ENEMY COUNTRIES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 12 February 1918, Page 5

ENEMY COUNTRIES.

GERMANY'S ECONOMIC STRAITS. NO EXPECTATION OF VICTORY. VAIN HOPE OF EXHAUSTING ALLIES.

NEW YORK, Feb. 10,

Mr Simms, the United Press correspondent, points out Germany's desperate economic straits. A high German officer offered to sell him German military secrets. Questioned as to his motive, he broke down and wept. He replied that he needed food for his starving mother and father. Caterpillars had destroyed the entire cabbage crops; dogs had practically disappeared, whilst crows were a rare delicacy. Cracow has been swept by famine. Owing to the shortage of clothing the corpses are buried in paper shrouds and pasteboard coffins.

■ American escapees relate that the Germans no longer expect victory, but hope the Allies will be exhausted before Germany is brought to her knees. Mr Simms adds that he learned on reliable authority that the Kaiser declared President Wilson's terms were reasonable enough and a basis for negotiations, but had not pressed his view against Hindenburg and Ludendortf, who are the Kaiser's absolute masters.

BERNE, Feb. 10

A court-martial has been sitting in Berlin since the proclamation of the extreme form of martial law. The court has tried 118, all being found guilty, the sentences ranging from a month to three years.