WARIMINISTER ANDIKRUPPS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 13101, 14 June 1913, Page 9

WARIMINISTER ANDIKRUPPS.

PERSISTENT REPORTS OF HIS RESIGNATION.

BERLIN, Aijril 22. The armaments scandal, arising from the allegations tliat tho Krupp firm obtained secret documents from the War Office by bribery, and that the Deutsche Waffen und Munitions Fabrik sought to create a war "scare" by procuring the insertion of alarming articles m the French Press, continues to cause excitement all over the country. Persistent reports are m circulation as to the imminent fall of the War Minister, General von Heeringen, and the Kaiser's abandonment of his projected cruise m the great new liner Imperator is attributed m many quarters to the political troubles arising from the scandal. The Parliament of Alsace-Lorraine has passed a resolution against the Army ■Bill (which provides for the expenditure of £50,000,000 more on German armaments), denouncing the Bill as a victory for the German war party and a flouting of the popular will. To-night it is announced that the Budget Committee of the Reichstag, which, intended considering the Army Bill on Friday, now contemplates postponing discussion of the Bill till the end of May after the Whitsuntide recess..

The Catholic and Socialist parties together form a majority m the Reichstag and both are enemies of the War Minister, the Socialists on general principles and the Catholics because of the expulsion from tlie Army of a Catholic officer who refused on religious grounds to fight a duel. General von Heeringen's position has been rendered still more disagreeable by the refusal of the Budget Committee yesterday to sanction his private ''bargain" with a banker for the erection of a building for th© Kaiser's Military Cabinet. KRUPP'S AND FRENCH PRESS. Tt ought to be pointed out that- although Dr Liebknecht, the Socialist deputy who is responsible for' the revelations, has made sweeping and general charges about the war scare machinations of the German . armaments industry as a whole, m the direction of influencing the French press, his specific allegations m that' respect have been confined to the Deutsche- Waffen und Munitions Fabrik. His specific allegations against Messrs Krupp are confined to charges of bribery- by their agents at the German War Office. Confusion has arisen m the public mind both m Germany and abroad re-. garding r the exact nature of the Socialist deputy's accusations against Messrs Krupp, because m his several speeches on the subject he bracketed the names bf the great Essen firm, of the Deiistsche Waffen nnd Munitions Fabrik, and the so-called . armour-plate "patriots" m general, m such a way as to create the impression that all these various firms were participants m the campaign to j mislead French public opinion m regard to Germany. )