UPHEAVAL IN POTUGAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 3327, 19 December 1917, Page 19

UPHEAVAL IN POTUGAL.

(By Cable.) Senhor Costa, ex-Premier of Portugal, and the Foreign Minister, when returning from the Allied Conference at Paris, were arrested at Oporto. The Minister of War and Admiral Loon, the fleet commander, are taking refuge on a warship in the Tagus. Their houses have been sacked, also the offices of two democratic newspapers, clubs, and the meeting-places of Government supporters and secret societies. Senhor Pais, Premier, has ordered the death penalty to be imposed on looters and rioters. Senhor Pais N was formerly Portuguese Minister at Berlin at the outbreak of the war.

Members of the British Military Mission sheltered at the British Legation. A dozen shells fell on their hotel.

All the. military units revolution, but a small portion of the navy sided wiih the Government, and their attacks were repulsed. Order has been restored. The casualties are estimated at 100 killed and 500 wounded.

The Revolutionary Committee has cancelled the former Government's decree against the Patriarch of Lisbon, Archbishop Sacra, and the Bishop of Oporto, and has also abolished, the restriction on the liberty of the press. President* Machado has been arrested, and a decree issued, ordering his exile indefinitely The revolutionaries have dissolved Parliament.

A Cabinet has been constituted, with' Senhor Pais ae Premier, Foreign Minister, and War Minister. Deputy Barlioza is Minister for the Colonies. The Excelsior declares that Senhor Pais is a determined enemy of Germany, and that the events in Lisbon will not deter the. Portuguese army's participation in the war. .