THE BALKAN STATES

Otago Witness, Issue 2561, 15 April 1903, Page 20

THE BALKAN STATES

AUSTRIAN TROOPS MOBILISING.

THE REVOLUTION SPREADING.

A CRISIS IN SERVIA.

ATTITUDE OF ALBANIANS.

MACEDONIA A CAUSE OF ANXIETY.

MUSCOVITE PRESS COMMENT.

LONDON,- April: 7. v

Advices from Nish (Serria);. state 4;hat maiiy Albanians attacked Qkhridk : (Eittl lopean1 opean Turkey), massacred the Chris-

tians tnere. , > The Tunes' Sofia correspondent declares that the Macedonians- j and Buly garians are" out of hand, and • that no foreign, influence would avail to arrest the revolution. The Albanians are determined to recover their ancient privi T leges.

Hussien Hilmi Pasha is Gonvinced of the inefficiency of the reforms submitted, and " suspects that Austria shares " his conclusions. He considers the reforms are a makeshift to avert immediate international complications.

One hundred and ten villagers in the Okhrida district have been arrested for harbouriug revolutionaries.

The .Daily Mail states, that the Catholic Albanians at Daredzo revolted, owing to Turkish exactions. Several houses were burned, and -a number killed.

A general insurrection at Scutari is feared.

The Sultan has reprimanded the commandant at Mitrovitza for firing on the Mussulman (Albanian) attackers before exiiausting pacific means.

Anril 9.

Prior to the House of Commons adjourning till the 21sfc inst, and replying to Messrs Bowles, Fitzmaurice, and others, the Right Hon. Mr Balfour (Premier) agreed that Macedonia was a cause of grave anxiety. He confessed he entertained but a feeble hope that what the cordial and honest co-operation of Russia and Austria — the two most primarily directly interested in the Balkans — were unable to achieve could be accomplished by the other parties to the Berlin Treaty.

Lord Cranborne states that the disease afflicting the Turkish administration was incompetence: Great Britain was considering the question of the appointment ofA.fficers to accompany the Turkish troops despatched to suppress the disprder," with a view of obtaining as a guarantee that no excesses were committed.

April 10.

— r- — There have been numerous conflicts in Macedonia. The village of Berova was surrounded and burnt. The insurgents traversed the cordon and escaped. Saraffov's band extorted money from the peasantry belonging to nine villages in the Fiorina district.

The Russian newspapers urge the despatch of 500 Cossacks to Mitrovitza to protect their Consul. The ltussians are angry that the reforms have not been proclaimed in Macedonia.

The Times says that Bulgaria protected Count Lamsdorff against the unfounded consular charges made against Bulgarian commercial agents in Macedonia.

VIENNA, April 6. The Austrian troops at A gram Sarafee vot (?) and Temesvar have" been mobilised. Austria has warned the Sultan that she will occupy Mitrovitza unless the Albanians are coerced. CONSTANTINOPLE, April 6.

M. Zinovieff (the Russian Ambassador), Baron Calice (the Austrian Ambassador), and Sir Nr O'Conor (British Ambassador) interviewed the Sultan, and urged upon him the necessity of a military occupation of the chief centres in Albania. The Sultan promised prompt compliance, and professed his intention to send 32 Anatolian battalions to Albania, and, in the event of coercion being ne-essary, of employing Anatolian troops alone. It is suspected, however, that he will rely on persuasion and money to pacify the districts.

April 8.

The Sultan's Pacification Commission at Pristini induced the Albanian leaders to promise to disperse the assailants at Mitrovitza, and also to maintain law and order. . April 11. M. Stcherbina, Russian Consul at Mitrovitza, who was shot at by an Albania soldier when leaving the consulate some 10 days ago, succumbed to his injuries. The Porte informed M. Zinovieff, the Russian Ambassador, that M. Stcherbina's assailant (Ibrahim) had been sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment.

The note was returned with the statement that Ibrahim must be either executed or acquitted.

The Sultaii is embarrassed, as an execution would defeat his scheme of pacification and compel the Sultan to take steps to carry out serious punitive operations or else defy Russia.

April 12. The Sultaa is eeudiog a mgiiaiy. fah-

sion to palaver with the Albanians, bi» sides the mixed mission already sent.

SOFIA, April 8.

The Albanian Mahommedans have se« cured the Christian chiefs' neutrality or assistance in resisting the proposed reJ? ■*

April 9.

Prince Ferdinand has appointed General Paprikoff inspector-general of the Bulgarian army, to counterbalance Russia's forcing the temporary appointment as chief of the staff of General Dimitrieff, the chief kidnapper of Prince Alexander in 1886:

- % £EIiGB,ADE> April 7. -Owing"'; to the differences with the Sjkupshtina (Assembly), King Alexander of Sc-.via' has suspended the Constitution ,and dismissed the Senate and fekupshtina. He also annulled several laws, but subsequently restored the Constitution preparatory to a new election. - ""April 11. • A plot has been discovered in Belgrade to assassinate King ' Alexander to-» morrow. Numerous arrests have been effected- ,