SATURDAY, MAY 11, 1912. A CRITICAL SITUATION.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXI, Issue LXII, 11 May 1912, Page 4

SATURDAY, MAY 11, 1912. A CRITICAL SITUATION.

There has been much in recent cable messages concerning Italy's action in the Dardanelles, where her ships of war have been bombarding Turkish torts, and otherwise acting with the ottensiveness of a nation virulently at war with another. Even at this distance, the general reader can see that Italy s action and spleen are due to the failure of her efforts in Tripoli, where the climatic and geographical characteristics of the country, and the native' resources and indomitable nghting qualities of the Arabs, have covered Italy with something akin to ignominious defeat. But not many in this part of the world are likely to be aware of the larger issues which are involved in Italy's exploits in the Dardanelles, the integrity of which has hitherto been maintained under international compact as .a thing indispensable to the- national integrity of lurkey, which, in its turn, has been deemed to be indispensable to the peace and the accepted territorial subdivisions of Europe. The trouble is that some European countries consider that they have a vital interest in, the disruption of Turkey, and. they are ever on the watch to seize or to create opportunities likely- to enable them to prosecute their designs. This applies particularly to Russia, and recent English papei. show that she has had a hand in in during Italy to act in the ways of which the cables have been telling us.1 In an article by Mr Xucien Wolf, in the London Daily Graphic towards the end of March, the writer said: "If ix. order to bring the Porte to terms Italy carries the war to the coasts of Euro-' pean Turkey and succeeds, as, she threatens, in forcing the Dardanelles, then the Eastern question will be re-

opened in -a form far more perilous than it has ever yet assumed. -But what reasons are there for believing that Italy will act in this way ? As a matter of fact there are. two. The first is that as things stand at presentit is her only alternative to a humiliating abandonment of her Tripolisan adventure, and the second is that Russia appears to be favorable to the incendiary project under some mistaken idea that she would profit by it. . . . The attitude of Russia in this matter is not only inherently mbchievous and short-sighted, but it Ls. j inconsistent with the ( views and interests of her British aiK. 1 French ! Allies, and is thus calculated to disturb the European balance which has been so laboriously constructed as a supreme guarantee of the general peace." Mr Wolf further insists that two serious dangers are entailed by the compact between Russia and Italy. "The first is (he says) that it gives Italy a free hand to throw a torch I into the powder magazine of SouthEastern Europe. The second is that even if the torch is not thrown, and peace is secured in some other way, the raising of the Dardanelles question is certain to follow, with the gravest peril to British interests, and, consequently, to the general peace." In the light of these observations,, we see how very critical is the situation which Italy is creating by her actions in the Dardanelles. The results may, in various ways, affect even New Zealand.