MORE STRIFE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21727, 16 February 1934, Page 11

MORE STRIFE

AUSTRIA'S CRISIS CRUSHING SOCIALISM SHORT SHRIFT GIVEN hangman at ytoek LATEST DEVELOPMENTS Br Te'efrrnph—Press Association—Copyright i Received February 15. r,.45 p.m.) LONDON. Feb 15 Messages from Vienna state that the grim fact that the hangman's rope has been added to the howitzers and bayonets with which the Government is cowing the Socialists has caused the latter to announce that for every Socialist executed 20 captured soldiers will be killed. A partv of doctors and male nurses was discovered among the Socialists. Six doctor:-, were shot. It is reported that Government troops accidentally shelled the hospital and inflicted casualties. This so incensed the doctors and nurses that they joined the Socialists. Five members of the Schutzbund hanged themselves from beams in the Sandleithen in tenement Ottrakking rather than surrender. The Government was compelled to throw all its reserves into action but the Schutzbund was defeated. Salzburg and the Tyrol are quiet. Martial law has been extended to Bnrgenland. The Government has declared all trades unions illegal and dissolved 06 Social Democrat societies. It may confiscate the property of those convicted of rioting. Most of the newspapers have been suspended. Czecho-Slovakia, like Italy, regards the struggle as Austria's own affair, which does not warrant intervention. In "Warsaw the police dispersed a Socialist demonstration outside the Austrian Legation. ASCENDANCY GAINED GOVERNMENT FORCES SUFFERINGS OF THE INNOCENT (Received February 15. 5.5 p.Tn.) Times Cable LONDON. Feb. 25. The Vienna correspondent of the Times, says the Austrian Government has definitely secured ascendancy over the Socialists. The situation in the capital and in the provinces has improved, though the civil war has not been extinguished yet. The death-roll must be frightful. It cannot have been less than 1500 up to last evening, not counting the casualties in the sanguinary conflict in Floridsdorf, into which howitzers poured shells for fire hours. The correspondent asserts that 350 people were killed in the Karl Marxhof alone. Prisoners number thousands. Many terror-stricken women and children have taken refuge in cellars. They are suffering agonies of fear for the safety of their relatives. Such concentrated suffering has not been experi- i enced since the war. DOLLFUSS REGIME HOSTILE DEMONSTRATION STREET CLASH IN NEW YORK ' (Received February 15. 5.5 D.m.) NEW YORK. Feb. 14

Three thousand Socialists and Communists clashed with the police in IS'ew York to-day in a demonstration outside the Austrian Consulate against the Dollfuss regime in Austria. The Consulate is housed in a large office building at the corner of 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue. The; police repeatedly charged the crowd, brandishing their "night sticks," with which they severely bruised and cut many of the demonstrators. The fight continued for more than an hour on the plaza in front, of the public library. The police finally gained control. The Socialists are planning similar action to that taken by British Labour bodies to raise funds to succour Austrian Socialists. Some of the Liberal newspapers violently attacked Dr. Dollfuss. For example the New York Evening Post comments that the Austrian Republican Defence Corps is fighting the battle for democracy while Dr. Dollfuss is doing the dirty work for Hitlerism. CASUALTY LISTS CONFUSING STATEMENTS DIFFERENCE IN ESTIMATES LONDON. Feb. 14 Journalists investigating in Vienna ptat-e that provincial reports suggest that , the deaths caused by the revolt totalled between 1000 and 1500, of hich 500 or 600 were in Vienna. Thousands were injured. A despatch from Paris says _the toll of the riots is admitted at 25 killed, •100 taken to hospital and 2000 .slightly wounded. A British official wirelesss message states that estimates of the casualties vary considerably, but an official statement savs 128 bodies were lying in Vienna General Hospital last night. It is believed that at least 30 policemen and soldiers were killed. ITALIAN FEELING DR. DOLLFUSS STRONGER FORCES ON THE FRONTIER ' ROME. Feb. M Strong Italian forces are assembled On the Austrian frontier though the despatch of extra troops from Bolzano and Padua is officially denied. Bolzano, which bars the Brenner Pass from Austria, was recently created a garrison town. Political circles consider that Dr. Dollfuss has mastered the revolt and is stronger than before. Italy regards the affair/a's purely Austria's concern and does not contemplate action, but is determined to maintain Austria's independence if her neighbours interfere. The Vatican, which has upheld Dr. Dollfuss. expresses relief at his success, believing his defeat would have retulted in anarchy.