WEARY OF WAR

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24102, 22 October 1941, Page 7

WEARY OF WAR

FEELING IN ITALY "LAMENTABLE CONDITION" OUTSPOKEN PRESS COMMENT LONDON, Oct. 20 Many letters from Italy, bitterly complaining of conditions there, and even criticising the Government, are passing the censors, reports the correspondent of the Daily Mail on the Italian frontier.

A letter from a royal personage in Rome stated: "Ordinary necessities are difficult to obtain, even at an exorbitant price. We never thought it possible that an industrious, freedomloving country could be reduced to this lamentable condition." Another letter stated that everybody was sick and tired of the useless sacrifices and hardships. Except for war industries, business was at a standstill and ruin faced everybody. An article in the newspaper Regime Fascista said: "It is useless to try to hide the fact that this war is not popular like the last war, when a wave of nationalism existed because there was an urge then for reclaiming Italianspeaking districts held by other countries. Now we fight distant regions for abstract economic, geographical and political reasons against adversaries unknown to the Italians." FREED IN MEXICO GERMANS AND ITALIANS CREWS OF SEIZED SHIPS (Reed. 9.55 p.m.) MEXICO CITY, Oct. 20 The President of Mexico has released 560 German and Italian officers and seamen of the 12 vessels which Mexico seized last April. They will now have full liberties with other foreigners who are legally in Mexico. This action has both surprised and worried official British and American quarters, who consider it will complicate the already serious problem of Axis espionage. GREEKS MASSACRED BULGARIAN ATROCITIES TERRORIST ACTIONS REPORTED LONDON, Oct. 20 Information received by the Greek Government in London from official sources, states the British official wireless, shows that, acting under Nazi instructions, the Bulgarians are instituting terrorist measures in the districts of Drama, Kavalla and Zinke. During the night of September 10 the Bulgarians arrested 30 prominent Greek and Jewish citizens at Kavalla on the pretext that a few Bulgarian soldiers had been killed in the suburbs. Without trial four of the "hostages" were shot. The Bulgarians admitted that there were no offences alleged against these men, who, in fact, were peacefully sleeping in their homes when they were arrested.

Other messages cited by the Greek Government state that the Bulgarians have deliberately fomented discontent caused by the wholesale theft by the German Government of the tobacco crop in the province of Drama. Sending out "agents provocateurs" the Bulgarians succeeded in provoking minor disturbances which they followed up by a series of brutal massacres in the villages. According to information in the possession of the Greek Government, victims of this savagery number some 15,000. Dexaton was burnt out and is a smoking ruin. The Bulgarians did not, however, escape unscathed. Although the Greeks were practically unarmed, they killed seven Germans and more than 300 Bulgarians. ECONOMIC STABILITY PROPOSALS IN CANADA DISPUTES OVER WAGES OTTAWA, Oct, 20 The Canadian Minister of Labour, Mr. Norman A. McLarty, has announced that machinery is being set up under the new compulsory wage policy, which provides that wage disputes will be dealt with by regional boards, and, if necessary, by the National Labour Board. The Minister added that the question whether the payment of Christmas and similar bonuses would be permitted could not be answered immediately. The British High Commissioner to Canada, Mr. Malcolm Macdonald. described Canada's new policy of freezing prices and wages as a grand experiment. The need for some measure to prevent inflation had been evident, and the measures taken in Canada went even farther than those taken in Britain.

The president of the Trades and Labour Congress in Canada, Mr. Tom Moore, said that it -was incomprehensible that the Canadian workers were not. given a full opportunity to express their views on the Federal wages and prices stabilisation programme before it was finalised, both in its terms and the manner of introduction. It was the longest step yet taken by any democracy toward a totalitarian policy.

CANTEEN PROFITS CASH RETURN TO FORCES MANY NEW ESTABLISHMENTS LONDON, Oct. 20 At a half-yearly meeting of the Council of the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes it was stated that the turnover for the first year of war was about £3-1,000.000, and the sum of £1,552,348 was returned to Hi Majesty's Forces in cash. In an address to the council. Air. Royle. chairman of the hoard of management, said that the pre-war profits contributed by the Army and Air Force remained intact. The number of canteens in His Majtsty's ships is more than double the pre-war figure, and the naval shore canteens have increased tenfold. Whereas some 700 establishments for the Army and Air Force wdre being conducted at the outbreak of war, the present number is 4700, besides many hundreds which have been opened and closed due to the movement of troops. At home, 247 mobile canteens are working satisfactorily. The institutes are operating in the Faroes Islands, Iceland, Cyprus, Syria, Persia, Eritrea, Abyssinia, Somaliland, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, Nigeria and Malaya, in addition to the normal peacetime stations. The number of staff is approaching 60,000, and i 6 increasing.