The Austrian Crisis.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume VI, Issue 264, 24 October 1916, Page 5

The Austrian Crisis.

Murdered Premier’s Political Career. Riots and Arrests in Vienna. [PRESS ASSOCIATION COPYRIGHT.] [AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND CABLE ASSOCIATION.] London, October 23. Count von Stuergkh was an impecunious Styrian nobleman of limited intelligence, who owed his political position to a man named Singer, the son of a provincial rabbi who wa s attached to the Austrian Premier’s office, and has controlled the secret press fund since 1904. Singer used the fund to overthrow five successive premiers, until he was regarded as the most influential personage in politics. About 1910 Singer secured the directorship of the Land Credit Bank, with a salary of £lO,OOO and the opportunity of making a huge fortune by investments. Thereupon he arranged for his friend Stuergkh to become Minister and later Premier. Stuergkh managed to hold office despite many vicissitudes, including a long period of blindness. Private information received in London last week showed that Singer was using his influence to destroy Stuergkh, as he had destroyed other premiers, on the ground that the Reichsrath should be convoked. New York, October 23. Berlin despatches assert that Adler, the murdered of Count von Stuergkh, is insane, and point out that a sister has been an inmate of an asylum for a decade. Rome, October 23. Grave riots in Vienna followed the murder of the Premier. The police and troops were unable to stem the revolt. Wholesale arrests of Polish, Bohemian and Croatian leaders have commenced, the authorities believing that the assassination of Count von Stuergkh was part of a great plot against the Government.

The " Giornale d’ltalia ” states that Adler was neither an Anarchist nor a pariah. He acted on political motives, either to avenge the treatment of the Bohemians or as a protest against the fatal policy which is conducting the Empire to its ruin-