FIGHT FOR BALTIC PORT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18298, 15 January 1923, Page 7

FIGHT FOR BALTIC PORT.

;■ LITHUANIAN/ : ADVENTURE. ; ATTEMPT TO SEIZE MEMEL. CHALLENGE TO ALLIES. By. TeleKraph—-Preea -Association—Copyright. Times. ; LONDON, Jan. 12. The Riga correspondent of tho Times states that several thousand Lithuanians, including numbers of the regular Lithuanian army: in disguise, are attempting a' .siege of,. Memel, which'was ceded to the Allies by Germany, arid is as ; yet unattached to any country. , s ■ ; . A • message from Kovno states that the native population of /Meniel has formed a : supreme council of defence, and; has demanded inclusion in /Lithuania. -The commissioner appointed by the Allies has issued a proclamation urging the citizens /to/ maintain calm, and; promising to resist the raiders, who are three miles from .Memel. French/troops to the number of 200 and police!are entrenched, and Allied airships are expected to be sent. , The Prime Minister of Lithuania, in a message, to the Minister in London, con- . firms the rising, , and;,- demands the -..unionof Memel with Lithuania". He denies that the Lithuanians are -taking any part; in /the/rising.;/:: 1 -; ■■:,".-'■ A Berlin report states / that Simon Citia.'has been appointed temporary Presi- j dent-of Memel. Lithuanian cavalry : and I infantry are engaged, and they have pene- : trated the neutral zone and occupied a .village/after a struggle , with' the local jinilitary. /.•■/'';;.■ . FIGHTING .DURING NIGHT. FRENCH ASS GERMANS. :;Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Reed. 4.5 p.m.) BERLIN, Jan. 12 v Some fighting occurred; at Memel dur-' ing the night between Lithuanians and* German police, assisted by French sol- :■ diers. One German was killed. V The Baltic port of Memel lias been "nobody's child" since the war. Surrendered by Germany : under the Treaty; of Versailles, it has been administered since by an Allied Commission pending a decision as to its final L disposition,- On ethnographical and geographical grounds Lithuania has a strong claim to; the port. A large percentage of its population is Lithuanian, and it is the only port on the Baltic between Konigsberg, in East Prussia, and Libau, which belongs to Latvia, the northern neighbour of Lithuania. ;■■'! The total area; administered by- the Allied Commission at Memel is 945 square miles, with a population of about 150,000, ■of ; whom v about 42,000 inhabit the ; town of Memel. ,-/:.-'''■.,: / '