GENERAL ITEMS.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 January 1916, Page 5

GENERAL ITEMS.

NOTES FROM THE TIMES. COUNTING THE CHICKENS. Times and Sydney Sun Services. Received Jan. 7, 5.5 p.m. London, Jan. 17. The Turks who were defeated at Masagrish left behind them a largo quantity of mcdal9 which had been struck to commemorate their victory. The British staff distributed them as souvenirs to the troops.

SMUGGLING RIFE. The Times' Washington correspondent says that ibhe news that Britain at last really means to institute a strangulating blockade has been received with the greatest interest. American correspondents on the Continent agree 'that wholesale smuggling of food, rubber, and fats is going on from Denmark and Holland into Germany. America is speculating whether Ger■rnany is playing fair with the enormous supplies sent to the relief of Belgium, BELGIUM'S LIBERATION WANTED. Amsterdam, Jan. 17. The Telegraaf asserts that neutral States are negotiating with a view to demanding the liberation of Belgium, and threaten to break off relations with Germany. SARCASTIC GERMAN PAPERS. Tho German press is sarcastic at Mr. Runciman's trade speech. The Cologne Gazette says that it is equally impossible to break either the economic or military strength. Germany can hold f\\t as long as she has ccftil and iron, and winnable soil productive of seed. A DESPONDENT MONARCH. A correspondent of Le Petit Parisien, who conversed with King Peter during the retreat, said that he sadly remarked: ''They said, 'Waif eight days. We wailed three weeks, but no one came. My soldiers fought bravely, and if there had been no Bulgarians wo! ivould have smashed up the Germans.'"