GERMANY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 234, 12 March 1915, Page 5

GERMANY

A DELUDED PRESIDENT. PASSES HIS DELUSION ON. Received March 11, S.SOp.m. Amsterdam, March 11. The Reichstag has opened. The President's address declared thai "li'ciii Vosgeg to the Channel and from the I'altic to Bukovina, our armies aro stand like a wall of steel.. The brave Turks arc guarding the Dardanelles, which the Anglo-French are vainly tryinj* to conquer. The Turks are also threatening Egypt." ._ THE GERMAN FINANCES. SOME TELLIXG BLUFF. Received March 12, 12.45 a.m. Berlin, March 11. The Budget estimates the surplus for the current year at £1,000,000, and asks credit for £500,000,000 to finance the war until the late autumn. The German finances arc more favorable than the Allies'. England had had the only noteworthy loan success. No policy of starvation or strangulation would cut off Germany's life-breath. An honorable peace would amply atone for the sacrifices for the future which would be Germany's. CALM IN BERLIN. Times and Sydney Sun Services. Received 11, 5.10 p.m. London, March 11. . A telegram from Berlin to Copenhagen says that feeling duping the last two days became extremel'y exoited, .but it has again become one of confidence in political and military spheres. TIIE TREATMENT OF PRISONERS. GERMAN DICTIONARIES GALORE. BUT MONOTONOUS DIETARY. London, March 10. A Times correspondent who visited a prisoners' camp in Germany learned that all the prisoners were placed in a quarantine pen for a month and then'drafted to other pons. A fence seven feet high, surmounted with barb wire, surrounded the buildings, which accommodated 250. These were heated with coke stoves. The mattresses were filled with shavings and the blankets were scanty, prisoners using greatcoats as coverlets. For breakfast there was coffee and bread, at midday a bowl of meat and potato soup and black bread, in the evening bread and potatoes. It was impossible to purchase extras, except soaj), brushes towels and German dic- ■ tionaries. The latter were ridiculously cheap, being sold at threepence. The officer in charge explained that they wanted the English and French to learn the German language so as to understand them better. The clothing of many of the prisoners was pitiable. They were permitted to write a postcard weekly. The. officer intimated that they would bt: employed in planting crops in the spring, and added thoughtfully, "No doubt they will be with us for the harvest." Copenhagen, March 10. The Germans are employing Hagennock's elephants to clear the roads behind the firing line in France. Koenig, the explorer, is usings7 Greenland dogs for war service, though he signed an agreement with the Greenland Administration that they should only be used on his South Pole expedition. PLAYING THE GAME. , Londo*l\, March 10. British fair-play in the o'lso.wai.e" of ' international law when in direct conflict with her own interests has been exemplified in two directions. , The President of the Admiralty Court ] over-ruled the objections of the Atj t'Tiiey-General regarding a captured prize which contained 1000 tons of copJ per from the United States to Gothcnr burg, though the Attorney-General re- , quinri its requisition for arsenai pv'.r----j poses and Britain was prepared to pay ~ handsomely for the copper. It was for ~ the use of contractors to the Swedish s Government. ,_ The second instance was the announcement through the British Embassy in ] Washington that the measures proposed r to he taken for restricting enemy trade rights with neutral contractors would be respected to the extent that cotton consigned to neutral ports only, when all engagements for sale, freightage, and insurance wore contracted before Maivli 2 would be allowed free passage, or if seized compensation would be paid at the contract price, a period of grace being fixed within the current month during which cargo may be loaded and vessels despatched. The announcement foreshadows Ord-ors-iu-Council covering all enemy trade through neutral channels. A FORLORN HOPE. Berlin, March 10. Is Addressing the Prussian Chamber, :s prior to adjourning for the recess, tin i, President said he trusted that before they met again the sure hope of victory which was theirs to-day would bi -° nearer.