GREECE.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 June 1916, Page 5

GREECE.

GREECE MISLED BY HER •'LEADERS." KING'S COUNSELLORS AND EVIL COUNSEL. MISREPRESENTATION OF ALLIES' PEACEFUL OBJECTS. Corfu, May 7. King Constantine's Cabinet seems just now to be bent upon effecting the political and financial ruin of this country (writes Mr. M. Donohoe). Openly it professes to be friendly to the Entente Powers, but secretly it favors the cause of the Central Powers.

Greece now boasts a double-headed censorship under which M. Skouloudis fust, then M. Rhallis, effecluatly destroy any attempt at impartial criticism or even mere statement of fact concerning the present-day events in'the country. Internally,, Greece—thanks to the absence of anything bearing a reasonable resemblance, to a system of responsible Government—is rapidly drifting towards anarchy. She is on the verge, of bankruptcy, morally, financially, and politically.

ICING'S COUNSELLORS. King Constantino himself is perhaps not as much to blame as his illegally constituted advisers, together with the powerful military clique which now holds sway in Greece. The monarch lends too ready an ear to the alarmist stories of his political and military counsellors who read evil into every action—however harmless—of the Entente Powers, and who profess to sec in the scheme for the transport o p Scrb'au troops flV er the Greek"' railways nothing less than a plot aimed at the overthrow of the present monarchy.

Every day fresh stories of the contetnrlated "Entente perfidy" reach the Royal ears from the same inspired sources; everywhere there prevails a slate of unrest, irritation, and suspicion. A majority of the people of Greece who have become weary of all this political chicanery look round for a leader, awaiting the signal to assert themselves and drive forth from the. Chamber of Deputies these men who have no claim to he called the nation's representatives. But meanwhile M. Venizelos, who is still remembered and revered as a saviour of the country, "lies low," and all we hear from his side is that "the time is not ripe for action." So the real Greece waits and wonders «*hen she is to be delivered from political bondage.

AN'ARMY OF UNREST. The. army itself is in a state bordering on disintegration. Long inaction under the. colors has sapped its vitality, and ruined its organisation: it is gradually demobilising itself without waiting for the official sanction until reeenlly thought to be due. It is that (whether on th'o initiative of tlie Qneeh or otherwise) officers in the army have been drawing double pay, while the wives and families of the soldiers mobilised have received nothing at all from the State, the Government being ittfible or unwilling to allow soldiers' dependents the meagre dole to which they weYe entitled. Faced with starvation, manv soldiers' wives wrote to , their husbands. But here the censorship once more tried its hand; the letters were suppressed; but the news reached some of the men quartered i,n remote Tlies=e.ly'and Macedonia; and. abandoning their regiments in thousands, they made their way home. On this the military favored severe measures; but the Government—which feared the effect of arresting malcontents en miissc for the ejime of seeking to succour. the victims of Government lieglect—refrained from taking extreme mesiMtrcs aiid very artfully legalised the infringement of military discipline by grantinsr long leave to a large percentage of the whole army, including officers.

ARMY PARTY'S PRETENSIONS. This then, is the military organisation which .the Government hint may be' used to oppose the peaceful passage of Serbian troops across Greek territory; this is flic armv which, lacking ammunition, rifles and necessary supplies, exists from day to day by the bounty of the Allies and the benevolence of the Allied fleet.

Unhappy Greece, already politically divided, is now presented with ft fresh complication, in the shape of the intrusion of armed polities in ftn attempt to gain control of the civil administrative machinery in order, if possible, to intimidate the Allies. The Government is secretly encouraging the re-establishing of the military league, which body was such a potent factor in Greece seven years ago. The King, by the way, has no liking for this step, as the history nf the events of IfOOO is still fresh in the Royal memory; so he has tabooed the present orpf*nifj".t)on, Notwithstanding the Royal disapproval, however, the league is thriving. The secretary, it appears, announces that it is aiming at ridding Greece of all foreign intervention and foreign influcce.

HOW ATHENS HAMPERS GREECE. In their many dealings with the present Cabinet, the Entente representatives have by turns tried methods mild and "methods severe-, neither bave accomplished iivnch; tberc would seem to h-.ve been either 'toft 'much of the one or too '.it'tle of the other.

At present the Government, always petulant find often spiteful towards the Entente, is i-very ready in its small way to discredit the Allies and to attempt to besmirch their cause. General Sarrail at Salonika finds the problem of the armed hosts before, him much !(■«.• perplexing than that of the unfri'crdly GVeek Goverment behind him, Doubtless the Allies in their various dealings with the Skouloudis Cabinet have made many mistakes. The possibility of a compromise on the question (.f transport of Serbian troops is already hailed by the rabid sectibn of the Athens press as a confession of weakness, and described in the sense, of being a great moral victory achieved by the Government over the. "Allied Powers.

Mr, Skouloudis, iu consequence, finds himself to-day in possession of an enhanced reputation as politician and skilful diplomat.