BUYING OFF OPPOSITION. THE BALKAN SITUATION. BUYING OFF OPPOSITION.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LV, Issue 13947, 30 April 1909, Page 2

BUYING OFF OPPOSITION.

THE BALKAN SITUATION.

By Electric Telegraph. — Copyright. j VIENNA, April 29. ! Notwithstanding the crisis, the Aus- 1 i trian-Turkish protocol or preliminary document upon the -basis of which negoI tiations are carried on, respecting Bosnia and Herzegovina has been completed.

[By the Berlin Treaty Austria was empowered to occupy and pacify these piovinces, but it was in 1878, and again in 1879,. expressly stipulated that the occupation should not imply any prejudice to the sovereign rights of the Sultan. The Sultan's name was mentioned in the prayers in the mosque as that of Lite Sovereign, and the Turkish flag flew from the minaret. But to all intents and purposes the provinces were as much annexed by Austria-Hungary as Egypt was annexed by us. Recently the Austrian-Hungarian Government, under the pressure of boycott, consented to buy off the opposition* of the Turks to the cession of Bosnia and Herzegovina by a payment of £2,500,000. This sum was supposed to represent tho value of the property owned by the Turkish Government in the ceded provinces. When the money is paid the boycott is to cease so far as the Turkish Government can atop *t.]