GULF OF RIGA LOST.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLII, Issue 10109, 17 October 1917, Page 5

GULF OF RIGA LOST.

RUSSIAN ADMISSION. Australian-New Zealand Cable Association. LONDON, Oct. 16. Informed circles in Petrograd regard the Oesel and Dago Islands and the Gulf of Riga, as lost. Nevertheless the value ot Riga to the enemy is small until the Teresten fairway in the gulf is cleared, which is nnpracticable so long as tho forts on the western peninsula of Oesel hold out. Tho Russians destroyed tho fairway two years ago by sinking an interned German craft laden With stone and cement. Preparations for the landing, which was undertaken by two divisions, were made with the minutest care and included a clever piece of trickery, enemy light craft succeeding in altering the position of buoys marking the minefields between the islands and the mainland, thus causing a number of Russian scouts to run ashore, thereby warning the enemy that a landing could not bo effected. LAURIER FIGHTS ON, OTTAWA, Oct. 15. Sir Wilfrid Laurier has definitely decided to retain the Liberal party leadership and light the election. CLOTHING CARDS IN GERMANY, AMSTERDAM, Oct. 15. The people of Berlin are perturbed at. the new rules fixing the quantities of clothing for men and women. Cards are now necessary for many articles hitherto purchasable direct from the owners.

decrease in crime.

LONDON, Oct. 15

The Prison Commissioners for England and Wales report that prisoners in 1913-14 numbered 151,605, compared with 48,502 in 1916-17.