THE CENTRAL POWERS

Otago Witness, Issue 3398, 30 April 1919, Page 19

THE CENTRAL POWERS

(By Cable.) . DISTURBANCES IN GERMANY. Government troops have occupied Brunswick without resistance. General Merker has ordered the arrest of the Premier and several commissaries. This was announced from an aeroplane. The city is in a state of siege. Eichorn, exPresident of Police ab Berlin, attempted to escape by aeroplane, but was forced to descend and was arrested. General Plumer, commanding the army on the Rhine, has issued a proclamation warning workers against causing disorder similar to that prevailing in the unoccupied portion of Westphalia. The proclamation states that the condition of affairs throughout Germany is becoming daily more serious, owing to industrial unrest and the prevalence of strikes.. The Berlhrgeneral strike has ended. During the Spartacist riots. £1,000,000 in bank notes were stolen from the Tower at Spandau, and are not traced. —A. ani? It is reported that the Spartacists have killed Herr Eisner and murdered Count Arcovalley. * ' RIOTS AT HAMBURG. Martial law is enforced at Hamburg, Altona, and Wandsbeck in consequence of the mob storming police motor cars and seizing arms. Riots followed, and some persons were killed and others injured. . A mob at Hamburg again attempted to plunder the food ships, but a number of warships arrived, and guns were placed in the streets leading to the harbour and the docks. '..... CIVIL WAR IN BAVARIA. Civil war is in progress at Munich. Herr Noske's troops despatched against the Bavarians Red Guards near Offing, 30 miles south-westward of Munich, resulting in a sanguinary battle. The actual attack against Munich began near Dachau, a market town 11 miles north-west of the city, where 10,000 armed Communists are oppbsing General Bamberg's Government troops.' Munich is expected to' fall on Sunday. The Spartacists have fortified the villages outside Munich. A desperate struggle is expected when the Government troops advance. EX-AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN MINISTERS. Coun* (formerly Foreign Minister of Austria-Hungary), who has been repeatedly refused a passport owing to the anti-Austrian propaganda conducted in Switzerland by fugitive aristocrats, was arrested at Feldkirch, Varaslsberg, while attempting to cross the frontier. Count Feistich, ex-War Minister of Austria, has committed suicide. Advices from Vienna "state that Dr Wekerle (ex-Hungarian Premier) died in prison in Budapest, and was not murdered. THE POSITION IN HUNGARY. The downfall of the Hungarian Soviet Government is expected as the result of the desertion of 30,000 Sleekier troops to Rumania and new Czecho-Slovak movements. A Russian wireless message states that ,M. Belakun (Foreign Minister of the Hungarian Soviet Government) denies the report, as to his resignation. Information from various sources states

that M. Belakun has overthrown Savasii, ' the leader of the movement against him. Belakun includes amongst his supporters the peasantry and the bourgoisie. Rumanian troops are said to have caused the overthrow of the Belakun Government at Budapest. It is reported that- 60,000 Allied troops are concentrated at Neustadt as a 'Rumanian reserve, and "will march to Budapest this week. The Rumanians have occupied Egrosswardein. Reports from Vienna state that an army of 180,000 Czechoslovaks has reached theHungarian frontier. The Rumanians continue to advance, and the Transylvanians are co-operating. Advices from Budapest state that the Rumanians attacking Transylvania -were defeated with heavy _ loss and retired to the eastern frontier line. In response to the Budapest Government's appeal to the Entente to suspend hostilities, the Entente representative in Paris sent a British military mission from ' (Vienna to Budapest to investigate. A Russian wireless message states that the Rumanians have evacuated the whole of Bessarabia before advancing " Red " troops. The Czecho-Slovaks have attacked WaitBen, north-east of Budapest. The Communist Minister, Poguno, states that hundreds of well-to-do Pronzets will bo assassinated directly the Rumanians enter Hungary. ?

General Bertele has arrived at Hermannstadt, and has issued a proclamation that the Allies will occupy Hungary and restore order. GENERAL ITEMS. - It is officially intimated that Herr Dernberg is appointed German Finance Minis-. ter. The Swiss Federal Council has decided to recognise the German Government.. A captain of the Hungarian Red Guards, who is a Communist agitator, was arrested, having in his possession several trunks of loot, consisting of bank notes, gems, and plate, worth £BO,OOO. The German Austrian Government has accepted the German Government's invitation to send five members of the German Austrian National Assembly to meet a Constitution Committee at Weimar.

Dantzig is to be a free city. The Municipal Council will be compelled to guarantee the Poles' free access to the sea and adequate facilities for shipping. The Corridor is to be Polish. The Russian Bolshevist Government denies that it is proposed to form an alliance with Germany.