SERBS RECAPTURE SEMENDRIA.

Wanganui Herald, Volume L, Issue 14742, 22 October 1915, Page 5

SERBS RECAPTURE SEMENDRIA.

Press Associat'ion. —Tclegf aph---Copy right. . •* PARIS,? October 21. The Intransigeant states that the Servians have re-takeh Semendria, on the Danube, east of Belgrade, BULCARS DRIVEN BUT OF J VRANJA. LONDON, October 21, Athens reports that the Bulgarians have, been thrown out of Vranjn and that railway communication has been restored. BRITAIN'S OFFER TO GREECE. CYPRUS IF SHE JOINS IN THE WAR ” * . LONDON'. October 21. Britain has offered-Grebco Cyprus on condition that she joins in the war. Greece is considering the offer. FAVOURABLE IMPRESSION LONDON, October 21. The Greeks’ reply.has not reached London. ‘ The Daily Telegraph’s Athens correspondent says the offer is creating a favourable impression. It is regarded as substantial proof of Britain’s goodwill, and is not taking the form of a promise for the. future which the Gerpianophilo party suggest Britain could not carry but;_but is an actual and immediate concession in the event of Greece intervening in support of the Allies.

The island of Cyprus is situated 60 mile? west of Syria, and 40 miles south of Asia Minor. It nominally belonged to Turkey, but was actually occupied and administered by Britain. Its extreme length is 14 0 miles, , and the extreme breadth 60 miles, and the area is 3600 square miles. The population is 2.74,000, of whom 56,000 are Mohammedan and Turkish speaking, the rest mostly professing the Orthodox Greek religion and speaking Greek. Cyprus produces wheat, barley, carobs or locust beans, cotton, silk, flax, tobacco, madder, Wool, gypsum, oranges, pomegranates, sponges, gum-master, and immense quantities of wine. Cyprus was once celebrated for its copper mines, which were w’orked by the Phoenicians and Romans; indeed, the word copper is derived from the name of the island. A '.Tittle Is still mined. Gypsum or plaster of Paris is manufactured and exported. Salt is produced by evaporation. Some parts of the island are malarious, but for people who live regular lives and Take reasonable precautions, the climate Is not only healthy but pleasant. The people are healthy and well grown; the men, as a rule are handsome, the women rarely so. Among wild animals (he moufflon, or Cyprus sheep, is becoming very scarce. Mules of peculiar excellence are bred. The forests, for which Cyprus was once famed, have now almost disappeared, and fie climate and fertility of , the country have greatly suffered in consequence. Flocks of goats prevent any natural growth, of trees,, on,, the .mountains. The islandjias been successively held by. Phoenicians. Egyptians. Persians, Romans, Venetians, and Turks, who conquered it in 1570. Since 1878 it has been occupied by Britain, and in 1882 had a Constitution granted , to it. Britain agreed to pay the Sultan a sum ultimately fixed at £87,000 (as excess of revenue), and £SOOO for State lands, besides - a large quantity of, salt: but these sums are not actually paid over. They are retained as part payment for losses In connection with the Turkish guaranteed loan. GREECE’S OBSCURE ATTITUDE. LONDON, October 21. The Daily Cbrqnicle says Greece’s attitude becomes more obscure every day. Her inaction suggests that she is waiting to see which side wins, and will then join the winner. But Greece is not an unpledged neutral. The Servians, her allies have the right to resist her breaking the Serbo-Greek treaty. The offer of Cyprus is a splendid one. If the Greek nation allows M. Zaimis to reject it, the world will have to revise- its . views on the seriousness of Hellenic aspirations. , WILL NOT SIDE WITH ENEMY. ROME,. October 21. It is stated in diplomatic circles that Greece is willing to -give formal assurances that she will not side with AustroGermany in any event. ADVANCE OF. ANGLO-FRENCH TROOPS. LONDON. October 21. Bucharest states that thirty thousand Anglo-French have reached Nish, and that other contingents are marching towards Negotim and Prahovo to assist the Servians on the north-eastern fronts. TURKS MARCHING, TOWARDS SERVIA. ' ■ PARIS, October 21. A message from Salonika states that .numerous detachments of Turks with strong artillery are marching along the Greek'-Bulgarian frontier towards Servia, SERVIANS’ DESPERATE COURAGE. PARIS. October 21.: The Tageblatt says the Servians ar» , fighting with desperate courage, and .tenacity, and have feverishly resolved to defend every inch and will not recoil before the bavouet. Their desperation explains the smallness of the captures. A DENIAL. PARIS, October 21, Advices from Salonika deny the occupation of Strumnltza.

AUSTRIANS ADVANCING ON SHABATZ. BERLIN-MADE NEWS. AMSTERDAM, October 21. '•.The Austrians are advancing towards Shabatz, and figfating is proceeding in the Ripaui. district southward of Belgrade. The Bulgarians, bf a quick action, captured a hill south-westward cf Egri) n lanka, and are advancing towards Kumanovo. They captured ,2030. ' THE KAISER'AND THE BULCARS. ■ ROME, October 21. The Kaiser, in a proclamation to the Bulgarian army, exalts their courage and horoi-m, and adds: Bulgaria is destined to become mispress of the Balkans and to reign cn the Black Sea; the Aegean, and' the Adriatic. ' ITALIAN FLEET SAILS. LONDON, October 21. A Brindisi despatch says that an Italian souadron .. has departed under sealed orders. It is supposed the objective Is participation in the blockade of the Bulgarian peris. LORD DERBY’S CAMPAIGN OPENS. LONDON. October 21. .. In support cf Lord Derby’s campaigfi, 116 patriotic meetings have been held. A thousand picture theatres show naval films and a half-hour address upon the Navy was given- in twenty thousand schools.

One of the most striking ironies of the Russo-Bulgarian situation is that the famous Bulgarian general, Dmitrieff, the popular hero of the Balkan wars, is, or has teen until lately, commanding a Russian army against Austria. HadkoDmifcricff has hud a brilliant and exciting career. When he was born, 66, years a ff°. Bulgaria was a Turkish province, and he has good reasons for remembering its deliverance - by' Russia. As soon as the now State set up its first military school Dmitrieff attended it. and he passed afterwards through this Academy of War at Petrogrnd. In the first war with Servia, Dmitrieff, who was by this time a captgm;' was made a colonel, and he distinguished himself in the Sl(vnitza campaign. Later, as a result of being mixed up in the plot which ended in the abdication of Prince Alexander of Bulgaria, he had to go into exile. After' a long period of service in the Russian army he returned to hia own country, when the present King, Ferdinand, came to the throne. When the first Balkan war broke out he was Chief of the General Staff. Put in of one „of the Bulgarian armies under Savoff, he gave the Turks their first defeat in thin campaign at Kirk Kilisse, and ho led the Bulgarian left wing at Lule BurgasBunar Ilissar. ■After the Balkan wars Dmitrieff reentered Russia’s service as’ a general, and whbn the present- war broke ont' he was associated with General Ruszlfy, who commanded the army that took Lemberg last -September. „It was he who, in the battle thqt; ended in (the faking of that city, forced : thei.,Austrians back, from- the Gnila Lipa, and-with Bruseilov drove in tlieir right wing. / With Buszky again/ a few days later, he helped to beat thg Austrians at Rawa. Rusaka, and drove them back abross/the (San. In the'first Russian advance towards Cracow he had the duty of pressing the Austrian retreat, and while Ivanov took Jaroslav, he invested Przemysl, which was not, however, to fall for a long while. And on the second advance against Cracow, early in December, he was in the van tvnd fighting not far from that city when he had to fall back because of an Austrian success in the Carpathians behind him. Nothing has been heard of Radkc Dmitrieff lately, but it is almost inconceivable that he should not make some protest against his country's action against Russia. Savoff has led the way. and he is pretty sure to follow, and the protests of two 'such man should have great weight in disturbed and divided Bulgaria. It may not be too late even yet for some sudden coup that would alter the whole- position in the Balkans.