PREMIERSHIP OF GREECE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21328, 1 November 1932, Page 9

PREMIERSHIP OF GREECE

MR. VENIZELOS RESIGNS SUCCESSOR A ROYALIST FORMING COALITION CABINET By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received October 31, 8.35 p.m.) ATHEiNS, Oct, 31 The Premier of Greece, Mr. E. Venizelos, has resigned and Mr. Tsaldaris is forming a Coalition Cabinet. Mr. Venizelos is not likely to oppose this course. Mr. Eleutherios Venizelos, succeeded Mr. Alexander Zairnis as Premier of Greece in July, 1928. He was born in 1864, and in early life practised as a solicitor. He entered politics early, and led the " Greek " party in Crete, his native island, and in 1897 ho led the Cretan uprising which' culminated in the removal of Turkish rule from Crete. He remained in Crete till 1909, when he went to Athens, and was instrumental in the movement which led to the calling of a National Assembly, and he headed the poll in Athens. He revised the constitution, reorganised the State services, including the Army and Navy, and by May, 1912, had established the Balkan League. After the Balkan War of 1912 le led the aggressive Greek policy against Turkey, and in 1914 he offered the aid of Greece to the Allies, but the then King Constantino opposed any alliance against Germany, and in 1915 Air. Venizelos temporarily retired from active political life as a member of Parliament.

In 1917 the Allies dethroned King Constantino and Mr. Venizelos became leader of Greece. The Army opposed him, and lie dismissed 1800 officers. He obtained excellent results for Greece at the conclusion of peace, and yet at the next elections his party was severely defeated at the polls, an incident typical of Greece for centuries. Constantino returned as King, and Mr. Venizelos went to live abroad and married for the second time while in England. He reappeared in politics in Greece in December, 1923, and was elected President of the Assembly and formed a Cabinet, but ■ tlie Republican Party, under Mr. Papanastasion, seized power and established a. republic. Mr. Venizelos went into voluntary exile and did not reappear in politics till May, 1927 - n , , The new Premier. Mr. Panayotis Isaldaris, is a Royalist. He was born in 1868 at Kamarion, Corinth. He completed his legal course at Athens w.th distinction and after taking bis degree continued his studies at the Universities of Paris, Berlin, Leipzig and Gottingen. He then settled in Athens as an advocate and soon secured a large practice. He was a member of the commission which prepared the Greek civil code. In 1910 he was elected to the Chamber for the first time. He was Minister of Justice in the first Gounaris Cabinet in 1915. After the elections in 1920 be was made Minister of the Interior and of Communications, retaining these posts until March, 1922. In the summer of'that year he represented Greece at the Hague during the discussion of Russian questions. He was also a time a member of the Hague Arbitration Tribunal. After the shooting of the head of the extreme Rovalist partv, Dr. Gounaris, on November 28, 1922, Mr. Tsaldaris became the leader of this group. Following the coup which deposed General Pangalos there was a long controversy as to the formation of the Cabinet and the question of proportional representation which the Premier, Mr. Gondvlis, held to be the only system likely to end the series ot cataclysms. In September, 1925. Mr. Tsaldaris and the other Royalist leaders demanded the formation of a. service Cabinet and the adoption of the majority system at the elections, but no decision was reached at the conference of party leaders. In October they decided to take part in the elections and the polls in November resulted in a Republican majority. Mr. Tsaldaris declared that the Royalists did not intend to raise the question of a change of regime, at the next elections though they would obey the people's' wish if it were unmistakably expressed. In the service Cabinet formed in December, 1926, from tho leaders of nil parties Mr. Tsaldaris took the portfolio of the Interior.