NEWS BY MAIL.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 November 1917, Page 7

NEWS BY MAIL.

JAPAN'S "THREAT."

Zurich, August 2G. Referring to alleged movements of Japanese troops of the frontier of Manchuria, tlio Muenehener Neueste Xachrichteu says:—

''This war lias already "brought so many surprises that it would not be well to under-estimate this last threat. It 1b well known that the Japanese have accumulated stronir forces'in Manchuria. Their transportation to the Russian front would be a long proceeding if railway facilities were the same as before the war, but Americans and Japanese have long 'been operating the Siberian railways. They have greatly improved rolling stock and laid new tracks, so that the situation is entirely changed. "In any event the Japanese will find us prepared to receive them like all our other foes." .

ISOLATING GERMANY.

j Copenhagen, August -28. J It is becoming increasingly difficult to enter Germany from neutral countries, and only a few Germans, such as diplomats. financiers, and others who have work in neutral countries, are allowed to leave Germany. It is generally believed that in a short time Germany will be hermetically closed. Iri the first year of the war about 200 persons daily arrived in Denmark from Germany. Y'eaijerday only four persons did so. The well-known Norwegian, Bjoern Bjoernson, a son of the famous author, who is now in Christiania, i 3 not allowed to return to Germany, despite the fact that he has in the most demonstrative way expressed sympathy with Germany on several occasions, that he lived for several years in Berlin, and has visit Id the Kaiser, Hindenburg, Ludendorff, and Bethmann-Hollweg. The reason for his exclusion is said to be that he declared in a neutral country that the Gorman censor prevented Germans from getting information as to'their real situation from foreign countries.

TO REMAIN GERMAN "ETERNALLY."

Amsterdam, Sept. 4. The German Press, as was to be expected, sends up a howl of delight over the capture of Riga, A noteworthy featiire of the newspapers' comment on the event is that nearly all claim that not only is Riga a German city, but that it must remain in German possession. The Berliner Tageblatt emphasises that point, and the Lokal Anzeiger claims the city as German through and through, while the Taegliche Rundschau says the' capture of Riga is not only a great military success, but a deed which will greatly strengthen German national pride.

The Cologne Volks Zeitung says that after the long wait before Sign, "the sudden news that the German flag floats over the city will arouse the greatest joy in all Germany." Everyone, the journal goes on, was beginning to think Russia could be persuaded to conclude peace without further bloodshed. "That hope ha s not been fulfilled, so the cannons had to speak again, that peace might be served in another, and, let us hope, more effectual fashion."

SIXTY-THREE NEW SHIPS.

London, September 0. How greatly the construction of merchant ships has been accelerated is indicated by two supplements just issued by Lloyd's Register of Shipping. These show that in less than six weeks—from June 8 to July 17—over 100 new vessels were added to the register. Of these 63 are British.

Most of the new ships are of large tonnage. Further supplements, it is expected, will show a still faster rate in building.

EMPEROR FREES 60,000 PRISONERS.

Zurich, August 28. It Is announced from Vienna that more than fill,ooo political prisoners have been released in eonseqyence of the amnesty recently promulgated by the Emperor Charles. The exact number of those released is not given. In well-iji-;formed Austrian circles it i s 'though however, that the number must exceed 100,000 and may even approach 200,000, because in some parts of the' countrv whole legions of Slavs, who had excited the suspicion or incurred the displeasure of the Austrian authorities, were driven indiscriminately without tral, into all sorts of improvised prisons. The condition of the political prisoners, recently released, was pitiable in the extreme. Herded together in buildings ntirely inadequate for their accommodation, they suffered the most terrible privations by reason of lack of food and frightful insanitary conditions. Thousands of them emerged from prison reduced to skeletons by the systematic lack of nourishment.

Up to the month of July, 1917, the relatives of political prisoners were prohibited from sending parcels of food to the prisoners. It) is no exaggeration to say,that practically every one of these victims of Austrian injustice has been transformed into a human wreck by the rigours of the Austrian prison regime for political offenders, which is far more [severe than the regime applied to common criminals.