NEW DICTATOR

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21211, 6 September 1940, Page 6

NEW DICTATOR

PREMIER OF RUMANIA KING’S POWERS LIMITED ANTONESCU’S NEW REGIME (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel Copyright) Received Sept. 6, 3.15 p.m.) BUCHAREST, Sept. 5 The decree suspending Parliament limits King Carol’s powers and makes General Antonescu virtual dictator. King Carol must obtain the Premier’s consent for the ap-

pointment of Ministers, but may mint money, bestow decorations, grant reprieves and conclude treaties. General Antonescu is forming a new Government, which it is believed will be composed almost entirely of members of the Iron Guard.

For the first time since King Carol came to the Throne the Premier took the oath before forming a Cabinet. General Antonescu issued a proclamation, stating: “We haven’t a new Government but a new regime. I am constituting the Government on a new basis and presenting the people with a new programme which they can judge for themselves. It will be purely a national programme, based on national faith. I shall reform the State by this step.” Dispute Over Madame Lupescu General Antonescu demanded the dismissal of King Carol’s ring of intimate advisers and King Carol’s righthand man, M. Urdarlanu, whose title of Marshal of the Royal Court has been resigned. The Bucharest correspondent of the American Press says King Carol hedged for hours before he signed the decree. General Antonescu also demanded the banishment of Madame Lupescu, but King Carol threatened to leave Rumania with her. Strengthen Axis Ties General Antonescu announced that he is strengthening the Axis ties. General Antonescu will complete his Cabinet in several days. It is not likely to include M. Maniu. Dictator Powers A Royal decree dissolving the Rumanian Parliament, suspending the Constitution and granting the new Prime Minister, General Antonescu, supreme powers to rule the country, was issued at dawn today, says a message from Bucharest. King Carol also accepted, as a result of the shooting, the resignation of M. Urdarianu, Marshal of the Royal Court. He was Carol’s righthand man. General Antonescu is hurriedly forming a strong Government to restore order as the Russian threat grows. Russian troop movements on the Rumanian frontier are creating intense nervousness. General Antonescu summoned all Rumanian generals to a surprise conference, of which there is no official explanation. The Germans are expected to take action should the Russians march. In Berlin, however, it is officially denied that German mechanised forces are taking over the defence of the Russian-Rumanian border. The special correspondent of the Daily Mail at Belgrade forwards a report from Budapest that German troops are reported to have occupied strategic positions in north-eastern Hungary along the main railway linking Rumania with Germany. Italian Consulate Wrecked The disorders last Tuesday were, it is revealed, more widespread and more serious than has been supposed. In spite of outward calm there is an undertone of anxiety, as the Iron Guard is expected to exploit the popular anger all over the country against the Vienna award. Demonstrators completely wrecked the Italian Consulate at Cluj, and only the intervention of the police saved the consul. The Italian Consulate at Timisoara is also reported to have been destroyed and the consul manhandled. Several deaths are reported to have occurred when Rumanian troops and civilians resisted Hungarians crossing the frontier at Satumare prematurely.