TURKS TAKE HEART.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15997, 16 August 1915, Page 8

TURKS TAKE HEART.

GERMAN AID PROMISED.

BEGGING MISSION TO BERLIN. ANOTHER ATTACK ON EGYPT. KKAH OK SUBMARINES. Ke rived A us" *t Ih. r> P m ' noon. August I •'s. liennany'.- successes in the cast are being exploited to the fullest extent in the Turkish press. The Young Turk Government has repained popularity for the moment. It has been publicly announced from the mosques that Germany is preparing to semi nil army to fight with the Turks.

The Sublime Porte has assumed 1 an intransigent attitude towards Bulgaria, whom it previously sought to placate. Active steps are being taken to resuscitate the "holy war." Messengers are being despatched to Islamic countries, especially Egypt, Abyssinia, Tripoli, and Tunis announcing that the Germans have gained successes everywhere, and that Turkey will shortly resume the campaign against Egypt.

The. Sultan has promulgated a special trade making drunkenness in public the subject of the severest court-martial and penalty. All foreigners in Turkey have been ordered to wear the fez. The ostensible reason is to preserve them from ill-treatment and insult by the natives.

Djavid Bey, formerly Turkish Minister for Finance, is visiting Vienna and Berlin. It is believed that his object is to explain the precariousness of the Turkish financial situation and to demand immediate advances.

Mr. Henry Wood, the American united press correspondent in Turkey, states - that- a veritable reign of terror has been created in the simple minds of the Turkish peasants in the villages along the shores of the Sea of Marmora by the activity of British submarines. A steamer in which Mr. Wood travelled had lifeboats swung out, and hundreds of life preservers ready. It crept along the Marmora coast the whole way. On a second occasion the captain took courage and beaded directly for Constantinople. The boat was crowded with peasants and provincial government officers all trembling with fear. When half-way to Constantinople there came a loud shout from the bridge. The captain bellowed orders, and the boat turned tail and beaded for the shore. There was a wild scurry for lifeboats. Then it was discovered that the supposed submarine was only a porpoise.

Turkish transports carrying wounded are more confident under the Red Cross flag than the red crescent. Frequently they fly the Red Cross until they reach the Bosphorus, when the crescent is substituted because it would be unseemly to allow the population to think that wounded soldiers owe their salvation to the cross rather than the crescent.