GERMANY LAYING PLANS FOR YEARS PAST

Sun (Christchurch), Volume IV, Issue 963, 13 March 1917, Page 7

GERMANY LAYING PLANS FOR YEARS PAST

AMERICA OFFICIALLY NOTIFIES ARMING OF TRADERS America has officially notified the foreign Ambassadors that armed guards and naval gunners will henceforth be placed on all American merchantmen voyaging through, the danger zone. The State Department now holds that the carrying of guns by a merchantman does not constitute her a warship. In response to the invitation of the Premier, the Chinese Chamber of Deputies, by an overwhelming majority, decided in favour of breaking off relations with Germany. The Senate has not yet come to a decision. Ample evidence is being unearthed proving the existence of widespread German espionage in the United States. The fall of Bagdad has been enthusiastically welcomed in the Allied countries. The French Press heralds it as the greatest Entente triumph of the war, completely wrecking the Kaiser's Oriental plans. The Federal Minister of Defence stated that for years German agents had been sending home information that would enable Germany to land and maintain an army which would crush Australia.