Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, JULY 9, 1915. ROUMANIA AND BULGARIA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 9 July 1915, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, JULY 9, 1915. ROUMANIA AND BULGARIA.

SINCE the death, in October last, ol King Carol of Roumania,. who was a Hohenzollern Prince, and fought hard to stem the popular feeling in favour of the Allies, the hostility in the country to Austria and Germany has become more pronounced, and the Russoohile party has grown greatly in strength. There .are hundreds of thousands of Roumanians in Trasnylvania, a portion of Hungary which Roumania has long coveted. The mobilisation of the Roumanian army would mean the potential addition to the Allies of. half a million men. The peace strength is under J. 00,000 men, and 1 the number of trained and partially trained men at disposal is approximately 600,000. It was estimated during the Balkan war, when intervention by Roumania seemed imminent, that the first line after' mobilisation would prbbably number 250,000 men, \vith some 650 guns, and would b"e ready for service within ten Says or a fortnight.; The Roumanian military machine should be found to be in a state of perfection when it is called upon, seeing that it has been, held in readiness for immediate service almost ever siftce the first Balkan war. Bulgaria is still coquetting with the belligerents, and it is difficult to say what she may do. The intense irritation which was aroused in Servia by the Valandova invasion found vent in the Belgrade newspapers, and they do not mince matters .when they refer to Bulgarian policy. For instance, the "Pravda" says:- —"Whilst the Bulgarians permit everything to be transported through Bulgaria, which can serve the Turks in their war against the Triple Entente, congratulations are forwarded fron? Sofia and other Bulgarian towns on the fall of Przemysl, to make it appear as if all Bulgarians were devoted Russophiles." This was, of course, written just after the Russians captured the fortress, and' not afte'r its later evacuation. Another and subsequent paragraph from the same paper asserts: — "And to show greater faith in Russia, one Bulgarian general aftei* another offers his military services to the Russian Empire. But-all this does not prevent the Bulgarians encouraging their children to draw caricatures in school which represent Russia as a clumsy bear brought to. orde'r by the clever Emperor William."