SIDELIGHTS ON THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2665, 10 January 1916, Page 6

SIDELIGHTS ON THE WAR

WHAT THE NEUTRAL PRESS IS SAYING According to Rumanian newspapers, 't appears that the Garda Demnitatii Aationalo (the Guards of National Dignity), a. Bucharest organisation under the leadership of M. Valerian Drunniru, u Transyivanian, and composed of patriotic youths, have begun a campaign against those newspapers which havo German sympathies, namely, the "Moldova," ".Seara," "Zina," "Steagul," "Jnainte," ".Minerva," and "Cara." Tiio Guards—us- tlie.V are called—announced their programme on placards ill the city, and declared that theso newspapers, having sold the national honour and dignity of Rumania, will bo dealt with by the people, as the Government apparently was not strong enough to do so. They add that theso papers will not bo allowed to bo sold in Bucharest or other towns iu Rumania.

The programme was duly carried out find for days, when these papers aj> peared, crowds of young men attacked the distributing agents and their vans, nnd burned the papers in the streets, treating the polico with contempt. Hundreds of young men daily remove the pro-German papers from the news-shops and terrorise tiie newsvenders who dare to sell them. Senor Dato, the Spanish Premier, lias made the following statement with regard to Spanish policy: "Spain continues to observe neutrality respecting both the belligerents, and places at tile disposal of either group her diplomatic services should they be required. "This neutrality will be preserved to the end of the war, and it is Spain's desire to do everything to promote the cause of peace. No other nation, indeed, has a greater right to exercise that role and it is my hope, and one shared by King Alfonso, that the world peace "will be signed in Madrid. This, I may add, is not nil improbablo event."

The Swedish Press Bureau has been authorised to issue the following official communique from the Government "Owiiig i to certain statements in tho Norwegian paper "Tidens Tegn" regarding tho Aaland fortifications, tho Swedish Foreign Minister received in January last from tho Russian Minister in Stockholm certain confidential information regarding the general character and intention ef certain military arrangements under taken, and intended to be undertaken, on Aaland. . At the sarno time, the nope was expressed that in caso it should bo found essential, the Swedish Government "would reassure public opinion in Sweden with regard to the character ana aiin of the said armaments." The communique concludes by stating, that tho article in the above-named Norwegian paper must be due to a misunderstanding, or possibly to the author's evident desire to throwdiscredit on the Swedish Government and a section of the Swedish Press.

The Stockholm "Affaersvaerlden" states that a slackening off in the German iron market has set in, the consumption not exceeding 65 per cent, of the normal production. The minimum prices fixed have not been reached by several articles. A conference is being called of proprietors of ironworks with a view of steadying prices. The price of coke has risen only from nineteen to nineteen and a half marks a ton, whereas the price of coal has gone up from fourteen and a quarter marks to sixteen and a half.

British submarine activity is being watched in Copenhagen with intense interest. The journal "Politiken," the Government organ, says: The tables are now turned on Germany in waters where the Germans have hitherto been unchallenged' masters. This form of the English warfaro is doubtless exceedingly inconvenient to Germany, though it is considerably mitigated, as no neutral ships are molested. But Great Britain, nevertheless, hits harder because the effective isolation of Germany is resulting. The torpedo war against England was a mere pinprick warfare, as the English supplies were in no way crippled, while a similar loss of tonnage would sc-riously affect Germany. The Danish State Railway announces that the German steam packets from AVarnemunde to Gedser have been withdrawn, the reason, according to the "Kobenhavn," being that the forries are employed transporting troops from Baltic eastern ports to the Kiel Canal. The Russian-German exchange of disabled soldiers via Trelleborg, Sweden, has been stopped for the same leason. Several members' of the new Greek Cabinet are also members of tho Ger-man-Greek Society that was founded early in the year 1914. They are M. Dragoumis, M. N. S. Theotokis, at one time Greek Minister in Berlin; and Professor Dr. AV\ Eallis, the liophcv of the Minister of Justice. The Society, which is under the protection of the Queen of the Hellenes, has for its objpct the cultivation of good relations between Gennjiiy and Greece, and it considers its first task to be tlio publication of a magazine which shall disseminate a fuller knowledge of Greece in Germany.

Holland i'as to face the prospect of a considorablo increase in taxation, <aving to the.K-avy demand made upon the State iu these abnormal times. The drafting of the necessary measures ha* been in hand for some tims past, and it is now announced from an authoritative source, that the Bills fof the carrying, out of the tax reform scheme which was foreshadowed by the Minister of Finance, and which includes a tax on tobacco, have for the most part been sent to the Council of State. A technical revision, of the import tariff I is • in preparation. The feature of'the latest figures published in Holland relating to the prosperous herring fishing industry is the enormous quantities of horriug being supplied to Germany, which has bought <is much as 68,883 tons iu the past eight months.

Dr. Louis Levy, son of Mr. A. Levy, of this city, was formerly associated with the Hull Royal Infirmary, and after an interview with the Director of Medical Services, ho received a commission as surgical specialist, and was instructed to proceed to Aldershot for ten days' training, in order to take up an appointment' at a, casualty clearing station. Where he has been sent to has not yet been disclosed, but it is reasonable to presume that it is "somewhere in France." Dr. Levy was very highly esteemed at the Royal Hull Infirmary, and the committee wished to appoint "him senior surgeon of the staff, but the army and his duty called him. Before lie left. Sir James Ricketts (president of the infirmary) granted him an. honorarium of fifty guineas, in consideration of his services during the timo lie had been at the R.H.I. Ho has the distinction of being tho only house surgeon at the infirmary who has received such an honour.