AUSTRO-GERMANY.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 December 1915, Page 5

AUSTRO-GERMANY.

PORTENTOUS. : A HOUSE DIVIDED. AUSTRIA WANTS PEACE. MINISTERS RESIGN. Received Dec. 2, 5.5 p.m. London, Dec. 1. A sensation has been caused iby the announcement in Vienna that the Ministers of the Interior, Commerce, and Finance have resigned. Prince Hohenlohe Schillings, of the Draconian Guards, an ex-Governor of Trieste, is the new Minister of the Interior. It is surmised that serious happenings have necessitated the changes, which are interpreted as being similar to those which filled the army with German tools and sympathisers. The Parliament has not met since the opening of the war, and the nation is without means of, influencing the Government. The public connect the crisis with the Kaiser's visit, though German newspapers suggest that his visit was for the purpose of discussing the ownership of the conquered Serbian territory, and the possibility of inducing Serbia to conclude peace. The Daily News' Rome correspondent states that the Kaiser's object in visiting Vienna was to dissuade the aged and obstinate Emperor Francis Joseph from concluding separate peace. The Pope's exhortations had already resulted in Austria's fruitless attempt to negotiate a separate peace with Russia, and when Emperor Francis Joseph notified the Pope that he welcomed the Papal efforts to end a disastrous war the Kaiser sent Cardinal Hartmann post haste to Some to inform the Pope that Germany would oppose premature efforts for peace. The financial condition of AustriaHungary is most serious. The loans for sixteen months only aggregate 52 millions sterling, and have mostly been compulsorily commandeered from bank savings. Received Dec. 2, 7.G5 p.m. Vienna, Dec. 1. Herr Ritter von Lah, Governor of the Forstall Savings Bank, is the new Minister of Finance, and Herr von FitzMuller is Minister of Commerce.

A MODERATE VIEW. GERMAN DOMINATION. Received Dec. 2, 10.15 p.m. London, Dec. 2. A Hungarian correspondent of the. iMorning Post says that the rumors of Austrian peace desires can be dismissed. The most probable explanation of the Kaiser's visit is the desire to establish an Austro-German tariff union, whereto the three retiring Ministers were hostile.

Reuter's Zurich correspondent states that moderate circles in Vienna are con- j cerned, believing that the resignations I indicate that Germany's control is extending to internal administration. The new Ministers have strong German leanings. Moderates attribute the resignation of the Minister of Commerce to his'strong opposition to an economic union with Germany, and point out that his successor, Herr von Spitz-Muller, has inti- j mate financial relations with Herr Helfferich. TALK OF PEACE. ■ A LEADING PAPER'S DEMAND. Received Dec. 2, 7.5 p.m. Copenhagen, Dec. 1. The Vorwaerts demands that the Government permit the Reichstag to freely and ptrblicly discuss terms, with a view to ensuring the people's support when negotiations open. RAILWAYS CONGESTED. SWISS FRONTIER CLOSED. Received Dec. 2, 5.5 p.m. Rotterdam, Dec. 1. The railways in West and South Germany are congested, and the Swiss frontier is closed. It is believed that there is a concentration of Germans to the Eastward. Germans are not permitted to enter the Fatherland. , ACUTE DISSENSIONS. ' OVER POLISH SPOILS. London, Dee. 1. The Daily Mail's Rome correspondent says the Kaiser's visit to Vienna is due to acute Austro-German dissensions', abMftr on.au«»tioa« relating te Poland.