CONSTITUTION OF SERBIA SUSPENDED BY ROYAL DECREE

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6805, 8 January 1929, Page 7

CONSTITUTION OF SERBIA SUSPENDED BY ROYAL DECREE

Dictatorship Next POLITICAL PASSIONS RUIN OF PARLIAMENT DIRECT RELATIONS WITH PEOPLE. United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. BELGRADE, Jan. 6. The Serbian King has suspended the Constitution and dissolved the Cham ber. He has proclaimed that all laws will remain in force unless modified by Royal decree. It is stated semi-officially that there is no other solution to the present diflieultics. A dictatorship is foreshadowed in the “interests of the .State and the majority of the people, and in order to prepare the ground for a new Constitution and healthier Parliamentarianism.” The Royal proclamation declares that the hour has come when there cannot bo any intermediary between the king and his people. “My soul is torn bv the complaints of the labouring masses, patriotic but exhausted, who realise that the way wc have trod can no longer bo pursued,” says the King. Parliamentary life and the political outlook have become more and more negative, and all useful institutions are jeopardised. Political passions have so abused Parliamentary life, which has always been my ideal, that they have become an obstacle to all profitable work. The regrettable disputes in the Skupshtina have undermined the nation’s confidence therein, and it would bo a loss of time to seek tho remedy in a change in Parliament and in the Government. Fresh methods must be sought. I am convinced that the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes will help my efforts to reorganise the Administration as is best suited by its needs. A.fter the new Ministers had taken the oath of office, King Alexander in vited them to collaborate with him. Ho hoped that they would appreciate tho magnitude of the task, and the signlicanco of his confidence. He appealed to them to strictly carry out the laws creating popular confidence towards tho authorities and assured them of real protection if their duties were honestly discharged. “King’s Friends’’ Comprise ' Military Cabinet COMPETENT, BUT RUTHLESS. Times Cable. Received Monday, 8 p.m. LONDON, Jan. 6. The Times Belgrade correspondent reports that because it was -Christmas Eve, according to the Orthodox calendar, the newspapers were closed for the holidays; therefore news of the coup d’etat was published solely by placards, hurriedly posted up during the night. General Zivcovitch, who is connected with the secret society which assassinated King Alexander and Queen Draga in 1903, is the most outstanding member of the Royal household. He has a distinguished war record, and is commander of the crack corps of the Guards division. The Cabinet consists of influential personages known as the “King’s friends,” who will apply military standards ruthlessly, with efficiency and expedience. They favour arbitrary measures, supplemented by selected specialists. It is a competent cabinet The retention of M. Marinkivitch guarantees that tho condpct of foreign affairs remains unbroken. The Government policy will be Yugo-Siav, and opposed to all rivalries between tho different branches of the nation. King Has Absolute Power SHORT LIFE PROPHESIED FOR , MINISTRY. Received Monday, 8 p.m. BELGRADE, Jan. 6. General Zivcovitch has been appointed Premier. Political circles prophesy a short, life for the Cabinet, which can bo regarded as a military one. Tho law promulgating Royal powers indicates that the King is absoluto dictator. Bloodless Revolution GREAT ENTHUSIASM IN STREETS OF ZAGREB. Received Tuesday, 2 a.m. BELGRADE, Jan. 7. Nothing less than a bloodless revolution has taken place. Tho King has assumed semi-dictatorial p«wt:r.s and will rule by means of decr/l-s and proclamations. Mayors will remain in office but will administer only as special nominees of the Crown.

It is pointed out that the Crown has taken into consideration all three sects of the country —Serbs, Croats, .Slovenes —as the Dictator's Cabinet includes three Croatians, six Serb Nationalists, two Democrats and a Slovene clerical. The appointment of M. Marinkovitch to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs suggests thorc will be no radical change in the foreign policy. There was great popular enthusiasm in tho streets of Zagreb, which were thronged, the demonstrators shouting, “Long live Alexander ! At last we have equality with the Serbs 1 ”