RELATIONS BECOME STRAINED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15848, 19 February 1915, Page 5

RELATIONS BECOME STRAINED.

FURTHER SUBMARINE RAIDS. TWO STEAMERS SUNK. SLAUGHTER IN BUKOVINA. HEAVY AUSTRO-GERMAN LOSSES The United States Government has been notified from Berlin that strained relations exist between Germany and America. Mr. Wilson is determined to prevent war at all costs. Italy has asked for a clear declaration of Germany's attitude regarding the submarine " blockade." An American report attributes Germany's action to the fact that she has reached a point where she can no longer feed her people. German submarines have sunk two steamers of the allies off the north-west coast of France. The British collier Dulwich was torpedoed without notice, and the crew owed their lives to a French cruiser. In the case of the French steamer Ville de Lille the crew were given ten minutes to escape. The Russians are bringing up reinforcements for the defence of Czernowitz. the capital of the Austrian province of Bukovina. The Austro*German advance in this district has been made at immense cost, the enemy sacrificing life reck* lessly in massed attacks. Berlin messages claim that the Russians lost heavily in . their retreat in East Prussia, and that only remnants of the Tenth Army escaped. The allies have gained ground in Champagne and the Argonne, blockhouses and trenches being captured, and German night attacks beaten off.