IN MESOPOTAMIA.

Evening Star, Issue 16090, 15 April 1916, Page 9

IN MESOPOTAMIA.

TURKS DRSVEN BACK,

THREE MILES HEARER KUT.

FLOODS HAMPER ENEMY.

LONDON, April 14. (Received April IS, at 8.45 a.m.)

The British defeated the Turks in Mesopotamia, on the Tigris, and the Turks were driven back three miles.

(Received April 15, at 10.5 a.m.)

General Sir Porcy .Lake reports;:—"Our troops on tho south bank of the Tigris on April 12 forced back the enemy's lines over a distance of from a mile and a-half to three miles, after crossing an inundated belt intersected by deep cuts. " The. water from the marshes was driven by a north-west, gale into the enemy's trenches at Sannaiyat, and the enemy*in taking refuge in a new position were heavily punished."

THE VERDON LULL.

FRENCH STRENGTH GRQV/SNG

TASK BEYOND ENEMY.

PARIS, April 14. (Received April 15, at 8.25 a.m.)

A semi-official message, commenting on the German explanation that bad visibility » has caused the slackening of the Verdun attack, says:—"This excuse is far too simple; The truth is that the resumption ot the offensive on April 9, 10, and 11 caused the Germans considerable losses. and they must reconstruct their decimated units and fill up the huge gaps in their ranks. The only results of then- offensive were bloody hecatombs and the occupation of 500 metres of trenches at tho foot of Morthomme. Contrasting this with a gain of five kilometres depth on a nine kilometres front, which the enemy gained between February 21 and 24, which was their only other offensive on the same Bcale, the poorer result is obviously due to the French defensive power increasing and the German offensive power decreasing, also to' the fact) that French material Is constantly improving'. Common fense justifies the belief that tho capture of Verdun is beyond the enemy's strength."

ISOLATED ATTACKS AGA"?3

PARIS, April 14. (Received April 15, at 10.15 a.m.)

A communique states: It is relatively calm round Verdun. A email German attack south of Douaumont was completely repulsed. J

SPUR FOR THE JADED.

KAISER PROMISES PEACE

PARIS, April 14. (Received April 15, at 10.15 a.m.) Tho Kaiser has issued tho following exhortation to his troops:—"The treaty of 1871 was signed at Paris. Go forward" •beloved soldiers; this time it is the end Tho treaty will be signed at Verdun "

HOLLAND'S NEUTRALITY.

ALLIES' SCRUPULOUS OBSERVANCE.

THE HAGUE, April 14. (Received April 15, at 8.25 a.m.) The Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs has announced that the French Minister in Holland has, on behalf of France, given an assurance that neither France nor the Allies ever contemplated, either directly or indirectly, attacking the neutrality o'f Holland or the inviolability of its territory. The Minister added "that the Paris Conference had not considered at all matters relating to Holland.

AMERSGA'S ULTIMATUM.

GERMAN DALLIANCE FEARED

WASHINGTON, April 14. (Received April 15, at 8.45 a.m.)

President Wilson and the State Department have agreed to despatch evidence of submarine atrocities to Berlin, with what is described as a final request for satisfaction.

_ The Press say that Mr Wilson is simply giving another excuse to Germany to delay negotiations while continuing the murder of Americans.

INSURANGE HIGHER.

SYDNEY, April 15. (Received April 15, at 8.40 a.m.) The insurance companies have been advised that inward and outward shipping rates via the Mediterranean liavo been raised to £5 per cent, and via tho Cape to 1A per cent.

THE BLOCKADE.

PRIVATION OPENLY ADMITTED,

London 'Tinvs' and Sydney ' Sun * Services.

LONDON, April 14. 'Vorwaerts' declares that Germany's food supply is so inadequate that the people's standard of nourishment Is being generally lowered. Despite her greatly increased home production, Germany increasingly relies on foreign supplies, ana the Weakening of these resources ia in-

FOOD PRICES.

FRENCH ADOPTING PRINCIPLE,.

PARIS, April 14. (Received April 15, at 8.25 a.m.)

The Senate has adopted the principle of the Government fixing the maximum selling prices of tho necessaries of life.

OCCUPATION OF SERBIA.

DOES DISTRESS EXIST?

London 'Times' and Sydney 'Sun' Sen-ices.

LONDON, April 14. In the House of Commons Lord Robert Cecil, Foreign Under-Secretary, said that no official information was available as to Serbia's condition, but unofficial reports indicated that the Austrian troops were not maltreating the population, though possibly isolated outrages had been committed by Bulgarian irregulars. Tho British Government were anxious to do anything possible, consistent with paramount military considerations, to relieve distress, but the Government desired emphatically to state that it was the duty of the occupying Power to provide for the well-being of the population, and they protested against the callousness with which the enemy attempted to blackmail Britain and her Allies into replenishing the country's supplies by deliberately starving the population.

THE JAPANESE ALLIANCE.

INSINUATIONS REFUTED

TOKIO, April 14, (Received April 15, at 8.25 a.m.)

A discussion has been running in certain newspapers concerning the value and durability of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. Some correspondents of the Japanese Press in China complain of the unfriendliness of British residents in China.

Baron Ishii, .Minister of Foreign Affairs, interviewed, said: "It is superfluous to make protestations that Japan's loyalty to the Allies is real. Japan resents the bare insinuation of disloyalty towarda a friend in trouble. Discussion over the conditions of treaties is permissible in peace, but not when an ally is a relentless enemy. Japan is bound to England by close bonds of mutual friendship and mutual gratitude. Despite the enemy's efforts to sow discord, the war is going to bring the world closer together."

_ Baron Takahaski, Leader of the Opposition, interviewed, said: "The loyalty of Japan to the Anglo-Japanese Alliance is fixed as a great national principle. A change of Cabinet would not alter our foreign policy by a hair's breadth." Mr Nakario, President of the Tokio Chamber of Commerce, says that trade competition in China must not be allowed to endanger Anglo-Japanese political relations.

MR ASQUJTH'S PLEDOE,

MARRIED MEN'S DEPUTATION

London 'Times' and Sydney 'Sun' Services,

. LONDON, April 14. Eeceivmg a deputation from the Attested Married Men's Union, Mr Asquith said he had grave doubts whether heshould receive it, because the meetings of the union had cast unwarranted charges and imputations on himself and Lord Derby. _ He had even,- sympathy with the legitimate grievances of the married men, but he regarded the agitation as deplorable at a time like this. He believed that the vast majority of married men had attested from pure patriotism. but he declined to believe that the vast majority now claimed release from their obligations.

BELATED NEWS.

LORD LIVERPOOL'S BROTHER KILLED.

(Received. April 15, at 8.25 a.m.) Captain Joscelyn Foljamb, brother of Lord Liverpool, has been killed in action.

PROGRESS REPORTS,

SYDNEY, April 15. The names of the following New Z?alanders a-ro comprised in casuallv list No, 163 :

IN-—Driver J. Allen. Private R. Lvall Returned to Duty.—63o emu, including Major H. E. Richardson, Lance-corporals R. W. Dick, 11. W. Simpson. P. H. Ke!leway, .Sapper J. TI. Moore, Artilleryman N. J. Rowling. Privates V. T. Dimmock I/. C. Wood, C. Waghorne, G. M'Grath' F. G. Clarke, and G. P. Diuvphy.

MEDBCAL EXAMINATIONS. Fifty-one men were examined last nW.it with the following result:— °" ' Fit W Unfit . 26 -Teeth ' 4

Operation ». 5 Deferred 2 Following is the latest list of men passed fit for service: Leslie Lane Martin, farmer, Alexandra. Herbert Leslie Smith, farm laborer Dunedin.

Thomas Ernest Critchfield, maltster, Caversham.

Charles Dryden, laborer, North-east Valley. Hugh Murray M'Lachlan, carpenter, Caversham.

Arthur Ernest M'Ginn, commercial traveller, Dunedin.

Robert William Gladstone Reed, shearer Dunedin.

Edward St. Clair Farra. civil engineer St. Clair.

Percival-Gowan Fail, railway employee, Mornington. John M'Neill, ploughman, Outram. Walter Henry Thurlow, farmer, Mornington. Robert Alexander Wyllie, ironmotrlder, ■Dunedin.