FALL OF SCUTARI

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 285, 25 April 1913, Page 5

FALL OF SCUTARI

DESPERATE FlGHTfiffr. ■BOO.O KILLED. A GRAVE SITUATION.' 7 By Cable—Press Association —Copyright! London, April 23. Continental telegrams emphasise the gravity of the new situation arising . "over the fall of Scutari. Some allege that it is Austria's intention to enforce the Powers' demand for Montenegro's withdrawal. • Advices from Cattara state that the fighting ar.ound Scutari was decided by *~*~the ServiajiTfrtillery silencing the bat-' teries one after another. The Montenegrins, during the night time, captured : the important positions. The artillery, fire has laid the Port of Scutari in ruins. King Nicholas and the Princes will 1 enter to-day. , Belgrade, April 23. There are great rejoicings over the capture of Scutari. Rome, April 23. The fighting at Scutari was desperate. ■ The Montenegrins lost three thousand men killed, and the Turks five thousand. Cettinje, April 23. . It is officially stated that after the! capture of Tarabosch, Essad Pasha ' opened negotiations on behalf of the garrison. The latter left the town with, their arms. ' Corfu, April 23. , The Bishop of Durazzo has appealed: to Sir Edward Grey and M. Sazonoff' for the protection of Christians. Since the Servians withdrew sixteen have; been murdered in the distract, i DETAILS OF THE ASSAULT. AUSTRLVS ATTITUDE. GENERAL REJOICINGS. j Received 24, 9.5 p.m. j Cettinje, April 21 j Vast crowds cheered the King, who ] received the Allies' congratulations. j The Turkish ammunition was almost] spent when Essad Pasha surrendered. j Tarabosch was taken without a shot j being fired. }

Vienna, April 24. The general assault began on Monday morning, following a thirty-six hours bombardment. The Turks made a heroid resistance, their quick-firers mowing .down hundreds of Montenegrins at the Droitza fort, but fresh reinforcements, with an irresiaitible rush, carried the pdfeition. M. Berclitold has addressed a Note to the Powers, demanding the evacuation of Scutari in forty-eight hours.' There a strong ptiblic feeling that Austria liAs been fooled by Europe and that the concert was merely an expedient to enable Montenegro to attain h?r desire to be safe from Austrian interference. The authorities believe that an expeditionary force of forty thousand will eject King Nicholas bloodlesslv. Austria is prepared to undertake this. Berlin, April 24. Austria's attitude is watched with anxiety. It is believed that the Powers will give Austria and Italy a mandate to eject the Montenegrins. Belgrade, April 24. The city is illuminated, and wine is being distributed in the streets. The maimed soldiers left the hospitals to participate in the rejoicings. Athens, April 24. The town is illuminated in honor of -the victory. St. Petersburg, April 24. Crowds, including many military men, attended a Te Deum of great jubilation. THE NIGRITA'INCIDENT. Received 24, 9.5 p.m. Salonika, April 24. The Greco-Bulgarian Commission failed to agree over the Nignta incident.. The Greek and Bulgarian delegates hare drafted separate reports. THE ARMISTICE EXTENDED. Constantinople, April 23. The Turko-Bulgarian armistice has been extended until midday on Monday. "AN HONORABLE AND'PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT." Received 24, 10.50 p.m. London, April 24. Mr. Asquith, speaking at the Foreign Press banquet, said that he believed an honorable and peaceful settlement of all questions raised by the war would soon be reached.

THE SIEGE OF SCUTARI. MONTENEGRO'S LONG STRUGGLE. Scutari, which is the principal city of Albania, has a population of from 30,000 to 40,000. It stands on a plain about 14 miles inland from the Adriatic Sea and about the same distance from the frontier of Montenegro. The plain is enclosed on every side by lofty mountains, except towards the lake of Scutari, across which the frontier of Montenegro runs. The siege of Scutari by Montenegro began on October 8 last. The first successes of the war near Tuzi had (lushed the Montenegrins with victory, and they believed that they had only to assault Taranosch at once for Scutari to fall into their hands. In many quarters it is believed that had they (lone so they would have succeeded, since at that date the reinforcements which arrived later had not reached the town. But, out of the desire not to lose men unnecessarily—a desire which was strengthened by the comparatively heavy losses at Detchitch and Zogaj, caused by the foolhardlv courage of the men—King Nicholas forbade an assault to be delivered. Until the armistice, the army had remained in front of Scutari in sight of. though as far from capturing, the town as before the war began. For an army such as the Montenegrin army, with practically no organisation and ill-supplied with artillery, it was unfortunate that the task set it should have included the siege of a modern fortress. But in the last few months, and especially since the j-.motion with the Servians at Alessio, the Montenegrins have been asking themselves whose fault jt was that there were no gia. AH a» was to I* w

F risMly ' <*r : . j, is attached to .the King. ■ - - wrongly- (.wrote the Cettinje the* Times in a recent, Bespatfeh-fvtKe- pe'oplC-of Montenegro coji- . sider that, the whple future economic' i prosperity of their country depends upon the possession of Scutari, and the, district which wiftgo with it. At all events this was the/principal reason for which Montenfegro was ready to go to war with Turkey. Since she had failed in her enterprise from the military poiiit of view, it was natural that efforts should have been made to repair this failure by diplomatic means. But Austria already possessed considerable interest in Scutari, which, in the event of the town being included in Albania, would be valuable as a nucleus for the extension of Austrian influence. The price asked for the support of Montenegrin claims was tliere- • fore higher than King Nicholas would ; pay; for to give up to Austria the Lov- | tchen Mountain, which dominates Cettinje and which is closely connected with : the patriotic sentiments of the Monte- ■ negrins, might have easily set a spark ; to the agitation-which even the mueh- . desired acquisition of Scutari might not' allay, quite apart from the resentment which the conclusion of any compact with Austria would probably arouse among the people. The fall of Scutari will doubtless cause embarrassment to tlie Powers, who had decided that it was to be incorporated in an independent State of Albania. The 'Vienna correspondent of the Times said last montli:—"The fall of Scutari would, of course, imperil the settlement at which Russia and Austria-Hungary have almost arrived, of the Albanian frontier question. The settlement is based on the incorporation of Scutari in Albania in return for Slav compensation elsewhere. If the Montenegrins took and held Sen-: tari, the bargain would be difficult to: carry out. As soon as the agreement is complete the Montenegrins and Servians j will be 'invited' by the Powers to with-! draw their troops outside the frontiers; agreed upon. "Unauthorised voices are, nevertheless, raised to declare that the question of Scutari is by no means a vital AustroHungarian interest, and that it is, on the contrary, a matter of comparative indifference whether the city belongs in future to Albania or to Montenegro. The Socialist organ, which frequently uses the language of common sense, de- ' clares the question to be merely one of what semi-official writers imagine to be Austrian prestige, but, it adds, nobody commanded those in power to nail their colors to the mast over the question of Scutari without waiting for the issue of the Balkan War. Austrian prestige will recover from the loss of Scutari as rapidly as it recovered from non-interven-tion in the Sanjak of Novi Bazar. Count Sternberg, the 'enfant terrible' of Austrian public life, declares roundly, in another journal, that the whole scheme of creating an Albania to be used as a counterpoise against Servia and other Balkan States is a piece of folly. We, lie adds, ought rather to give Albania to the Balkan States and let them enjoy their indigestion—provided that we obtain in return markets for our goods and a clear trade route to Salonika."

THE ALBANIAN FRONTIER.

_ The Bulgarians are almost at daggers drawn with the Servians over the delimitation of the .Albanian frontier. Bulgaria rhiims certain districts which Servifi has already ear-marked as her own; f(jid without considering how far the settlement must depend upon the will (|f the Powers, the Bulgarians and Servians are ready to fly at each other's throats. But, dangerous as the quarrel is, it'Ts" a small matter compared with the trouble which is now rapidly coming to a head between the Greeks and the Bulgarians in Southern Macedonia, The Greeks have always looked upon Salonika as part of their national heritage, and they strained every nerve to forestall the Bulgarians in the occupation of the citv. When the two armies reached the city almost simultaneously, an actual outbreak of hostilities was barely prevented; and since then the bitter rivalry between them has brought them dose to tlieh ring of war. So Ion? as the resistance of the Turks compelled them to co-operate against the common foe. tliis difficulty could he kept in the background. But as peace is certain to be concluded shortly between Turkey and the Allies. < Irecce and Bulgaria have now time and energy to spend on their own private quarrel-;, and Salonika is the (Treat prize for which both of them have b"Pn striving. A few days a2O the Bulgarian Foreign Minister" declared that Salonika is largely Bulgarian in origin and in population, and the Greeks have answered this challenge bv concentrating 120,000 troops round the city and throwing up fortifications there. There is every probability of an armed conflict, in which Servia would almost certainly aid Greece, because nt her old grudge ( against Bulgaria and her resentment at what she considers the selfish and unscrupulous policy of Bulgaria.