AUSTRO-GERMANY.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 January 1917, Page 5

AUSTRO-GERMANY.

% . GERMAN FOOD CRISIS. A TERRIBLE OUTLOOK. WOMEN GROWING DESPERATE. NO FOOD FOR THEIR CHILDREN. PRICES RISEN' 30() TO 1000 PER CENT. WHAT WILL -HAPPENf Received .fan. 2!1, ft,r>n p.m, Amsterdam, ./miliary 2!).' An oflicial statement issued by the Imperial German Food Office declares that, despite the favorable com crop, Germany's position is worse than in WIC, owing to the failure of potatoes. A system of economy must be carried out immediately if it is to he possible for the nation to hold out till next harvest Imports from neutral countries are also decreasing in quantity, md foodstuffs are very source. A strict- organisation is necessary, hut this is difficult, owing to the opposition and resistance of large sections of the population to the ordinances »nd #cstrictions issued. • The Morning Post's Budapest correspondent states that the latest feature of the food crisis is the growing desperation of the women owing to" their being unable to provide their children with the bare necessaries of life. Many are absolutely without .coal, petroleum and -vood, while milk prices in many places have risen 300 to 1000 per cent. Tlie stock of rice in the country h estimated at fifty waggon loads. Beef is costing His a kilogramme, fat 7s !)d, butter 10s Sd New vegetables cannot be expected before July, so that unless a miracle happens famine i\ its worst form is inevitable. The fixing of maximum prices has resulted in the holding up of stocks, and thus far lias caused a greater scarcity. Some relief is afforded by pig slaughtering, the richer Budapest families having 'bought up thousands of small pigs in the spring and had them fed in the country, thus enabling them to receive considerable supplies of pork fat. This wholesale s'aughter is going on because the Government prohibits the use of maize fodder. I It is possible to restrict the feeding to a few hundred thousands in a besieged city, but to carry out the plan with respect to 120,000,000 is not easily managed. Hundreds of thousands of Socialists and other disaffected elements must be reckoned with, while millions of women, bereaved and poverty-stricken, are possessed of but- a single thought, and that is to feed their children. It is impossible to reason with them on political or patriotic grounds. The next few months will reveal the strength of the millions of uninstructed and desperate women who. have given their sons and husbands to the war, and now find they can endure the misery no longer. i * " *N OFFICIAL REPORT. AUSTRIAN'S FORCED TO WITHDRAW. Admiralty, per Wireless Kress. London, January 28. Austrian Official.—West of Oliputnow a superior enemy force penetrated our first line. We withdrew to the next height in the rear. THE KAISER'S BIRTHDAY. I GERMAN LOYALTY. Amsterdam, January 28. German papers are making a feature, of the Kaiser's birthday. They emphasise that Germany will follow the Kaiser through thick and thin until the end of the war. The Kaiser received addresses from all parts of the Empire. Replying to that of the Berlin Academy of Science, he faid he knew that Germany was ready to -sacrifice blood and treasure to secure a German victory, which was only obtainable! by the might of the German sword., The Kaiser pardoned a large number of convicted sailors, soldiers and civilians. He spent his birthday, at headquarters on the Eastern front with the Kaiserin, the Emperor Carl. Hen von Betlmiann-Holhveg,. Herr Zimmermann and General Hindenburg. At luncheon the- Emperor Carl, in toasting the Kaiser, declared that the successes of their allied armies had. inspired liim with confidence regarding the future operations. The Kaiser, resuonding, said that Austro-Germany, with her allies, will fight for a peace in- which the bonds of friendship, hardened by blood and iron, will be .characteriesd by equal strength and loyalty in the- labor of peace time. GERMANY NEEDS COLONIES. The Hague, January 23. Baron von Rcehenberg, former Governor of German East Africa, writing in the Nord-und-Sud, says that the Fatherland must have a colony on which it can depend in the next war. Australia would be unsuitable, because Australia is becoming too strong and would menace the German colonies. He advocates a colony consisting of a vast portion of the French and Belgian Congo, exclianging Kiao : cTiau, New Guinea, the Australasian Islands and Togoland for British East Africa, Uganda, Northern Rhodesia and Nyass.iland. Such a colonial empire would be easily defended from the sea. It would .be worthy of Germany's enterprising spirit and would yield all the raw material required. RECONCILIATION SUGGESTED. Amsterdam, January 2S. Herr Harden, -writing in the Zulcunft, opines that President Wilson's speech will be fruitful, despite the coldness of its reception. He foresees that France will be preserved from exhaustion and Belgium restored. Germany will pay the cost ot the war an-1 Britain and Fr.ince a quarter encli. Britain and Germany will be reconciled, Germany receiving coaling stations and colonies. AustriaHungary will be transformed into a federation, similar to Germany, iiiolmiing an inde.pemdfcat ( >i-nU mui [-osnibij