THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 1916. GREECE AND THE WAR.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16782, 25 August 1916, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 1916. GREECE AND THE WAR.

/Two circumstances which have been reported during the past few V3ays tended to throw suspicion once more on the sincerity of the Greek Government of its protestations of neutrality—protestations that were last wrung from it little more than two months ago by the presentation 011 behalf, of the protecting Powers of a Note embodying demands of an exceedingly stringent character. One of these circumstances was the incident of the issue of an order to the Greek garrison at Fort Tlieapetra to withdraw in face of the invasion by Bulgarian forces. The other is the announcement that all thought of holding the general election, which was to have taken place next month, has, in the facc of the Bulgarian offensive, been abandoned. If, as has been suggested, this offensive was instituted with the view of staving off the elections and consequently of depriving the Greek peoplo of the opportunity of placing in power a Government that would be favourable to the Entente Powers, the record of duplicity and hypocrisy of the ruling party in Greece at once invites the assumption that the whole proceeding has been carefully planned to defeat the objcct of the undertaking given to the governing Powers on the 21st June. Even the assurance which Lord Robert Cecil, Under-secretary for Foreign Affairs, has given in the House of Commons that the relations between the Greek Government and the British Government are satisfactory does not wholly dispel the feeling that King Constantine and his advisers have been guilty of another piece of trickery to suit the purposes of Germany. We have to depend upon the good taith of the " business " Government which, in accordance with the demands of the governing Powers, was constituted under M. Zaimis, in succession to the Government that was headed by M. Skouloudis, for the performance of the undertaking that was given by it 011 its formation. But an examination of its personnel, such as has been made by Dr Dillon, strongly suggests that influences. which are favourable to Germany are

still operating to a very pronounced degree in Greece. M. Zaimis himself is described as a man who enjoys a high reputation for integrity and straightforwardness, but as neither a parliamentary hand nor a fighting | man and hence unfamiliar with the devious ways of political intriguers and pi,ico hunters and incapable of fathoming their actions or suspecting their motives. "As chief of tho Cabinet under which tho new elections will tako place," Dr Dillon writes, "lie can be relied upon to say and do nothing calculated to impair individual liberty of choice, or to favour either party. And that is something. But it is uot everything." How far it is from everything we may realise when we consider who the men are that are associated with him in his "business" Government. The elections in Greece are hold under the supervision of the Minister of the Interior and the Minister of Justice. Colonel llarlambis, a nephew of M. Zaimis, is the Minister of the Interior. lie has the reputation of being an excollent officer but he is also a most zealous champion of tho King, whose will he regards as law, and it was to his devotion to King Constantino and his hostility to M. Venizelos that he owes his appointment. Another member of the Government, M. Monferatis, Professor at the University of Athens, is described as an eminent jurisconsult, whose book 011 Roman law received high praise from German critics. For thirty years he has been the legal adviser of M. Skouloudis, from whom he has been inseparable for that period, and M. Skouloudis, just before resigning, recommended his lawyer to the anti-Venizelist Monferatis for the important post of Minister of Justice and arbiter of the elections. He it is who will appoint the legal overseers with full powers to arrest those voters against whom he considers that a charge of irregularity has been made out. Besides these Ministers, there are two other members of the Cabinet who will have their say in the coming electoral campaign, and they are, Dr Dillon observes, both trusty champions of the party which has ruined the future of Greece. On the Ministers of War and Marine it dopends to enable the 60,000 soldiers and sailors who will remain after the army has been demobilised to absent themselves in order to record their votes and to have tlaem conveyed to the voting booths in time. And 60,000 yotes constitute a considerable contingent in Greek elections. Further than this, there is the danger that the National Bank of Greece, in which pro-German influence is said to be prominent, may exercise an influence of a kind that may readily be imagined in opposition to the Venizelists, and there is 1 the fact that General Dusmanis, who is believed to be the best army commander and strategist in Greece, and is known to be a hero-worshipper of the Kaiser and his brother-in-law, continues to be the Chief of the General Staff of the army, while his brother, Admiral Dusmanis, is Chief of tlic General Staff of the navy. In the judgment of the Liberal Greeks, therefore, Dr Dillon asserts, the change which has taken place in the Cabinet is but a change of front. " The facade has been repainted in a brighter colour, but the structure itself has undergone no modification." Recent events really seem to give support to this conclusion.