GENERAL ITEMS.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 4944, 18 September 1914, Page 5

GENERAL ITEMS.

AEROPLANE BROUGHT DOWN. Rotterdam, Last Night. Belgian patrols brought down a Gorman aeroplane near Rochefort. The two occupants wore killed. INDIA’S LOYALTY. London, Last Night. Both Houses passed a resolution empowering the Indian Government to defray the cost of despatching troops out of its own avenue, thus complying with the Indians’ wish to assist the Empire. TURKEY REMAINS NEUTRAL. New York, Last Night. Despatches from Constantinople state that Turkey has finally decided to remain neutral. DEMONSTRATION IN ITALY. London, Last Night. The Times’ Romo correspondent, says that public feeling in Italy is finding tumultuous expression through the syndicalists. At Milan a turbulent meeting demanded intervention

on behalf of France. There have been patriotic demonstrations at Rome and elsewhere.

BRITAIN’S ANSWER.

Londou, Last Night. Mr Winston Churchill has sent the following message to a great recruiting meeting at Chatham:; ‘‘The Kaiser has urged his soldiers to exterminate the treacherous English and to walk over Sir John French’s contemptible army. Britain will know how to answer this. There will bo no peace until Prussian militarism is pulverised and German truculence is abased.” WAR CONTRIBUTIONS. Paris, Last Night. The indemnities claimed by Germany from occupied towns in Belgium and France aggregate nearly £29,000,000. GERMAN WAR LOAN. New York, Last Night. American financiers refuse to touch the German war loan. GERMAN SUGAR CROP. London, Last Night. Mr Macallum Sjoott, in the House of Commons, asked whether Germany is attempting to realise her sugar crop by exportation of the surplus valued at forty millions sterling through Holland ? Mr Runciman said he was not aware of any steps that could be taken to prevent export to neutral countries in neutral ships. GERMAN COMMANDANT. Antwerp, Last Night. The Belgians refuse to treat as a prisoner of war Commandant Meune, who commanded tlie Landstrum at Louvain. They are court-martialling him at Antwerp. TAKING AWAY HONOURS. London, Last Night. The Kaiser, the Crown Prince, the Emperor Franz Josef, and the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha are members of the Order of the Garter. The officials are now considering the question of depriving them of these honours. A MODIFIED TONE. London, Last Night. A modified tone is apparent in Berlin. To-day’s official bulletin admits that on some portions of the battlefield the Germans have been partially successful. GERMAN INTERVENTION. Londou, Last Night. A White Paper, containing Mr Bunsen’s Vienna despatch in reference to the rupture with Austria, shows that on August Ist conversations between St. Petersburg and Vienna were proceeding in the friendlist manner. Austria even assented to the mediation on points in which her ultimatum was incompatible with Servian independence. It was at this point that Germany intervened m her ultimatum to St. Petersburg and Paris, cutting short the prospects of peace. A few days’ delay would, in all probability have saved Europe from the greatest calamity in history.

A PROTEST AND A REPLY. Washington, Last Night. President Wilson lias cabled the Kaiser, in reply to Germany’s protest against the alleged use of dumdums by France. He declared: “The United States cannot take definite ao_ tion in response to the protest, and I do not believe your Majesty expects me to say more.” THE BELGIAN MISSION. Washington, Last Night. President Wilson received tho Belgian mission, and promised to carefully consider their protest. He added : “I pray God that very soon the war will be over. The day of accounting will then come, when tho nations of Europe will assemble and determine a settlement, where tho wrongs committed, their oon.soque.noea, and tho relative responsibility involved will be assessed. Fortunately the nations of the world have, by ngreey ment, made it plain for such a reckoning and assessment. What such a plan cannot compass, the opinion of mankind, as the final aibiter of such matters, will supply.' SOUTH-WEST AFRICA. Capetown, Last Night. General Botha, speaking in tho Senate, said tho Government had decided to accede to the Imperial Government’s request to occupy certain parts of German South-West Africa for strategical reasons. BOER GRATITUDE. Amsterdam, Last Night. The newspaper, “Berliner Tageblatt,” remarks that the depth of Boer gratitude for Germany’s sympathy in tho South African war is evidenced by General Botha’s statement that the Boers are solid with England against Germany. PROGRESS OF THE JAPS. Tokio, Lust Night. The Japanese captured the Kaiochau railway station on Sunday last. MORE BRITISH TROOPS. OFF TO THE FRONT. London, Last N'ight. French trains bedecked with flowers, with coronets of roses hanging on the handles of the doors and bouquets suspended from the sides of the engines, are filled with khaki-clad British troops. At every door and at every window are seen 'the jolly hoy faces of England. Yon can just catch the lilt of “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary” as they pass on route to join the fierce chase of the Germans across France.