THE MACEDONIAN LEADERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2581, 2 September 1903, Page 9 (Supplement)

THE MACEDONIAN LEADERS.

(See portraits on page 11.)

It is almost impossible to dissociate Bulgaria and the Bulgarians from the insurgents who are at present harassing Turkey in the interests of a future autonomous Macedonia. Bulgarian expansion commenced almost as soon as Bulgaria has achieved her independ ence. The Serbs remained self-contained, ■while their neighbours extended their frontiers to include the new province of Eastern Roumelia, which was quietly absorbed from complacent Turkey. Then the Serbs o<* came jealous of thedr brothers, and quarrelled, but Alexander of Battenberg, the hero of Bulgaria to-day, utterly routed them at Slivnitaa and Pirot, and made them sue for peace. The Bulgarians continued so expand, and unofficially, as traders, schoolteachers, and priests, they are distributed all over the centre and west of Turkey. These ore the men who are called Macedonians. It is sajd that a third of the officers of the Bulgarian Army are of 'Macedonian origin, and on tl ie other hand almost all the prominent Macedonian leaders are ex-Bulgarian officers. The President of the Macedonian High Committee, which had its headquarters at Sofia, is Professor Stoyan Mikhailovski. He is a poet and •writer, of Macedonian origin, and has for yeare past been urging the cause of the Macedonians in an unsympathetic European press. A few months ago the High Committee in Sofia was abolished, and Mikhailovski and others were arrested. The Bulgarians always intend that these political prisoners should escape, and the result is that ■Mikiiailovski now happens to be in Turkey. He is to-day reported killed at Kxushevo, but •will probably come out all right. General Tzontcheff, formerly a. colonel in the Bulgarian Army, is the vicepresident of the Macedonian High Committee, and the military chief of the insurgents. He has 'been in the field for two years, and has several times been wounded. On returning to Sofia, a few months ago, he was accorded a triumphal reception. It is his practice to go round to each of the insurgent bands once a month. In May he was reported killed near Salonika, but last week he was arrested by the Bulgarians to prevent him rejoining the insurgents. He

has, of course, escaped. Colonels Yankoff and Nikoloff, Lieutenants Mitzeff and Strugueroff, and Boris Saxafoff are the most prominent leaders now living. Yankoff is the veteran. Sarafoff was once president of the High Committee. Young and ambitious, he fell out with the others, who accused him of wishing to be Prince of Macedonia, and he is now leading independent bands.

gigantic operations on the New York Cotton Exohange, and of the efforts made by very olever ™ople to get the bet)ter , * „,. . . , . °/ one another- The i P rinclPal f^ in ™c extraordinary speculation that has been going on are three men—Price, Scully, and Brown. Mr Price was formerly a member of a firm which failed some years ago, • as the result of cotton speculations, for tne

some nulls, and on his periodical trips to the cotton-growing States he kept his eyes open. He. noted that the planter of today, instead of sowing his best seed, and usmg the inferior seed for manure, as was farmeriy tne custom, sells his best to the f>il mills, and plants the inferior, with the inevitable result of deterioration of the crop. He saw also that the acreage planted was decreasing. Four years ago h*

THE NIGHTCAPS TEAM. In the ma>tch at Invercargill on August 19th, Nightcaps defeated Kaitangata by 3 goals to 2 goals.