St. John's daily star, 1915-05-05

              the st john's daily star newfoundland volume 1 wednesday may 5,1915 no 16 italians are on eve of decision situation prevents king em manuel from leaving rome to attend an im portant function some rumors of agreement said that italy and france have reached a complete understanding rome may 4 in view of the inter national situation the king and his min isters cannot leave the capital to be pre ent at the unveiling of the garribaldi 7.nument was the text of a note is sued after a meeting of the cabinet v sterday its publication has produced a pro found effect upon the public opinion the abandonment of the plan for the participation of king victor emmanuel and high government officials in the ( ( vcmonies is 1 elieved to have been the result of a c«l made by prince yon uuelow upon r'preign minister sonnino on sunday night these proposals were submitted to the cabinet ministers who will hold another council today rumors of agreement isfecial to the st john's daily star rome may s.—rumors that an agree tnent has beer reached between italy and france at trfst continue to be wide ly circulated here in rome tommaso tittoni the italian ambassador to c has held another extended con l with the king and the premier and it was afterward announced that he would return to paris the foreign office refuses to comment oh his visit or to say whether he carries with him any documents for the french govern ment the only official admission is that italy has been in conference with both the triple entente and germany and austria in an effort to determine just what her future prospects are the government has decided on the terri torial expansion necessary for a great er italy and will take such steps as arc necessary to carry out that expansion whether.that means participation in the war or not british comment special to the st john's daily star london may 5.—a1l the british news papers are again confidently predicting the entrance of italy into the war on the side of the allies in the immediate fut ure specials from rome say that i'rijice yon buclow's concesions sug gested to the italian government com pletely excluded the cessation of tri • c which alone would be sufficient to render them unacceptable the conclusion of an agreement be tween the triple entente and italy is momentarily expected this will cover italy's entrance into the war and por vidt for her armed intervention at cer tain points which will previously have been agreed on decision reached the special dispatches say that it is accepted in diplomatic circles in rome that the italian government has reach ed its final decision to enter the war and is simply awaiting the opportune moment to announce its decision the italian police it is stated are constantly arresting german spies sev eral disguised officers having been re ported as arrested while attempting to mine a bridge across the river po steamers arc reported bringing many refugees from trieste reply anxiously awaited special to the st john's daily star rome may 5 officialdom is anxi ously awaiting the reply by vienna to the completed italian demands it is admitted that unless a positive reply is received it will be impossible for italy to remain longer out of the war with the possibility that italy is to become involved apparently becoming more certain the vatican authorities are very much concerned over the position of the pope in that event so far no plan has been devised whereby the pope will be able to secure free communica tion with the countries with which italy may be at war this would prove very embarrassing should his holiness feel constrained to initiate a peace movement it is considered certain that so soon as italy becomes a party to the conflict the quirinal will demand that the papal diplomats from countries that are italy enemies be handed their passports and sent out of italy this would immedi ately limit the pope's communication t'c the envoy of a neutral country in touch with all probably switzerland this is admittedly one of the chief reasons why the influences of the va tican have been exerted to the utmost on the side of italy's continued neutral ity the pope a great diplomat has tried to keep italy neutral so that it would be the chief mediating force when the warring nations sicken of slaughter failure which now seems certain will greatly interfere with his work for peace and he and his advisors are now considering how best to meet the new situation when it arises british troops in south africa still successful capetown may 4 an official state ment says that general botha's union south african troops sunday captured olymbingu an important post 100 miles east of swakopmund in german south west africa the british losses were only eight killed five of these men lost their lives by the explosion of a mine during their advance 1 » ■ pte harry grant reported injured is st john's man may 4.—ln the casualty list issued this afternoon is the name of private harry grant of st john's nfld wounded read the daily star asquith pays a high tribute to woman's part in the war london may 4.—premier asquith addressing a meeting of the committee formed to encourage recruiting among employees of the wholesale and retail distributing trades of the country today said that out of 790,000 clerks commer cial travellers and other workers of these trades 430,000 had joined the army the premier stated that enquiries were being made with regard to re cruiting in the cotton trade biscuit manufactures hotels and other branch es of industry with a view to making a further appeal woman's share mr asquith proceeded to point out what women have done to release the men for the army up to april 24th more than 50,000 women had enrolled on the war register initiated by the board of trade in one of the largest engineering works at newcastle in the department devoted to manufacture of shells he saw three/or four thousand women at work if that could be done in an occupa tion so far removed from normal acti vities of women it ought to be a far easier task in other trades the premier insisted that the people recognized the gravity of the war and did not have to be hogged and goaded by rhetorical incitements before they could be induced to obey the call to duty never in the history of any nation has that recognition been made so clear and universal or that obedience more prompt and more unselfish magnificent beginning he said we have made a magnifi cent beginning we have stemmed the aggresion and men have shown the spirit worthy of the best traditions of their race i would say to the nation proceed in the same way and the same temper every breach of our first line has been made good but there are still in reserve unused and to the enemy unsuspected resources which you must mobilize and organize to the full proudly optimistic i am not the least ashamed to call myself an optimist not that i underrate the prowess of the enemy or the grav ity of the struggle imperative need for the unsleeping exercise of our national qualities patience constancy resolu tion and fortitude i a man optimist because.l believed in the righteousness of our cause be cause i am confident that by personal and corporate effort and self sacrifice that there is nothing that we shall leave undone to bring that cause be the strug gle short or be it long to a decisive glorious issue heavy losses on both sides round ypres german attacks accomplish nothing save great loss of life paris may 4.—the german troops are maintaining their fierce attacks on the blood-soaked soil of flanders but without success it is officially asserted here in the bloody angle where the south ern point is ypres they are still en deavoring to rout the british from their positions two night attacks by the kaiser's troops have been repulsed the french war qftice announced this afternoon stating also that the french troops have gained ground near bagatelle in the ar gonne » all reports both ofiicial and unoffi cial agree that the german assaults about ypres have resulted in no loss of ground by the allies but that the con tinued fighting has resulted in heavy casualties on both sides french gain some ground in the argonne british official london ma 4 u the dardanelles during the nights of may 2nd and 3rd die enemy humched strongly determined attacks in ma?s agaitttt our positions constantly megrng up fresh troops the allies repulsed every attack in flicting enormous losses they assumed the o fiensive and dn.-vc ilie enemy frorr their positions and are now advancing into the interior of the peninsula the french government report ger man attacks on the british front on the night of the 2nd ai\d the evening of the 3rd of may repulsed some ground has been gained in the argonnc the russian government reports a desperate battle developing in gajicia ince saturday on the i'ront from tltt lower xida as far as the carpathians haroourt japan decides on ultimatum to chinese may 4.—the yomuri in an extra edition declares that eider states men after listening to a lengthy expla nation from premier okumlr and for eign minister kato have approved of a project to send an ultimatum to china information reaching japan this pa per says leads to the conviction thai the nature of the last chinese answer ob liges japan to resort to thi'j logical di plomatic step 5 two trawlers sent to bottom by the germans glasgow 7 , may 4 it is reported here that a trawler named cruiser was shel led off aberdeen by a submarine four men being killed and four others wound ed seriously the wounded men together with three other members of the crew are said to have been picked up by a collier aberdeen may 4 the trawler scot tish queen has been torpedoed and sunk by a submarine fifty miles off aberdeen the crew landed here the rescued men say they were given fifteen minutes to leave the vessel but subsequently were permitted to rethrn to procure provisions british marines on turk's soil get a little fun now and then neddy "■ a pack donkey has found a new master in the british marine many of whom are now guarding fortresses captured from the turks along the dar danelles . . russ defeat of lurk corps in caucasus more than 3,500 turkish dead picked up after ■ the battle petrbgrad may 4 official in ivhoric oilman region of caucasus our roops after t'.vu days fighting opened a determined offensive against the tur sh ; corps under khali bey and com pletely defeated the enemy the turkish losses may he estimated 1 y the fact that rr.ore than 3,500 tur kish dead were found on the battlefield 700 of whom were picked up in the cen tra section of the battle line along a front of 800 paces at dilman we captured a turkish ho pital together with its entire staff pur uiit of the defeated enemy continues british troops are advancing at dardanelles london may 4 british troops arc now advancing into the interior of gal lipoli peninsula according to an offi cial statement issued in london ihi evening . . during the night of may ist and 2nd the enemy launched strong and deter mined attacks against our positions bringing up fresh troops not only did the allies repulse every attack hut we assumed the offensive and drpve the enemy out of their posi tions and arc no w advancing into the interior of the peninsula british army readjusts lines in west belgium london may 4 the british war office tonight made public the following official communication — the los"s of grctind which resulted from the expected use of asphyxiating gases by the enemy last week neces sitated a readjustment of our line in front of yprcs this readjustment wlr-ch has been in progress the last few days was suc cessfully completed last night the new line runs west to zonnebeke during the last 24 hours the situa tion has been normal the whole front with the exception of one half hearted attack by tfie enemy northeast of ypres last evening it was beaten off another german attack foiled paris via st pierre may 4.—a ger man attack yesterday evening to the north of ypres oa the british front has been repulsed by our allies in the argonne near bagatelle we made an attack and gained ground one year of the european war to cost britain 5,682,170,000 london may 4 in presenting his budget to the commons today the chan cellor of the exchequer estimated that if the war lasted during the whole fiscal year britain's expenditure in that time would be 5,682,170,000 mr lloyd george said that if the war should last six months instead of a year britain's estimated expenditures would be 3,952,200,000 he estimated that the total revenue british steamer p minterneissunk london may 4 the british steamer minterne from cardiff for the river platte with coal was torpedoed off the scilly islands on monday two firemen were killed and the second engineer injured the wounded man and the remainder of the crew were landed at penzancc germans order • their submarines sink u.s ships london may 4 the financial news prints the following reported from dutch source that german submarines have been ordered to sink every am erican vessel sighted especially passen ger liners without regard to loss of life in order to demonstrate the absolute impotence of the united states heroism of crew of french cruiser leon cambetta j st j dim's daily stat correspondsl milan italy april 30 details of he end 01 the french cruiser gam betta torpedoed and sunk by the aus trian submarine u-5 in the strait of otranto tell of heroism by her com missioned officers practically the en tire starboard side of the cruiser \ as blown out when the austrian torpedo hit her almost amidships the officers rushed to the bridge and the engines were started fifll steam ahead in an effort to make shoal water it vas plain from the start that this would be impossible as within less than a couple of minutes the boiler rooms were flood ed and the machinery stopped the engine-room crew drew most of the fires to prevent boiler explosions the crew was assembled at quarters and the order given every man lor himself all of the commissioned officers assembled on the bridge as scon as it was certain that the icruiser must go down and as she listed just before turning over they united in the c y vive la france « ■€!■ 0 a large number of icebergs were re ported off cape race yesterday a heavy sea was running and the bergs were breaking in pieces for the year 1915-16 will oe 1,350,910 000 this is arf increase of 218,100,000 over the total of last year on the basis of a six months war the chancellor continued the expenditure for the war apart from the advances to the allies of great britain would rise to two million pounds daily and the net deficit would be 514,346,000 on the basis of a twelve months war the net deficit would be 862,332,000 may employ same bombs as germans statement made in house of commons that use of gaseous bombs by enemy may force britain to fol low suit london may 4 walter runciman president of the board of trade an nounced in the commons today that the british government had requisitioned the entire supplies of meat from aus tralia and xcw zealand those supplies that were not needed for the army he added would be mar keted for the benefit of the civil lation in order to prevent such an in crease in price as would arise from a shortage of supplies in the commons today h j ten nant parliamentary secretary of the war office said that britaain had un der consideration the qiiestion of em ploying similar expedients against the use by german troops on the battle field of asphyxiating gases the speaker admitted that as far back as april 6th the british eye-wit ness had said that the germans were preparing for this method of attack but notwithstanding such rumors the british authorities found it hard to believe that any signatory of the hague convention could violate its fundamental and adopt methods which might have such far-reaching effect in modern war fare sale of liquor much restricted in south africa london may 4.—a despatch from capetown says that reguhtions have been promulgated imposing severe re strictions on the sale of liquor especi ally-to members of unions south africa and imperial forces « * read the daily star ss^_-==_---^---3[^3|t^3»^^^^3t ! the l liverpool and london i and globe r insurance company ltd head office l liverpool * r g protect your property and place your insurance g 1 with the largest fire insurance house in the colony we have the largest net premium income of all the fire insurance companies operating in newfoundland 1 bowring brothers i i limited rl sole agents for newfoundland l l j i mini 1 i ir==r i new goods attention is drawn to ii.knowling'9 jj advertisement on the editorial ij page the ladies particularly jjj will find it interesting ■ ll i 1 m , it's for sale in every shop crisp and flaky white as cream of soda biscuits it's supreme buy it try it—that's the test and you'll admit it is the best