WATCH MACEDONIA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22102, 4 November 1933, Page 11

WATCH MACEDONIA

EUROPEAN STORM CENTRE LONDON, October 25. Watch Macedonia! Though superficially quiet, it is one of the European storm centres, with elements of upheaval everywhere, says the 'special correspondent of the Daily Mail, who has been travelling in Bulgaria with members of a Macedonian secret organisation. The Macedonians are determined to rectify their frontier, which is the result of the post-war division bisecting villages, farms and even cemeteries. The Jugoslavs are determined to retain it. The desperadoes with whom he travelled, says the correspondent, are decent, humorous, courteous and hospitable folk, but “ quick on the draw.” Their lives are constantly in danger. Their job is to keep alive the spirit of independence among Macedonians living under Jugoslav rule, where they are forbidden to own churches and schools, and even to use their own language. The Macedonians are continually crossing the frontier to cheer them up and carry messages between divided families. The emissaries have a real man’s job. The frontier is heavily guarded behind barbed wire, man-traps and pits. They are forced to penetrate it where it crosses 5000 feet gorges, the tops of which are snow covered. They choose the darkest nights, and lie hidden in the daytime, constantly at risk of death. The revolutionaries are controlled by the “Secret Three,” whose identity is unknown except to their closest associates. Messages are often passed while the revolutionaries are splashing in communal salt baths which many villages possess, owing to the frequency of the mineral springs. The organisation is financed by a levy which every Macedonian willingly pays.