GENERAL ITEMS.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 January 1916, Page 5

GENERAL ITEMS.

NOTES FROM THE TIMES. BELATED DARDANELLES MAILS. Times and Sydney .Sun Services. London, Jan. 1). The New Zealand High Commissioner's office is ''snowed under" with undelivered Dardanelles mails. Two hundred bags are arriving daily, containing letters, newspapers, and parcels dated April and May, and a down sorters are busy. DIVIDED FORCES. Mr. Jeffries reports that the enemy forces in Macedonia are not pulling well together. King Ferdinand is credited with the intention ot having himself crowned Czar of Macedonia, at Ochrida.

COTTON BLOCKED. Only a thousand bales oi the. Adana cotton crop have reached Constantinople, because the trains are choked with arms, ammunition, and foodstulfa which German agents have 'ujen buying throughout Asia Minor at je'iM!**' pi ices. CONDITION'S IN BULGARIA. The Times' correspondent at Bucharest says that a Bulgarian who has arrived at Salonika describes the situation in Bulgaria as extremely obscure. The nation is divided into two camps, and the general populace, intoxicated by successes, are entirely faithful to King Ferdinand and the Radoslavoft" Cabinet. The most enlightened section remains hostile to the Government, aiul the movement is shaping throughout the country to insist on the occupation of Serbia and Macedonia, which should end the war. Since Bulgaria has realised her aspirations the Government contends that she must continue in order to remain faithful to Germany, and to assure the permanent uossossion of the conquered territories. 'The Bulgarians' casualties are estimated at one hundred thousand, and the schools and public buildings in Sofia are crowded with wounded.

THE KAISER'S TLLXESS. The Daily News' correspondent at New York says that a leading surgeon at Baltimore has received a letter from a doctor in .Berlin stating that the Kaiser is suffering from cancer of the larynx. The growth lias spread, and an operation was necessary to remove the larynx and substitute tubes. IXDIGXANT WOMEN. The Times' correspondent reports that German women are indignant at the authorities cancelling the annual drapery sales, the authorities insisting that it was inadvisable to offer special feminine inducements Tor extravagance at war time, and reducing the change of fashion? to a minimum,

IRISH PROTESTS AGAINST EXCLUSION. Received Jan. 11, !i.3 p.m. London, Jan. 10. The Times correspondent at Dublin says that the* Irish Unionists find Mr. A ; quith's excuse for their exclusion from the Military Service Bill is wholly unconvincing, and they expect their members in the Commons to make an effective protest at the committee stage, moving an amendment extending the operation of the Bill to Ireland. The feeling is not confined to Unionists, for thoughtful Nationalists fear the eli'eet of Ireland's exclusion on political opinion.

TO REDUCE GERMAN TRADE. The French Minister of Commerce is concentrating preparations for an Allied Trades Congress, and is determined on most aggressive and permanent antiGerman commercial treaties. The German press is whining. The Cologne Gazette says that if Germany's foreign trade is permanently reduced, the war, notwithstanding' their victories, is a failure. The Frankfurter Zeitnng ascribes the proposals to the unscrupulous English, adding: "The war must not end until the most favored nation treatment is guaranteed Germany everywhere.''

ENEMY'S STRENGTH AGAINST RUSSIA. Times and Sydney Sun Services. London, Jan. 10. The Times' correspondent at Petrograd says the enemy forces are estimated at 120 infantry and 23 cavalry divisions, with adequate artillery, along the entire front from the Gulf of Riga to the Roumanian border. These, are divided into four sections, from Tukkum to tlie Upper Niemen under General von Ijjindcnliurg, thence to the Pripet under Prince Leopold of Bavaria, op the Ikwa river under General von Linsingen, and on the Roumanian border under the Archduke Erederiek. General von IPflanzer commands the Austrian army in East Bnkowina, and Genera! von Bof.thmer the Germans in the Middle Strypa. FRENCH VIEW OP LABOR'S ATTITUDE. A correspondent at Paris says the decision of the British i.ahor Conference frankly has puzzled Frenchmen, who regard it as a sign that ignorance still prevails in Britain as to what is at stake. French Labor is gladly bearing many things which in time of peace brought tremendous conflicts between labor and ca-pital. Trance lias mobilised over seven millions of men and is just calling up for training the eighteen-year-old class. GERMANY'S COLONEL REPINGTON.

Colonel Moraht, writing in the Tageblatt. says lie expects German commanders to strike before the new Russian assault is effective. He warns the public that the Salonika defences are very strong, and that their capture will cost much blood, the Allies regarding it as the first position in the defence of Egypt. ONCE MORE IX THE LIMELIGHT. The Crown Prince, in a New Year message to his troops said: "I rely upon you it the New Year calls us to a decision, which Coil gr;\nt. One thought animates us all; Forward, with God for Empire and Emperor, towards a great future.''