BALKAN PROPHETS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 140, 31 October 1912, Page 4

BALKAN PROPHETS.

The flies of the London newspapers show 'that the outbreak of war on a large scale, in the Balkans was not expected to occur at earliest before the new year. The correspondents who were watching the development of the situation seem to have assumed that the Bulgarians would not risk a winter campaign, more especially as Turkey was known to have concentrated more than "200,000 troops in the Adrianople district, and. that the warlike threats of Montenegro were not to be taken seriously. Austria was said to have addressed a stern warning to Bulgaria, and Servia was stated to fear that her neighbour would reap all the advantages of a joint effort if it were made. But while the correspondents proved bad prophets, they foresaw accurately enough the plan of action that would be adopted by the allies in the event of a Jitruggle. They expected Servia and Greece to make an effort to reach Salonika, while the Bulgarian army, the strongest link in the chain encircling Turkey, held the attention of the main body of the Turks. The outcome of the conflict was not predicted, but it is easy to trace in the guarded comments a belief that the allies would find it safer to wait for Turkey's collapse from internal decay than to face the hazards of a war. The fighting capabilities of the Turks are written large on history, while the people of the small Balkan States liave still to prove their capacity for organised effort. The cablegrams show that they are setting about the demonstration in a very businesslike way.