IN THE BALKANS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3170, 22 August 1917, Page 5

IN THE BALKANS

HISTORY TOLD IN GREEK DOCUMENTS WHERE CONSTANTINE'S HEART WAS Athens, August 20. Among the diplomatic documents which liavo been found is a dispatch from ConStantine, dated July 24, 191J, old style (actually August 7),' replying to the Kaiser's mossage, dated three days earlier, in which the Kaiser proposed that Greece should range herself on the side of tho Central Powers. Const-antine said: "The Emperor well knows that my personal sympathies, as well as my political opinions, attract mo to his proposal; but it is impossible to understand how' Greece can be useful,''as the Mediterranean is at the mercy of the British and French Navies, which could prevent the concentration of our troops. We would bo wiped off tho map. Neutrality is therefore necessarily imposed upon us." Herr von .Tagow (then German Foreign Minister) told tho Greek Minister that the Kaiser would understand tho necessity for the neutrality of Greece.—Aus.N.Z. Cable Assn. THE DISHONOURED TREATY. BLACKEST PAGE IN GREEK HISTORY. Athens, August 20. The Greek Foreign Minister, in tabling diplomatic documents relating to the Graeco-Serbian Treaty and the .enemy invasion of Macedonia, declared that they constituted a tangible proof of the moral degradation and infamy of the recent Ministers, and tho blackest page in tho history of Greece.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. BULGARS BOMBARD MONASTIR NUMEROUS CIVILIANS KILLED. London, August 20. A Serbian official message reports: The Bulgarians violently bombarded Monastir. A great many buildings were destroyed, and there wero numerous civilian victims, llany women and children are homeless. Cable Assn. GREAT FIRE AT SALONIKA HALF THE TOWN DESTROYED. New York, August 20. Advices received here state that half of 'the town of Salonika has been burned. Cable Assn. 1 SO,OOO PEOPLE HOMELESS. London, August 20. A lire occurred at Salonika on August 18 (Saturday). Eighty thousand people are homeless, and tho loss of life is not yet known. By Sunday evening tho fire was under control—lteuter.

FURTHER DETAILS. (Dec. August 22, 0.10 a.m.) Paris, August 21. The "Temps" correspondent at Salonika states that the fire started in the Bulgarian quarters, and .despite the efforts of the Greeks and Allied troops spread immediately. The entire commercial district is involved. Forty thousand Jews are homeless, and the whole of old Salonika has been razed to the ground.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assiv : ■