BALKAN STATESMAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19509, 13 December 1926, Page 11

BALKAN STATESMAN.

THE DEATH OF M. PASITCH.

STORMY CAREER IN POLITICS,

Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Reed. 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 11,

Tho death is announced of M. Pasitch, former Prime Minister of Yugoslavia.

M. Pasitch, who was " the grand old man of Serbia,*' died in harness. He was 83 years of age. He was seized by an apoplectic fit just as he received a summons from the King to form a Cabinet with the support of the Radical Party. The present Radical Prime Minister, M. Uzunovetch, failed to'reform his Cabinet after the political crisis.

Nicola Pasitch, the octogenarian Serbian statesman, was born in Zajecar, Serbia, in 1846,' and was the son of a landowner. He studied engineering at Belgrade and at the Zurich Polytechnic, where he sat at the feet of Bakunin, -\yho declared of him: "Here is a born conspirator." His training over, he entered the Serbian Civil Service as an engineer in 1872, took part in the Turkish war of 1885, and was elected to the Skupshtina, the Serbian Parliament. Under his leadership the Radical Party was founded in 1881—a democratic group, whose policy then and onwards was opposition to the Austro-Hungari'an influence. M. Pasitch had a stormy career in politics, in and out of office, for some years. The murder of King Alexander and Queen Draga in 1903 brought Pasitch, who had opposed (ho Royal leanings toward Austria, back to power, and he became Prime Minister in 1906, "King Peter I. being on the throne. Austria's high-handed action in 1908, when she annexed Bosnia, greatly stirred Serbia and all the Balkan States, and treaties were formed, between various of the smaller Powers. Pasitch placed great reliance on Russia as a set-off against Austria-Hungary. He was Prime Minister in June, 1914, when the murder of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife at Sarajevo, followed by the ultimatum from Austria, was the spark that lit the conflagration of August,, 1914. Serbia suffered greatly during the war, hut recovered after the Allied victory. M Pasitch represented Serbia at the Peace Conference at Versailles, when, in I fact, the new State of Yugoslavia, formed of "the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes" was already in being as now constituted. M. Pasitch retired f'"?™ politics for a time in 1919. but in 1924 he was again Prime Minister, and resigned earlv in 1926 owing to scandals over Government contracts in which Ins son. Radomer, was involved.