THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1908. SERVIA'S HATRED OF AUSTRIA.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3040, 10 November 1908, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1908. SERVIA'S HATRED OF AUSTRIA.

Servia detests Austria. Servia is next to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and when they were suffering under Turkey she was anxious to save them by the process that is popular in the Balkans —devouring them. Up till the Austrian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Servia's ambitions were directed rather to these genuinely Servian lands than to Macedonia. Even after the Treaty of Berlin it was long before she realised that the northern and western part of hexnatural heritage was irreparably lost —because Austria had swallowed them instead, Also, the Servians have some ground for believing that Austria would not be sorry to swallow Servia. Austria, after the Turks, is the moat hated power in the Balkans—and Servia hates her most ot all. The army of Austria-Hungary is framed generally on the German model, but the peculiar constitution of the dual monarchy is reflected in the organisation of its military forces. The first line of the army is under a single command and administration, and is known as the

"common army." The Austrian Landwehr and Landsturm are, however, entirely separate from the Hungarian Landwehr and Landsturm. The two latter form the Hungarian national army, the excellence of which is guaranteed by the Constitution of 1867. Military service is compulsory and universal i throughout the Empire, liability extending from the 19th to the 42nd year. In the common army continuous service is at present for three years, followed by seven years in the reserve and then two years in the reserve of the Landwehr—l2 years altogether. The total war strength is given at 2,234,000, made up as follows:—lnfantry 915,000, cavalry 89,000, artillery 96,000, other arms and departments 1,000,000. The weapon of the infantry is the Mannlicher magazine rifle, while the cavalry use the carbine of the same pattern. The new Q.F. field gun is replacing the Uchatin's gun. This gun fires a shrapnel of about 14|Ib, and has a range of about 6,800 yards. The rate of fire is 21 rounds a minute. The navy consists of nine modern battleships (and three more building), three old battleships, three armoured cruisers, five [cruisers, four torpedoboats, nine destroyers (three more building), and 18 modern torpedoboats (eight more in course of construction). Servia also has compulsory and universal military service. Liability is from 18 to 50 years of age, but recruits join at 21, and complete their military service at 43 or 44. The national army has three "bans." The first is the active army and its reserve, constituting the first line; the second is supposed to provide reserve troops; and the third is the territorial army. There is also the levy en masse, which contains all those who have passed through the national army, and all other males from 18 to 50. In war the field army would amount to about 110,000 combatants. If the reserve troops of the second ban are fit to take the field they would raise the total strength to about 175,000. The reservists of the first and second bans not required to form first line and reserve troops, and, therefore, available to make good losses in the field, amount to some 50,000 or 60,000 men. The army is armed with the Mauser rifle, and the field gun is the De Bange, of 80-m. (3.15 in) calibre, which fires a shrapnel of 12£lb, and the extreme effective range is 7,600yda. The peace strength, according to the Budget of 1907, amounted to 35,605 officers and men, including non-combatants, and 1,838 gendarmerie.