ITALY.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 24 May 1915, Page 5

ITALY.

STATE OF WAR PROCLAIMED

ALL SHIPPING SUSPENDED IN

ADRIATIC.

ITALIAN AMBASSADOR INSULTED

IN BERLIN.

REELING IN GERMANY.

3HLITARY EFFECT OF RUPTURE

NOT DREADED.

BUT LOSS OF CHANNEL OF SUP-

PLY CAUSING CONCERN.

ROME, May 23

_ It is eemi-officially announced that vji state of war exists in Lombardy, Venetia and the Adriatic.

NEW YORK, May 23

A Reuter' London-Stefani despatch from Rome says the Minister of War and the Minister of Marine have declared a state of war in the provinces ■on the Austrian frontier, and in the island communes on the Adriatic ooa.st. LONDON, May 23.

y- The Daily Chronicle's Geneva oorres- ' pondent says that Germany is sending large numbers of troops and heavy guvs to the Italian frontier via Munich anil' Innsbruck. I A state of siege has been declared at ■Trieste, Fiume and Pola. AH shipping iir the Adriatic has been suspended. A neutral correspondent says: I.Miring the last week of my stay "n Germany., when the Italian question \v))i> acute, there was no German feeling of apprehension as regards military power, but chiefly concerning economic .and industrial isolation. Officers of 4iigh rank assured me that the military contingencies had long been foreseen. Business men were scared because through Italy Germany had access to supplies from neutrals, especially America. With the intervention of Italy Germans felt that practically the last door would be closed. The press was kept well in hand lest their language should imperil the diplomatic situation. Some journals were confiscated for writing strongly against Italy. Tn private conversation wrath was expressed in the most violent terms, and the hard words used against England -were nothing comparable to those used about Italy. Numbers of Italians filled a traip, hurrying homewards, and met trainloads of Germans coming from Italy. On the southern frontier the guards not only made a strict examination of passports and luggage, but were almost brutal to Italians, who were more strictly examined, and were exposed to continual invective. An Italian business man in London writes: "I have been called to the army, and also my clerk. We have -^-^ three milliens ready and a million al--1 ready on the Austrian frontiers, and this will be a nice shock to German ■and Austrian enthusiasm. The army lias never before been seen. I hope with our help the war will sooner cml in the complete defeat of the Huns.*' j AMSTERDAM, May 23. ' A crowd rushed the Italian Ambassador's car in Berlin on Thursday and knocked off his hat. An official German statement denies that the Ambassador was struck, and adds that the .. offender was arrested. Herr yon Beth-Wmann-Hollweg has apologised. Baron Biirian (Austrian Foreign Minister), in a Note to the Italian Ambassador, declined to take cognisance of the denunciation of the Triple Alliance, and insisted that twelve months 1 notice t was required before the expiration of the alliance in 1920. He cited Austria's offers of territory as proof of a desire to strengthen the relations between the two countries.