longer any trace. All the power of the Government has been abolished as completely as conld be, anel only Albanian laws and Albanian arbitrariness prevail. The military stores have been plundered, and not only arms, but also uniforms, boots, tents, even cooking utensils have been carried off. Kaimakams, mudirs, judicial authorities, police and gendarmerie all belong to the past, and are no longer to be found. Murders are the order of the day, and all that the Albanians have been demanding in their programme of 14 points (schools, roads, etc.) is being destroyed by themselves. At Ipek the school in course of construction has been razed to the ground; the depots of the contractors who are engaged in constructing the roads demanded by the Albanians have been plundered; and even the house, of the chief engineer, an Austrian named Grubhoffer, was searched by a band of armed Albanians, who carried off £250 from the Arm's cash-box."