THE PLIGHT OF BULGARIA.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 24 May 1915, Page 2

THE PLIGHT OF BULGARIA.

WHAT SHE SUFFERS,

Information from neutral and Austrian sources suggest xs±txi Juuigaria suarer wim \iand tne unenviao^e distinction or being the most acute satterer i>y the war. The country is practically shut ott from trade'oi any sort, as is shown by a decline of more tiian S*J per cent, in the Customs receipts. Ine main trade route, that through &er.bia—iiulgaria's sole means of direct railway communication with the West —has he&i, of course, completely b.ocked. The liiack Sea ports, varna and Burgas, are shut up by the closing of the Dardanelles. The only remaining channels of access are the port of Dedeagatch, on the Aegean^ and Rumania; Dedeagatch has as yet no direct railway communication witia Bui garia—the Airnovo-Sjemen-Philippopo-iis-Adrianople line is still under con-, struction —and all traffic must gd through Turkish* territory. Transport through Rumania is extremely costly. There are no bridges over the Danube on the Bulgarian side; the Rumanian steamer service was suspended at the beginning of the winter season, and on their railways there is a serious shortage of trucks. Apart from aft these difficulties, Bulgaria must have suffered from the fact that ii recent years the ]9v<re S t shore of its exports went to Belgium. Thus in the first fov mont-hs of 1914 Belgium took 25 million leira of exports • Germany, 12? ; France, 6£; England, 5; Austria-Hungary, 2f million. The main item in this Belgian export trade was cereals; in April, 1914, alone 20 million kilogrammes (value 3£ million leira) were sent thither. The financial committee of the Sobranje proposed a reduction in the export duties on oil of roses. The price of necessaries has risen to unprecedented heights —far higher than any in the recent wars—for although there are stated to be ample supplies in fhe country, they have been cornered,'thanks to the export embargo, and the efforts of the Government to br.inpr prices down have so far been unavailing. Maxinrnm prices, have so far only been fixed for maize.