AUSTRIA'S HIGH-HANDED THREAT.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 20, 24 January 1916, Page 5

AUSTRIA' S HIGH-HANDED THREAT.

PENALTIES FOR ALL WHO RESIST BEING STARVATION SUGGESTED AS EFFECTUAL AUXILIARY. m—— ' (Received 10.30 a.m.) . AMSTERDAM, January 23. Austria professes to regard the Montenegrin surrender as a fact, and has notified the Montenegrin commanders that the Austrians have begun to march into the interior to disarm the Montenegrin troops as a preliminary to further peace negotiations. She threatens penalties on all who resist. The "Cologne Gazette," which recently haughtily commented upon England's vain efforts to starve an empire stretching from Arras to Bagdad, says: "The King of Montenegro will find a means of compelling his rebellious soldiers to acquiesce in the surrender." The paper adds: "An effectual auxiliary, is starvation, however modest the Montenegrins claim to be in the matter of eating."

ITALIAN PRESS SUSPICIOUS OF KING NICHOLAS.

ATTEMPT TO RAISE PRO-GERMAN PARTY IN SERBIA. (Times and Sydney Sua Services.) ' f* ' (Received 10 a.m.) ROME, January 23. The Italian Press arjyises caution in accepting the Montenegrin assertions, pointing out the extreme smallness of the casualties at Mount Lovtchen. It contends that King Nicholas has not yet given proof of his actual intentions. Vienna is officially silent on the subject, but unofficially claims ultimata success for the pro-Austrian party in Montenegro, and suggests that Montenegro and Serbia should be made a joint kingdom under King Nicholas. From various European capitals come accounts describing Austro-Gcrman attempts to raise up a pro-Austrian party in Serbia.