GERMAN INFLUENCE IN AUSTRIA

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 134, 3 December 1915, Page 7

GERMAN INFLUENCE IN AUSTRIA

CHANGES IN MINISTRY CAUSE A SENSATION.

CRISIS-CONNECTED WITH KAISER'S VISIT.

LONDON, Ist December. A sensation has been created by an announcement from Vienna that the Austrian Ministers of the Interior (Karl Baron ECeinhold), Commerce (Dr. Schuster yon Bonnott), and Finance (Baron Engel), have resigned. Prince Hohenlohe Schillingsffierst, the Draconian ex-Governor of Trieste, is the new Minister for the Interior; Hen- j Ritter yon Hal. Governor of the Forstall Savings Bank, Minister for Finance : and Herr yon I'itzmuller Minister for Commerce. It is surmissed that serious happenings have necessitated the changes, which are interpreted as being similar to those which filled the army with German tools and sympathisers. The Austrian Parliament, since the opening of the war, and the nation have been without means of inflnencing the Government. The public connects the crisis with the Kaiser's visit., though the German newspapers suggest that the visit was for the purpose of discussing the ownership of the conquered Servian territory, and the possibility of inducing Servia to conclude peace. The Daily News's correspondent at Rome states that the Kaiser's object in visiting Vienna was to dissuade the aged and obstinate Emperor Franz Josef from concluding a separate peace. The Pope's exhortations had already resulted in Austria's fruitless attempt to negotiate a separat-e peace with Russia, and when the Emperor Franz Josef notified the Pope that he welcomed the Papal efforts to end the disastrous war, the Kaiser sent Cardinal Hartmann post-haste to Rome to inform the Pope that Germany would oppose any premature efforts to obtain peace. The financial condition of AustroHungary is most serious. The loans during the past sixteen months only aggregate fifty-two million sterling, mostly _ compulsorily commandeered banksavings. The Hungarian correspondent of the Morning Post states that the rumours of Austrian peace desires con be dis- : missed. The most probable explanation iof the Kaiser's visit to Vienna is a de- | sire to establish an Austro-German i tariff union, to which the 'three retiring I Ministers were hostile. ° Reuters correspondent at Zurich states that moderate circles in Vienna are concerned, believing that the resignations | indicate that Germany's control is extending to Austria's internal administration, as the new Ministers have strong | German leanings. They attribute the resignation of the Minister of Commerceto his strong opposition to an economic union with Germany, and point oat that j his successor, yon Fitzmuller, has had j intimate financial relations with Dr. j Helfierich, the German Finance Minister!