THE MARTYRDOOM OF BELGIUM

Taranaki Daily News, 20 March 1918, Page 7

THE MARTYRDOOM OF BELGIUM

22 EXECUTIONS. London, Jan. 12. Reuters Agency states that the latest reformation from Belgium shows that •is a result of German exactions the condition of occupied Belgium lias reached a most critical stage. Owing to lack of manure the crops are very poor and prices have risen alarmingly. A patch of two and a half acres of potatoes costs £4OO, a similar area of beans €BOO, and of onions £4OOO. Owing to scarcity of fodder and military requisitions, cattle have seriously diminished in quantity. atid'in Flanders, Luxembourg, and the army zone generally, almost disappeared. The enemy keeps Flanders under a reffimc of terror. Villages and towns aifi raided to obtain laborers for the front and, if some unfortunate succeeds n escaping, the commune is heavily fined and the family held Old men and children are imprisoned as a reprisal or sent to the front to replace the missing man. Amsterdam, Jan, 11. "Les Nouvelles" reports that Emile St'vigny, Customs House officer at Mae-, in Belgium, was condemned to' death and hr-.s been shot. It is also reported that Father Vendenhout, Superior of the Order of Christian Brothers at Maebeycki a native of Tilburg, in H-.'land, has been condemned to hard 'n'lor for life and that eight other mem--1)-»s of the Order have been condemned to one vear's imprisonment each T lr> Fbishinsr correspondent of the' Telegraaf reports that twenty-two persons, including four from Antwerp, eight from Ghent, and a Dutch skipper were exicuted at Ghent on the 20th ult. for ■T'cged e;ponage. Three other Dutchmen have been condemned to three, four, and ten years' imprisonment respective- !? A large number of Belgians have also received heavy sentences of imprisonment, whilst numerous others are still incarcerated in Ghent awaiting trial.— Rt-uter.