POSITION IN GERMANY.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 January 1918, Page 2

POSITION IN GERMANY.

SOCIALISTS PERSECUTED FOOD SITUATION BETTER 'Delayed Cable), ■London, Dec. '27. Telegraphing from Amsterdam, the Times correspondent sa'ys: "A careful study of the German conditions shows that the food position is better and the methods of distribution have improved, though an acute administrative crisis is threatened owing to profiteering by farmers and junkers. Five thick slices of bread are allowed daily, but there are two meatless days a week, though the rich are able to buy fish and geese. The food of the working classes is of poor quality, but not sufficiently so to provoke serious disturbances. "There is no visible war' enthusiasm. The Russian negotiations have elated the public, which believes.that peace will immediately dawr. on the West, front after it has been concluded in the East. Meantime, from top to bottom, the watchword is, 'We must Hold out.' ■'The real' extent of the awful losses in Flanders is now becoming .known. The General Staff lias arrested Socialist leaders in the Rhineland because,they spread information The military authorities arc beginning to persecute the Minority Socialist?-, and are even trapping Herman revolutionaries leaving for neutral countries Herr Seheidemann, leader of the Minority Socialists, is busy at Stockholm, claiming that he is working for a general peace, founded upon the Russian proposal?. The military authorities arc anxious to delay the negotiations, expecting further gain and submarine succear.es, but the civil authorities tfcji.r a revulsion of feeling from the delays and failures, and, pressed by Austria, wis!, to secure peace at the earliest, moment, even at the cost of the abandonment of cherished designs. ''Events largely depend upon the loyalty of the troops to the military authorities which apparently remains absoluw." Telegraphing later, the correspondent said: "Dutch peoplo who have returned from Germany say that the food is no longer edible, and that it is more suitable'for pigs than human beings. The middle classes are most starved. The mortality among children and the aged is rising alarmingly. Whole families are suffering from famine, and are slowlv succumbing. German medical newsnapcrs agree that the increase in the number of cases af strangulated hernia and other intestinal disorders is due to the unwholesome food." A message from Zurich says that the Austro-German newspaners despondently describe the coal famine as dangerous. The Frankfort, miiiicipnlitv has compelled re=taurants and hotels to give refuge nnd warmth to the poor. From Munich it is reported that the Kaiser's pottery works have been closed because of the lack of coal. In the Reichstag, Herr Romann, a Minister, admitted that in some cities of Germany there was no coal. He denounced the agreements by which Germany had promised to supply eoal to Switzerland. A deputy interjected: "Make peace." _ '-The Government ami the people desir penc. h i n«t at the command of lour enemies,' Herr Pomann reolied.,