AUSTRIA'S PLIGHT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 82, 1 September 1914, Page 3

AUSTRIA'S PLIGHT.

'niH BURDEN OF ARJ,U.UiCv;,I

AN MJUNOAUCAL LlllSlS.

Writing to a Lou-don journal a. lew liionuis aj».', :U. \ ieiiik.su journalist, Uieiv .i.uuaoji' ;.u uiu tw.o'iw lmauc.a; uuul monarchy, mucc iiu-cu Ausuia--1 limitary lias u l; un a ureal, war, so t'liat the position, ulen. iiu.i-1, in; appalling now. "When m tiic new Austrian aniituiieuts, wlu<ili nieiva.au;' me t-lli-t-l-i'i'-a .%tiv.'iigth by atn/ui, w.wu men ana Widened flu. jjuctjjei, with £j,.iW,uui, were accepted wiUi cheers oi Xoirg J»ve iilie iumyi' by file <jiiuu.au ists in ikie rceieiioiul, .uo-ule thougnt that the Oovenimeut u*ju.d at iiust let me. iKKir taxppayei'a lake, breath'' (il. Pelusto wrote;. A year elapsed, and the Alvuisters of hi B Apostolic ilajßßty decided to immolate on t'he aiuir oi tiie -Uoloch of armed peace £SO,OWJ,OiKI mure I "Austria is to .bo tmusfu'riiwd into one; va = t barracks, The new military law of 1912, which has reduced the three years' period for the cavalry and the military service to two years for the infantry, but lias maintained ihe threefour years for t'hc navy, has on the other handi prolonged the military duties of pvery citizen ID the age of lii'ty years.

"The. mobilisation caused bj uie Balkan war lm s cost £17,000,000, bat the Austrian rulers are nut wa'-isiied with uiis Utile bill. In their lasi, iimnisterial council tihey have, decided to uicreas.: lhe actual troop-contingent by 40,000 men, wlueV. will necessitate an outlay of £8,500,000. Moreover, as the Dreadnoughts which have been built in recent yea.rs are now, according to what the experts want ite to ilmlieve, a lot n.l' cast-iron, the super-Dreadnoughts lieing tlie only invincible nieii-'o-war at present —they hove, decided to build four of the.-* 23,000-ton Dreadnoughts, with 3(> centimeter guns, isiuce t'he ;!0 centimeter ones are also insufficient now. and each of these men-o'-war will cost the modest amount .nf £2,.500,000. It seems that the efficacy of these 'majestic instruments of murder is really exerted to its full only when accompanied .by a llotilla of orui:.ers, torpedoes, anil an amount of £iI,(IUO,OUO has been foreseen for this purpose. Therefore the full cost- vi new military and navy armaments will amount to £>/.- OtIOJKIO.

"Iho news of this portentous outlay lias created a, gireat deal of uneasiness in Austria, which is sultcrirrg from; an economical, crisis such as has seldom been experienced. But on the. Stivk K.wluinge the iron shares 'have immediately gono a,p.. Meanwhile, in the Vienna bourgeois Press, two ire tired ad mirals have, been kindling the sacr.nl lire of patriotism and are working hairtf for the shareholders of the building companies. "It seems, however, impossible thai tile financial situation of the d.uul ■monarchy will allow this new folly to be perpetrated. During the I°st five years the liabilities of the Austrian (iovcnimcirt have iimreasod! £3<i,000,000. and tlie interest which the Treasury has to pay on the general indebtedness amounts to £-10,000 every day. To k'v.y £40,000,000, the Plate will have to hoi'-' row the last pemiv of the Austrian hanks, and the rate of interest will not fail to igo so 'high for flu- commercial nurpc::-,!« that the bankruptcies (which this year -are double the number of lost ycarl will rst'dl further increase. Manv factories 'hae. already c.lraed' their door'-;, very many unemployed look desperately for occupation, and tlio situation grows every anioment more tragic. But. the. members of Hie Austrian <>'<>verninent have no contact with the people, and know nothing of their distress They are lwd pilots, and tiicy steer their ship K'tatc towards deBtTnictiuu and ruin."