ROUMANIAN SITUATION.

Marlborough Express, Volume L, Issue 280, 7 December 1916, Page 2

ROUMANIAN SITUATION.

INTERESTING

A representative of the Otago Daily Timos had a conversation oil Friday morning with Mr C. A. Roth, of the firm of "Messrs Bootih, Mncdonald and Co., implement manufacturers, Mr Hoth is by birth a Itoumanian, jiis native city being Craiova, now in the hands of the Germans and Austrian:-;. The country ow-er-r.un by the enomv is quite familiar to him, as he spent his young manhood t-hero ,' coming to New Zeal-.uid some ten years affo. It may bo mentioned that he has onlipti-d' for' service with the New Zealand Forces, but, unfortunately, failed i to pass t'ho medical examination. Mr Roth stated that at the very most ho considered Eournania could not raiso an army 'of moro than a million and a quarter men, including all reserves, and when it was pointed outi that the frontier to be defended was nearly double the length of the western front in France, the magnitude of the tvssk became more clearly understood. Moreover, he pointed out that Roumania. was almost" entirely an agricultural • country, and in the matter of manufacturing.1 industries was even behind the position of New Zealand. The capitalists of the counilry were conservative, and would not invest their moneys to build up industries, and, vvhiio.tho country was a rich agricultural State, all other requirements had to be imported. l Th<j position, of "iiho Roumanian army at the outbreak of war was'that' it was toxnlly unequipped for active 1 service, and, as nearly all the friendly Powers were too busy making munitions for their own requirements, and the. oneinjy countries unwilling to supply tho Roumanian needs, the equip-, merit of the army had been tin exceed, ingly difficult matter. The Roumnnians possessed no heavy guns, and were tyithout the ability to manufacture them, and so were dependent upon outside supplies. And it "was not until the. Allies began to overtake their own handicap in the roarer «f .munitions that anything could be ''.one for IJoumanin. Even now, Mr j Roth .sard, lie doubted whether thn i arihv was really sufficiently well equipped in th>? rn«vt for of. heavy aii-il-]ory. ITe nointetl out that what guns tliev Lad the Rounuinians had placed alone: tho Danubian frontier, as the use of infantry in J:'m\t region was necessarily restricted; hence the progress t?ie .tVustrd-Ciermans had been.. able to make against the forces in tho Trnnsylvani.m Alps. j

TTIIO advance mado down the Jiul Valley and the capture of the town of Craiova were matters of grave concern to Mr Roth, not only because of tho fact that the latter place was his native town, but also because >nf the menace such a movement was to the Roumanian capital of Bucharest. The enemy was evidently bent on avoiding as early as possible the mountainous regions of tho north, and making the fertile and grain-growing districts their main objective. . Speaking of the capital town, Mr Roth paid it was surrounded by a ring of forts, and was known as the Kitila Fortress, and was the only fortress in the whole country. Ho expressed a. fear that Bucharest would noti hold out long if invested, as it was almost certain that tho Gonnahs possessed complete plans of tho fortifications. The lato King of Roumairia, who was v. Hohenzollern, and violently proGerman, was greatly disappointed that his country would not ally itscif with tho German Empire, and iti is more than likely that, during his regime at least, the enemy secured the detailed plans of the fortifications, and in tha-i< case they will bo, able to lay very minute and definite plans for its capture. Speaking of the Moldavian section of Roumania, 'Mr Roth said he thought its close proximity to Russia would probably be its salvation. Furthermore-, the reported traversing of Odessa, by British • troops, presumably on the way to Roumania, was regarded a.-3 a timely help, which would afford a solid and enduring "stiffening to the excitable Roumanian forces.

<Mr Rotih expressed a belief that possibly the large Russian concentrations that have been mentioned lately are massing fjor an advance through the Dobrudja, which, if successful. and carried out in conjunction with an advance , swinging round to tho iigh-!i from Salonika to junction with tho Ruseo-Roumanians, and aimed at tho Bulgarian capital:, might menace Sofia and transform the whole Balkans campaign to the immense advance of the-Allies. Whatever the result of iihe- present operations, he was qi'ito sure- that his countrymen were si?] eevely and whole-heartedly on the side of the Allies.