TENSION IN THE BALKANS.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20756, 17 January 1933, Page 6

TENSION IN THE BALKANS.

problem of racial differences! SERBIA ARMING HEAVILY. i LTHB PRESS Spocial Service.] WELLINGTON, January lb\ Some aspects of tho problems at present facing the Balkan States, wiU special references to racial differences, were given by Captain Vladimir V. Verbi, 0.8. E., on his arrival at Wellington in. the new motor-ship Wanganella from Sydney. Captain Verbi was quite positive that there was no prospect of the Balkan peoples amalgamating into one united state. Racial differences were too strong, ho said. The Bulgars claimed that they were the oldest race, going 800 or 900 years back for their proof, while the Serbs, who since the Great War were the most numerous, were beginning to assert their authority. The partitioning of territory in the Balkans, according to the terms of the Versailles Treaty, was far from satisfactory, Captain Verbi continued. The Treaty had ostensibly been framed to protect minorities, but it. seemed that ifc was benefiting majorities. Bulgaria had been partitioned, and tracts of territory had been allotted to Serbia on tho one hand and to Rumania on the other. Those "Bulgarian people who had come under Serbian rule would gradually be assimilated into the Serbs, thus losing their nationality, whilo this would not be tho case of those who were under tho sovereignty of Rumania. Tho Rumanians wero a Latin race, and the Bulgars wore Slavs, consequently they would hardly mix, and many of the Rumanians "who wero inhabiting the territory ceded to Rumania wero returning to their native country to poverty, rather than remain under the dominance of the Rumanians. Comparison with Ireland. Captain Verbi compared the situation in the Balkans with that of Ireland at tho present time. Both the Serbs and tho Bulgars wero Slavonic people, just as the Irish came from a like stock; but there were differences between the two Balkan peoples which made them irreconcilable. One aspect which was not making for harmonious relations between tho Balkan races was that Serbia, through being a victorious Ally in the war, was permitted to arm, and arming she was to the teeth. Serbia's air force, Captain Verbi believed, was as strong a 3 that of Britain. Bulgaria, on the other hand, was »:i a similar position to Germany, and could arm only within very restricted limits. All these differences did not mako for peace, and things at present wero becoming a little tense in the "cockpit of Europe." Captain Verbi has had an interesting life, and one that most people would envy. Born in Bulgaria in 1873, he was at school in England from the age of 14 to 16, and having returned to the Balkans was at the Robert College, Constantinople, when ho met Dr. Gascoigne Wright, a Uganda missionary who was going to practise medicine in Palestine. He became interested, and offered himself for missionary work in Africa. He was first stationed at Taveta, which Karl Peters was then claiming for the Germans, but after ton years and three attacks of blackvvater fever there he was moved to tho Taita hills. Service In East Africa. Immediately on tho outbreak of the war in 1914, Captain Verbi was asked for his services by tho'Kenya Government, and until 1921 he was a special service officer attached to the Blast African General Headquarters. He saw active service throughout tho war in East Africa, and for his work in recruiting natives to construct an important railway for the conveyance of troops and munitions, without which German East Africa could not have been captured, toe received the 0.8. E. from the hands of the King. After tho Armistice Captain Verbi was sent to Russia with the British Military Mission, and in 1920 he was placed in charge of Russian refugees at Leninos. He retired from the mission four years ago, to settle on his estate at Ngeroni, in the Taita hills. Natives Being Spoilt. Captain Verbi has been travelling extensively recently, and has paid numerous visits to Mb' relatives in Bulgaria. He confessed that in his view the East African native is being spoilt, European settlers, missionaries, and officials vieing with one another in spoiling him, Without Serious consideration of the lines of futuro native development. The natives, ho said, were being given Christianity suited to England only, and such controversial questions as women's rights and the like were being introduced. Before tho war the natives saw very few whito men, and these behaved themselves Well; but now, with the growth of transport, they Were being brought more and more into touch with civilisation. They Saw the squabbles, hatreds, and animosities of the civilised world,; and not unnaturally began to imitate them. Captain Verbi, who speaks Bulgarian,! Russian, French, English, and some African tongues, is in New Zealand on a short holiday visit.