SIR EDWARD CARSON.

Otago Witness, Issue 3215, 27 October 1915, Page 17

SIR EDWARD CARSON.

RESIGNS HIS PORTFOLIO. LONDON, October 18. Sir Edward Carson has resigned his position as Attorney-general. October 19. Mr Redmond, speaking at the Nationalist Convention in Dublin, said the existence of the coalition Government was precarious. It was threatened by internal and external dangers. A rich and powerful conspiracy was

menacing its very existence, made up of men ready to sacrifice national unity in the face of the enemy in order to further their own predilections and theories. “ At any day,” he said, “we may be faced with reconstruction or proposals which will instantly end the political truce and rend the British people into contending factions. It is common talk in political circles in Eng= land toulay that a general election on lines of the fiercest contention may arise. Happily Ireland is not in any degree responsible for this.” The newspapers, except the Daily News, regret Sir E. Carson’s resignation. They pay tribute to his force of character and dogged honesty and determination. His resignation was due to differences of opinion regarding the Balkan policy, and not conscription. FATHER’S DRAMATIC ARRAIGNMENT. LONDON, October 18. At the inquest on an additional 23 Zeppelin victims, all in one London area, the evidence showed that a railway gcodsman was killed when entering a restaurant. Both his thighs were broken. His wife was beside him, but was not hurt. Another man outside the same house was cut through the neck with broken glass and killed. A woman near by had the lower part of her spine smashed. Another bomb struck a motor bus, killing the driver, the conductor, and a special constable. A house decorator, who was badly injured, was taken to hospital, where he insisted on the doctor first attending the man next to him. Both succumbed in a few hours. The Coroner, in summing up, suggested that the jury refrain from expressing indignant feelings in their verdict, but the father of one victim protested that his son had been killed by the Kaiser’s orders. “ I summon the Kaiser,” said he, “ to meet me before the judgment seat of God and answer for the death of my son and of those other 22 poor people.” The verdict was that the deaths were the result of an air raid. SUGGESTED REPRISALS. LONDON, October 18. Lord Bryce, in a letter, protests against the public demands for anti-Zeppelin reprisals for dropping bombs on civilians. Great Britain still stands respecting The Hague Convention, and to initiate savagery would lower us to the level of the Germans. Sir A. Conan Doyle considers the Allies would be justified in laying certain towns in Germany in ruins in order to compel a cessation of the Zeppelin attacks. GERMAN OFFICIAL REPORT. LONDON, October 18. A Berlin wireless message says: We repulsed Russian attacks at Jacobstadt, Smorgon, and Barbaswitchi. In the Macva district, westward of Belgrade, the enemy are beginning to retreat. The Bulgarians have occupied the heights of Muslinpercin and Balinzub. We repulsed strong attacks by the British north-east of Yermelles and a French aggressive movement at Tahure. German airmen dropped 40 bombs on Belfort. A RUSSIAN PRECAUTION. LONDON, October 18. Russia has prohibited the export of clover, owing to large importations to Germany for the manufacture of poison gases. BRITAIN AND FRANCE. LONDON, October 18. Replying to a cordial message from M. Viviani, following the Cabinet changes, and assuring Great Britain of France’s Unchanged policy, Sir E. Grey telegraphed an assurance of Great Britain’s continued and steadfast co-operation, which was strengthened hr the events of the past year, combined with the heroism of the Anglo-French soldiers fighting side by side in the same great cause. A GERMAN PLOT. WASHINGTON, Otober 18. The British secret service agents have found numbers of private yachts fitted out in American ports for the purpose of attacking American oil steamers carrying oil fuel to the Allies. German sailors are missing from the interned Kronprinz Wilhelm, and it is believed they have joined similar forces. The American schooner Academy has

been detained at Bogotai under suspicious circumstances. THE ADMIRAL HAMMELIN. PARIS, October 18. The Admiral Hammelin was not warned before being sunk. The submarine fired 40 shells while the crew and passengers were embarking in boats. A French torpedo boat and a British hospital ship came to the rescue, and the submarine disappeared. BRITISH NATIONAL REGISTER. LONDON, October 18. The Daily Chronicle says that the National Register shows 1,900,000 men of military age in Great Britain not engaged in making munitions or in productive industries or the railways. Allowing for the physically unfit the number available for the army is 1,250,000. THE BALTIC BLOCKADE. LONDON, October 18. The Daily Mail says that the Germans are realising in the Baltic the meaning of a real blockade. Their navy is now 7 boxed up in German ports behind nets, hawsers, and mines. The British achievements are the more remarkable because our submarines, to reach the Baltic, must pass through a narrow, shallow strait, obstructed at its southern end by mines. Zeppelins are constantly watching for them, yet our navy is equal to the task of showing who commands the sea. As Germany depends on Sweden for iron ore for fine steel, our submarines’ action is affecting Germany’s output of munitions. WHAT AUSTRALIA DEFENDS. PERTH, October 19. Mr Scaddan (Premier of West Australia), at a recruiting meeting, said that Australia had more to fight for than any other part of the Empire. Australia was practically the only “ -white man’s ” country in the world. THE KIDMAN CASE. SYDNEY, October 19. Giving evidence on his own behalf in the Kidman case, Major O’Donnell, one of the accused, said that at one time a general rising of the Germans in the concentration camp at Liverpool was feared. Extraordinary precautions were taken—doable guards were mounted and important points on the road were patrolled by armed officers in motor cars. He was ordered one night to take 500 rifles and ammunition in motor lorries to Liverpool, in case of a rising. At the time many small tenderers were offering to supply the concentration camp, and it resembled an organised attempt to gain admission by means of tradesmen’s carts.