EARLIER NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 December 1915, Page 5

EARLIER NEWS.

NOTES FROM THE TIMES. THE PERSIAN CAMPAIGN. Times and Sydney Sun Services. London, December 17. In tlie House of Commons, Mr. Chamberlain said that General Townshend reported heavy musketry fire for an hour on the 12th on the north front but no attack. A heavy attack on the right flank was repulsed.' All was quiet on the 13th. Reinforcements continued to be sent up stream as required. The Turkish reports were frequently grossly inaccurate. Mr. Chamberlain said he had informed Generals Nixon and Townshend of the Government's appreciation of the bravery, skill and endurance of the armies. The enemy forces at Hamadan are believed to be 3000 irregulars and 3000 gendarmes, with supplies'of rifles, mach-ine-guns and dmmunition.

SUIBMARIXE MENACE. The Times' shipping correspondent says that the submarine menace in the Mediterranean is well looked after, anil in course of time will become negligible. There is no occasion to question the statement that arrivals and departures at Malta are not affected, but it is idle to deny that British and neutral vessels have been lost during the last ten days owing to war causes.

SERBIAN'S HOPEFUL. The Serbian Legation points out that the bulk of the Serbian army will make its .way to the Adriatic at an early date. The army and nation has not lost confidence. ' Serbia believes that 250,000 at Salonika, the Russians in Bessarabia, and 800,000 Serbo-Montenegrins could drive the enemy out of the Balkans. THE BALKAN OUTLOOK. Mr. Helsey, telegraphing to the Paris Journal from Salonika, predicts that there will be no serious enemy movement against Salonika for ten days. The Austro-Gorman force? will pass through Doiran, and a flanking movement from Monastii to Vodena, attempting the envelopment of the Allies in the Vardar Valley, 'is to be expected, but the statements of German agents that the Allies are being thrown back to the sea are mere moonshine. The Allies require COO.OOO men to do anything useful in the Balkans.

BRITAIN. STRENGTHENING THE ENTENTE. London, December 17. Lord Bryce is chairman of the committee for strengthening relations between the British and French Parliament*. MRS. PAN'KBURSrs PAPER. London, December 17. The police raided the Women's Social and Political Club and. seized the type used for Mrs. Pankliurst's weekly newspaper Britannia. DOMINION REPRESENTATIVES. London, December 17. The Ron. R. D. Denntan, in the House of Conimons, will ask Mr. Asquitli whether, in view of the Dominions' share in the war and the importance to all the Dominions of the policy governing ultimate peace, he will include representatives of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in the Cabinet, without increasing its numbers. POPUDAR INVESTMENT. London, December 17. It is expected that the Exchequer bonds will be popular abroad, because they are free from income-tax if held abroad. PRIVY COUNCIL AND ALIENS. London, December 17. The Court of King's Bench gave judgment for Sir Ernest Cassel and Sir Edgar Speyer, who were called upon to prove that they were entitled to membership of the Privy Council. The claim wa? that neither of them was of English ] "irentage or born within the Empire, ■• i:,■(• they were incapable of being mem- ■-. of the Privy Council. RECRUITING. London, December 17. The Spectator states that it is not known whether the unmarried responded sufficiently to make it possible to say whether shirkers are a negligible quantity, but even if compulsion now comes for a small majority of unmarried shirkers, the vast majority of our forces will have been rais«d under the voluntary •SMt«m,