THE BALKAN SITUATION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16523, 25 October 1915, Page 4

THE BALKAN SITUATION.

The Balkans continue to furnish a centre of engrossing interest in connection with the war at the present time. The clash of diplomacy, as well as that of arms, is increasing in intensity in that theatre, and the developments that must shortly be ushered in are awaited the more anxiously because of the uncertainty as to the precise direction they -will take. That the final turn of events in the Balkans will exercise an important influence on the general progress of the' war nobody seems to dou'ot. The Central Powers have so far secured an advantage in inducing Bulgaria to take up, arms against Serbia: and in influencing Greece to remain neutral. The Entente Powers are striving hard to nullify and more than nullify the advantage thus obtained by the enemy. It is still wjthin their power to . secure thls ; result. Rumania and Greece have yet to declare' themselves. The most satisfactory news contained in the latest cablegrams has reference to Rumania. It encourages the hope that Rumania- will very soon intervene on the side of the Entente Powers. Rumania seems to have stipulated that as a condition of her intervention the Allies shall send 400,000 men to the Balkans, permitting her to concentrate the whole of her forces in the Carpathians. Great Britain and France are said to have agreed to this, proposition. A further report that Rumania is preparing to attack Bulgaria, while nob harmonising with the suggestion that one of the chief concerns of Rumania is to be relieved of any anxiety-regarding Bulgaria, need not .necessarily destroy confidence in what is said as to her negotiations with the Entente Powers. - In the Balkans Rumania is a relatively powerful State. She owes her liberty I and ■ independence -to Russian arms, but her ruler r she owes to the House of Hohenzollern. When the Avar broke out King Charles was credited with a Teadiness to fight on the side of Austria and Germany. If that wpre so the ..Monarch . would seem to have been effectually-restrained by the general feeling of a democratic people. In the. r past Rumania, was apprehensive of a Russian invasion with the object -of seizing Constantinople,' but the Avar has given I promise of ridding her of any. fear of a Russian', attack on her eastern frontier, and to open permanently the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus to Rumanian trade. Since the revelation of Austrian hostility pijo- | vided -by ,the second Balkan war Rumania has seen the necessity of looking, elsewhere than to Austria for support. She has v , moreover, a grievance of long-standing against the Dual Monarchy. Her great problem is -the creatiop of a greater Rumania on the basis of nationality. . Over | three and a-half million Rumanians dwell outside tHte Rumanian frontier, in Hungary. That country drives as it were a huge wedge into Rumania. The story of the Rumanian subjects of Austria-Hungary is one of long oppression. The national aspiration of Rumania is to secure enlargement on .a racial basis by the incorporation of Transylvania and the Banat within her dominions. 4 Rumanian concentration in the Carpathians would mean the inauguration in earnest of'an effort to wrest these provinces from the D.uaL Monarchy. The time when the Russians were at the height of their success in invading the Carpathians seemed to offer Rumania her most favourable opportunity for intervention. One of the reasons offered for her delay has been her unpreparedness for war. It is at all events greatly to be hoped that the report of her present agreement with the Entente Powers will be verified in the immediate future.

If the prospects concerning Rumanian intervention are promising, those relating to the attitude of Greece are unfortunately the reverse. .The offer by Great Britain to cede Cyprus to Greece as part of the price of her intervention on the side of the Entente Powers has ncit 'been cordially embraced by the Government. Greece is proving obdurate to reminders of her obligations under the Grceco-Serbian Treaty. M, Venizel'os has done his utmost, and public opinion in Greece is evidently strongly in favour of the Allies and is particularly inimical to the Bulgarians, but German influence in ruling circles at Athens is strong. King Constantine would appear to have pledged an allegiance to the Kaiser from which he cannot be induced to depart. Doubtless the fact that the Queen of the Hellenes is a sister of the Kaiser gees far to explain this.' The King 'strongly opposes Greek intervention, and is said to foresee no eventualities sufficient to justify the abandonment of Greek neutrality. Greecc-is so vulnerably situated that, notwithstanding the sympathies of the King and the supineness of his Minis* ters, any idea of her taking up arms against the Entente Powers may probably be dismissed from consideration. According to the Athens 1 correspondent of an Italian journal the intervention of Greece on the side of the Allies will be secured, through popular demonstrations, if only the Entente Powers land a sufficiently large army in Macedonia. This may be sufficiently near the truth. Perhaps what Dr Dillon refers to as " the irresistible pressure of circumstances " will yet effect a desirable improvement in the attitude of Qreeoe. '

DEATH .OF DR W. G. GRACE. The news of the death of Dr W. G. Grace, the world famous cricketer, will occasion a pang of regret, and 'the thrill that attends fragrant ■ memories of bygone days, in thousands of hearts that are no longer young. Not only was "W.G." (to use the popular abbreviation) the most celebrated cricketer that ever lived: we should say that his name lias been more widely known than that of any other man who has owed his distinction to skill as a sportsman pure and simple. It would be an exaggeration, no doubt, to assert that his early exploits and his prolonged acti: vity made cricket the national institution it now is; but it would not be such an excessive exaggeration as the younger generation might suppose. It is the simple truth that he first caused •noncricketers to take an interest in the game. It may be that this development had an undesirable side; it-may be, again, that it is not good or admirable that man should give his life to a sport as W. G. Grace virtually gave 'his, life to cricket. We must be allowed to waive these questions, in view of the undeniable fact that (in the words of Mr A. G. Steel, K.C., a great cricketer, who did not give his life to cricket),' "the name of W. >G.' Grace has sunk very deeply into the hearts of all branches of the community." More wonderful, perhaps, than his ability as a player ;was the length of • time during which, that ability was maintained. It was in 1866 that he made his first century in first-class cricket (it was really a double century—224 not out), and lie played his last first-class match more than 40 years later. He lived to captain a team of Gentlemen (against the Players), the other 10 members of which were all unborn when he first represented the Gentlemen. Playing in thoee later days, and looking back to the cricket fields of his youth, he might, if lie had been a sentimentalist, have said, with Francis Thompson

For the field is" full of shades as I near the shadowy coa^t, And a ghostly batsman plays to the bowling of a ghost, And I look through my tears on a soundless clapping host. But "W.G.'' did not trouble much about these vicissitudes; players might come) and players might go; he meant—at one time •it really seemed so—to go on for ever. One touch of tenderness there is, indeed, in his first book on cricket. '-'My mother was present at every county match played at Glifton. She treasured every telegram and report, of our doings. E.M. and .1. were playing , for- Gloucestershire v. Lancashire, at Manchester, on July 25, 1884, when we received the telegram announcing her death. It came with painful despair to us, and for the moment we knew riot what to do; but my friend and comrade of many years, A. N. Hornby, the captain of the Lancashire Eleven, gfasped the situation, and with a promptness and consideration which E. M. and I can never forget, immediately stopped the match, and we hurried home to have the .last look at her who had loved us so wisely and well." "G.F.," the youngest and most amiable of the famous brotherhood, died in 1860,, a few days after taking part in the 1 first test Ynatch played on English ground. It can-, not be said that the unique prolongation" of W. G. Grace's career as a cricketer was due to an ill-judged, lingering on the stage. When he was nearer 40 than 50, and people were beginning to expect his withdrawal, 'he suddenly renewed his youth like the- eagle,' made a thousand runs in the month of May (1895), .and thus became a hero to the sons of those who had admired bis early feats. It was this staying quality—additionally remarkable in a man of, his great weight—that ra/ld-e his fame so widespread. It is hardly too much to say that he was known to three generations. Other batsmen—Ranjitsinhji and the late Victor Trvjmper, for .instance —may have been as famous and as great —perhaps more brilliant—for a few years ; but there is nothing in cricket liistory, or in 1 the history of any sport, to match W. G. Grace's perennial endurance. As for his skill, this column is not' the place either for statistics or for technical disquisition; but remembering the roughnes3 of the grounds upon which "W. G." played in his palmy days, and that he was well past his prime when "billiardtable wickets" came into vogue, 'there is something more than plausibility in the claim that his powers as a batsman dur r ing the seventies of last century exceeded anything seen on the ;cricket field before or since. A writer in Wisden's Cricketers' Almanac, for 1912, declares that " 'W.G.'s' surviving contemporaries are nnani-, irious in stating that, on present-day wickets, he' would have averaged over a \hundred for 'the season—barring, always, How he would have faced them we cannot tell." By the way, it is almost forgotten nowadays that' in his younger time "W.G." was hardly less successful as a bowler than as a batsman. As a fieldsman, until he grew too bulky, he was first-rate in almost any position. Indeed, in one famous test match he did actually fill every position in the field during a long Australian innings—finally taking the wicket-keeping gloves, while Mr Alfred Lyttelton went on to bowl lobs. As a captain, despite his immense experience, he did not shine conspicuously. He was rather self-opinionated; and apt to be capricious, and developed eccentric tactics. . <

As regards W. G. Grace's'personality, apart from his prowess as a cricketer, it would' not be difficult to advance various testimonies of a somewhat contradictory nature. Though not so peppery as his elder brother he had a temper of his own, and could be overbearing at times. He was not universally popular as a companion in the field. Moreover, a good deal of unfavourable criticism was occasioned in his younger days by his practice of taking very liberal payment, nominally as while maintaining his status as an amateur. But whatever his faiilts and foibles may have been, his character was exceptionally sound and generous and engaging; otherwise we may be sure that Lord Harris, who knew him well and played with him scores of times, would never have written the following words: —"l regard 'W.G.' not merely as the most prominent exponent there has x:ver been of the finest and purest game that has ever been played, but also the kindest and most sympathetic cricketer I have ever played with. As I said in pro posing his hoalth some years ago at a banquet the Kent County Club gave in his honour, I never knew a man njake a mistake in the field but what 'W.G.' had a kind word to say- and an excuse to find for him, and I doubt if I could conclude with anything in praise of my old friend which would be truer or more gratifying to his feelings than that." No testimony could be more emphatic or more independent; and now that the world-famous cricketer has gone to rest, sleeping beneath the turf while the changing «easons pass, Lord Harris's generous words may fitly servo a* hi» epitaph.

The Hon. James Allen (Minister of Defence) is due in Dunediii to-day from Wellington. He will speak at tho reception to the returned soldiers on Wednesday morning. The mail which was despatched from ' Dunedin via San Francisco on September 16, arrived in London on the 22nd inst.— five days late. ' In furtherance of the' Mayor's appeal for motor cars to convey the returned soldiers to the new Drill Hall .and to the railway station or wharf, on Wednesday and on Sunday, Mr Clark states that a considerable number of cars are still required; -Ho will be glad if owners of cars will notify either him or Mr Roberts at the earliest possible ' moment of their willingness to assist. The public are reminded that the Labour Day Association's sports will be held at Forbury Park to : day. A good pi-ogrammo . of racing and dancing events will be provided, and those patronising the sports aro. promised a good afternoon's enjoyment. As 90 per cent, of the profits is being de.voted to the Wounded Soldiers' Fund,' there, should be a good attendance. The sports will commence at 1.20 p.m. The Rev. R. E. Davies announced to the Knox Church congregation yesterday that the late Miss J. Dalgleish had left her estate in trust to the Deacons' Court of the Church. The total estate .is valued at approximately £3000, and of this amount £300 is to be given to the Ladies' Association, .and '£200. to the Ybung Women's Society, and the residue is to "be devoted •to the payment of the salary of a certificated nurso to work amongst the poor. Mr ■ Davies commented upon the opportuneness of the last-mentioned gift, coming as it does 'at a time when the stress and strain of tho great war is beginning' to make itself felt.' A young man named James Souquet, residing at Mount Cargill, was admitted to the yesterday morning, Buffering / from injuries received through being thrown from a milk cart. From what , can be ascertained of the occurrence, it appears, that the horse bolted and -fell, breaking its leg and throwing out Mr Souquet and his ■son. The latter was able to proceed to his home, but his father had to be taken to the Hospital, where, his injuries received attention: '

The following /nominations for. trustees for the various subdivisions of the Western Taieri Drainage District have been re- ■ ceived :^—Momona—Charles Campbell, nominated by George Ford and Thomas Hewitt; . Snow—James Miller, nominated by Alexander Moynihan and John A. Bruce; Lee Cneelc—James T. Gibson, nominated by , George Lyall and Jlio. Jas Walker; Lakes— Richard A., Kempshell, nominated by Rob- , ert Petrie and David Doull, The four gentlemen named have been declared elected by the returning officer (Mr W. E. McLean). Messrs Campbell, Miller, and \ Gibson were retiring mombers, and Mr Kempshell sat on the board some years ago. He takes the place of Mr Doull, • who did not seek re-election. There were no nominations for the West Taieri subdivision, which is represented by Mr Wm. Thomson. The Governor will now be asked to fill the vacancy, as required" by law.. Mr Thomson, who did not seek re-election, will retain, the seat until an ■ appointment • is made.'' Exactly $e same tiling happened three years ago. Mr Thomson did not offer himself for re-election,'but afterwards accepted re-appbintment. It is interesting to observe that,- while the City .Council in Dunedin. has had .to face the difficulty arising frorfl the need of .plates for a, battery supplied by the. v.: Tudor Accumulator Company, which is a , German concern, the City Council at Sydney has also found itself in a dilemma in connection with its supplies of electrical appliances. The federal Attorney-general (Mr W. M. Hughes) has explained the posi-*. tion, which he describes as humorous aswell as difficult. "The City Council ,of Sydney," Mr Hughes says, " callejl for _ tenders for the supply of an electric Morage battery, and two tenders' were' sent" in, •• one from tho Australian Metal Company, and the other from the Tudor Accumulator Company. The. council decided to; aw aid the • contract to the Australiari (J Metal Com- _ pany, on the ground—to quote its own letter—that the Australian Metal Company was an Australian conoern.. When the war was declared the. .Australian Metal : Com- . , pany, which saw the stormy weather, ahead, , and knew that sooner or later, its disguise ... would be penetrated, becain'e aware - that it could not carry out its contract, and ar- • ranged that the erection should be carried out by the Tudor Accumulator Company, • j which is wholly ■ German. Thus the council of the loyal city of Sydney awarded, after much cogitation, the 'contract in the first instance to the Australian Metal Com- r, pany,' a purely German- concern, with no- , thing' Australian about it but. the name, : I and when war breaks put virtuously pro- ■ poses to transfer the contract to the Tudoc Accumulator Company, which is also German." • ■

Messrs R. Sadd, Commissioner of Crown Lands for Otago, with Messrs G. Livingstone and T. A. Munro, members of the Land Board, have returned from.; an official - inspection, extending over two'days,' of tho ' Benmoro property, which is to be subdivided and offered to the public in February (says the Oamaru Mail).' Tho visitors wore genuinely impressed by the appearance of £ho Benmoro country, which, the Commissioner described as the finest .estate o£ the kind in Now Zealand, and as being in better heart than any other Crown pro-, perty in the South Island. . The place is ■ remarkably free-from rabbits, and feed is plentiful throughout its wide range. /. It is expcctcd that there will be altogether 40 1 subdivisions, varying in area from 700 to 10,000 acres, each containing an area of arable land of 100 acres or more.- The members of the board paid a high compliment to the management," to whoso skilful and careful husbandry may be ascribed th& high state, of efficiency attained at Ben.more. ...

The thirteenth anniversary - of-the Maori Hill Methodist Sunday School was celebrated yesterday. The Rev. Wesley Kratt conducted the morning service, his text being from Zachariah, eighth chapter, fifth verse, "And the street of the city was •full of boys and girls." The Boy Scouts, - mustering over 40,' under the command of Scoutmaster Darracott, were, present. 'In the afternoon the Rev. J. H. Hocking presided, and gave a short address on Heroes of the Bible, the greatest being the Boy Jesus. - Musical items were contributed; by Misses Butterfleld, Mason, Poole, and Geo. Henderson, and several anthems and choruses by the children. In the evening the Rev. Mr Wallace took for his text I Samuel, seventeenth chapter, forty-eighth verse—David and Goliath. Air the services were largely attended. ■ A collision occurred on the, hill on -the Main South road, at Caversh'am, last evening between a motor cycle ridden. by Mr •Frank Stent and a itiotor car. driven, by Mr Storey. It appears that Mr Stent was riding up the hill in the' vicinity of tho boot factory, and was on . the right aide of the road when he met the car coming down. In attempting, to avoid the larger vehicle the motor cyclist was forced: to, rido'across in front of it, and a collision was inevitable. Mr Stent's injuries were not serious, -and consisted manly of superficial bruises and abrasions about the head and hands. ,

At the meeting: of the Wellington sporta executive at Banks's College 011 Wed- - nesday night to consider the question of recruiting, Dr Newman, M.F.» mentioned (says tho Times), the oase- of a, greyheaded man who had enlisted, giving his age as 39. " When were you born?" asked tho recruiting officer. . "In 1876," was tho reply; and that, of course, was all, right., But the man went on to talk about his wife and family. "When wero you married!" asked the officer, to which the recruit replied, "In 188 L" . "•Oh, then," v. said the recruiting officer, " you were married when jou were five 'yean old." But tho recruit was enrolled all right*

. It is reported that a young man named Alexander Af'Ewen met with a somewhat 'serious accident <vt Clyde yesterday. His injuries necessitated an operation, and it is understood that tliis was successfully • performed •' Speaking to a Wellington Post reporter, Mr Alexander Macpherson, Field Instructor for the South Island, who has just returned from the United States, said that while at Vancouver he found the people there very ansious to obtain New Zealand, lamb, mutton; and butter, particularly butter, which is held in the highest estoem. The only complaint they make is that they cannot get enough of it. Whenever possible they buy it in preference to their own. After leaving the Panama Exposition, where he ' carried out the duties of Chief Executive Officer of the New Zealand Commission, he made a series of visits to the various agri- - cultural instructional institutions of the States and Canada, and found a great deal to interest him, though in many respects it is on very different lines to that of New Zealand. In most places the cattle are housed, and are fattened on grain. In regard to experimental work, ho said, New Zealand is not, generally speaking, much, behind America, but throughout the various Governments are providing every possible facility to get the people on to the land, and their efforts are proving highly successful.

Dr Newman, M.P., speaking at a recruiting meeting on Wednesday 'evening (reports' tho Wellington Post), said that he thought it rather mean that some, men would not let their own sons go and fight, but were letting other sons go and fight for them. Ho knew of one man who had called his four sons' together, and had said to them: "If any one of you goes to the front he won't get a shilling." "Of course, he only says that sort of thing in the bosom of his family." Mr C. G. Wilson said he thought it was the mothers rather than the fathers who were keeping the boys at home. They thought it all right for other mothers' boys to go. But they wouldn't let their own boys go. An interesting relic of the ■ battle of Trafalgar is at present in Christohurcli (says the Press), in the shape of a case of oldtime surgical instruments. It has been

presented by Dr Redman, of Spring Creek, . Marlborough, to be disposed of for the ' benefit of the Masonic Special War Benevolent Fund. The' case, with - its strangelooking instruments, has been,"'in the possession of Dr .Redman and his late father for 60 or 70 years. It belonged originally to ono W. C. Morris, and Dr Redman, in \ forwarding the case, also sent a letter from Mr Morris, dated Newton-on-Trent, May 14, 1834, to a Mr Moulding, of Lincoln. The letter, reads:—" I have, according, to . promise', sent you my amputating case of

surgical instruments, which I beg may be * taken great care of and kept in a , dry place. . They have served me in upwards of : 100 engagements with the enemy, beginning -with Trafalgar, so that I prize them very highly. lam afraid I shall .riot be able to call for them before £he latter end of July or August, which,. I twist, will not inconvenience you.. I beg you to state to Mr Berridge that our affair is arranged. —Yours truly, W. 0. Morris." There was an unusual development at a - meeting of creditors, held at Auckland on Monday, in the estate of James Laflgmuir, of T<? Kuiti and Te Awamutu, draper and picture show proprietor, who filed a petition in bankruptcy-, at Hamilton on October 9 (says the Herald). Counsel, for the bankrupt, Mr J. H. Litfcford, in • explaining the position to the official • assignee, Mr W. S. Fisher, said' the estate was likely to turn out happily for the creditors. * His client filed owing to misconception of his position. On'bis own showing he was solvent. Within a week it was hoped to_ pay all the creditors 20s in the £. Bankrupt's hand had been forced by a, creditor at Te Kuiti. The assignee said he was very pleased to recommend the creditors to adjourn the meeting for \ to enable the bankrupt to conclude the arrangements in hand. This' recommendation was agreed to.

A raid on an alleged sly-grog shop at Avondale was made on Monday night by Plain-cothes, Constables Maguire and Wallington and, as a result a main named Han'y Turnbull will appear before a magistrate at an early date on a charge of Belling spirituous liquors without a license (says the New Zealand Herald). ,The raid was made as the result of complaints received by the police from .the commanders of the military camp ;at Avondale. Dressed as a Territorial, one; of the "constables went with a number ot other Territorials to the shop and purjhased drinks. A search warrant was afterWards procured by the police, and a search of the premises, *it is - stated, revealed a quantity of liquor. . During Monday many tradesmen in Wellington with plateglass show-windows discovered to their dismay that their windows had been, in most cases, badly -marked, either by a diamond or a glaes-cutter. This form of criminal idiocy was practised in Wellington some five years ago, and "tfiere was a'recrudescence of it during the strike two years ago (says the Dominion). But the extent fof the. damage done by the guilty parties on those occasions was restricted. to a few isolated shop-fronts in different, parts of the city, and, tivcOy, was .of small moment. On this Occasion, however, the' perpetrator has evideatly set out with the intention of doing as much damage as possible, and few places . alcig Lambton "quay and in Willis street ha\) beeij spared a visit between closing time on Saturday and 8. o'clock on Monday morning. The .marts made by the cutter „ vary in character. Some are the fine, thin marks of' a diamond point, whilst others ap- , pear 'to have been deeply gashed by a blunt glass-cutter. Nearly all the marks are about the lqjrel of a man's" (or. woman's) ;v hand, which strengthens the belief that the . damage ■ may have -been done with a diamond set in a ring. The matter*is being investigated by the police. ' • __ "