The Star The Star. Delivered every evening by 6 o'clock in Hawera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Opunake, Otakeho, Manutahi, Alton, Hurleyville, Patea, and Waverley. THURSDAY, JULY 1, 1915. THE BALKANS AND THE WAR.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 1 July 1915, Page 4

The Star The Star. Delivered every evening by 6 o'clock in Hawera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Opunake, Otakeho, Manutahi, Alton, Hurleyville, Patea, and Waverley. THURSDAY, JULY 1, 1915. THE BALKANS AND THE WAR.

Germany :lias long been trying in m&ny -ways, not only through her 'own emissaries but also those -of Austria j dnd Turkey, to keep the Balkan • Sfc&fos and Greece out of the present sW&f, for — everything considered— ttfceir direct -co-operation wiida. 'herself haiß all along been out of $he 9}uesfcibn. It iis, however, now practically certain that 6he is not to succeed? for we ;are ;assured, that not only have the latest pro-German negotiations with Bulgaria failed, but that those between Bulgaria a<rid R<oum£nia etill continue; and . also those; between the , Allies and the Balkans. .At 'present there . are;' therefore, distinct indiea-; I tions that, notwithstanding "all the counter-plots and efforts, Bulgaria, ! Roumania and Greece will ere long be fighting with the Allies against Germany, Austria said Turkey. -Should this actually come to pass, the end of the war so infamously forced upon the world by Germany will be brought within measurable distance. So far it has been Balkan disunity which has prevented a heavy and perhaps a deadly blow being struck at Germany through Austria. This, of course, accounts for Germany's and Austria's desperate efforts to perpetuate the political jealousies and divisions in the Balkans, and for the King of Greece, the Kaiser's brother-in-law, doing everything in his power to obstruct the Greek national party, lead by M. Venizelos, from making concessions to Bulgaria and Serbia with a, view to all the Balkans joining the Allies against Germany's confederates, Austria and Turkey, the oppressors of the Balkans and Greece for centuries. But (it has been said by the Manchester Guardian) bring in the Balkan States, and the equivalent of a great Power ie '.thrown into the scalesagainst Germany, who will be compelled to drain away her troops for the defence of the Hungarian plain even more freely than she has already given them to hold the Carpathian passes. Then, again, the same jour' nal has recently said "conciliate Bulgaria, and not only she but Greece and Roumania also would almost certainly be moved to join the Allies m order to objects which they regard as vital -to the interests of their countries." In a book recently written about the war and the Balkans, the authors says that "what is now the south-eastern corner of Serbia should have gone to Bulgaria as a result of the first Balkan war, and until it goes back to her Bulgaria' will remain irreconcilable." The same writers, further, advocate a settlement under which "Bulgaria would obtain the lost TVlaceclonia from Serbia, Kavalla from Greece, part of the Dobrudja, taken from her after the second Balkan -war, from Roumania, Adrianople from Turkey. Greece would receive Smyrna, Roumania would gain Transylvania, Serbia would enter into Bosnia, and much more. .Each Government would be able to sweeten the proposed surrender of territory to its own people by showing what it was to gain. And the settlement, while re-creating Balkan unity, would be founded in justice, and would furnish some hope of permanent peace to a sorely distracted region." There is reason to believe that British, French, and Russian diplomacy has been working along lines more or less comparable to those here suggested, and the latest news with respect to'the Balkans and the war warrants the conclusion that it has been working with success. If it has, the news is good news for all the world, for, as already said, the result will mean tie addition of formidable fighting forces to those »of Britain, France, Russia and Italy, the crumpling up of Austria and Turkey, and in Germany "being left without one fighting friend in the whole world, on ■which she has brought incalculable loss and sorrow through the appalling selfishness and unwisdom of the Kaiser and his advisers.