GENERAL ITEMS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3250, 28 June 1916, Page 21

GENERAL ITEMS.

A contingent of wounded Maoris has left Plymouth for New Zealand. The King gave an audience to General Godlev, and invested him with the Commandership of the Bath (K.C.8.). In the House of Commons, Mr M'Kenna said that Sir John Jellicoe's despatch on the Jutland sea fight had not been received. He could not say when it would be published. The Dutch Socialist newspaper Het Volk points out that the meat export prohibition will be futile, inasmuch as the export of sausage is not prohibited. Dutch factories are exporting enormous quantities of sausage to Germany. In the course of an undated interview Captain Boolko, a German 'aviator, said he regarded the British airmen as brave, tenacious sportsmen. The fact that so many were brought down behind the German lines did not prove their unskilfulness, but their intrepidity. The Cologne Gazette calls Mr W. M. Hughes "Australia's shirt-sleeve politician, who admits that the reason for the war is to eliminate German competitors. What this backwoodsman meant by addressing the members of chambers of commerce was that Britons were lazy, and incapable of being compared with Germans, and the world had to be set ablaze to choke their rivals to death." The Munich Nachricten explains that the lecent rioting there was due to the scarcity of food; but independent observers state that the crowd shouted "Down with the war!"

The first Dutch ambulance corps sent to any belligerent country will go via Bergen to "Petrograd. It consists of Dr Rijleveld, -with four of the most efficient medical men in Holland, and 19 nurses.

Up to June 15 Canadian enlistments had totalled 340,000 men. Eecruiting and enlisting is proceeding at the rate of 500 daily.

M. Henri Barby, of Erzerum, writes to the newspaper Le Journal that out of 2,500,000 Armenians in Turkey at the beginning of 1915 2,000,0G0 have been massacred by order of the Young Turks Government.

The Milan paper Corriere della Sera states that there is good authority for believing that the* sunken German vessels Pommern and Frauenlob -were new dreadnoughts of 25,000 tons each, which were named after smaller vessels previously sunk.

Mr Hareoiirt states that there are 37 ships under construction in Britain for allied and neutral owners, averaging 7280 tons each.

After a seven days' secret session the French Chamber resumed openly. Confidence in the Government v.txs carried by 444 votes to 80 votes. Information has been disclosed on competent authority in that connection that Captain Franz von Ritellen, who is under an indictment at New York for conspiracy to foment strikes in American munition plants, has been placed under arrest in England. The Daily Chronicle states it is almostcertain that Mr Lloyd George will accept the office of Minister of War. An official announcement is not likely to be made, however, until the Ministerial troubles ■with regard to Ireland-are settled. The Daily Mail urgently appeals to the Government to tighten the blockade without delay and carry out the Paris Conference resolutions.

Fishing boats report that German destroyers capttrred and brought to Zeebrugge the Great Eastern Railway Company's mail steamer Brussels, 1380 tons. It is reported that an Austrian submarine ineffectually chased the Norwegian steamer Rauma in the Mediterranean. A German submarine suddenly appeared and torpedoed the Rauma without warning The crew have arrived at Bergen.

Advices from Vienna state that a War Council sentenced to death " in contuma-

ciam " Lssad Pasha on a charge of siding with the enemy. German warships at the entrance of the Bound captured the Danish steamers Hebe and Nexos, timber laden, and also the Swedish steamer Artimes. They were conveyed to Swinemund.

The Kaiser, with a large suite, visited Liege and carefully inspected the Pontisse Fort, which General Leman's defence made famous. The population of Liege were not nwaro of his identity.

At the Diocesan Conference at Lambeth the Archbishop of Canterbury said that he saw nothing to justify peace negotiations. The Germans were irrevocably committed to anti-Christ principles.

At the inquest on Lieutenant Vernon Aimer, of the Flying Corps, an Aucklander, who fell from a height, of 400 ft near London, the evidence showed that he suddenly swerved, wobbled, and crashed vertically to the ground. A verdict was returned that he was accidentally hilled. Herr Liebknecht's trial for attempted war treason, involving a minimum sentence of 15 years' servitude, has been fixed for June 23.

The King has invested Brigadier-general White with the Companionship of the Bath and the I < : stinguished Service Order.

The Lokal Anzeiger (Berlin) states that Immelwan was killed in an encounter with threes Anglo French aeroplanes, in

which two Fokkers fell from a height of 2000 ft.

The victims of the Russian steamer Mercury, which was sunk near Odessa by a mine, totalled 400. Among the causes of the Arab revolt were Emver Pasha's severity in executing several chiefs during his mysterious tour come lime ago between Aleppo and Mecca; also to the widespread feeling that Islam was endangered by the Young Turks' freethinking Camarilla.