St. John's Daily Star, 1916-05-23

              the st john's daily star newfoundland volume 11 3.00 per annum tuesday may 23 1916 price one cent no.sgk ixo big battles rage amongst the alps austrains strongly reinforced in men and guns continue to press italians lack toward their own territory trench and germans still battle de sperately around verdun where some big successes are reported tor our allies—germans capture trenches from british in neighbor of givenchy british push theturksback i&ndon may 23—hard fighting is * ; in progress between the aus id the italains in the tyrol the i and germans in the region of j and the germans and british v.l offensive el the austrains i . the southern mtinues unabated at several austrains seem to be gradu ng back the italians toward territory to the southeast ! on the lavorone plateau ys the italians have been dis-1 m all their positions and lustrains have captured f and the height immeo tntier from the summit a vstach austico valley of verdun both the and germans claim succ arms at various points esting point in the latest official report is the statement fn nch have penetrated as far northeast af verdun the germans stormed and cap in february 25th four days te commencement of the assault lon verdun and from which all attempts to drive them out proved futile ihe < germans however still hold the north ; crn part of the fort of douaumont a violent attack has also has netted the french german positions on a front of about a mile and a quarter east of ; the village or douaumont and north 1 west of verdun the french have forced , out the germans from positoins south of hill 287 and west of le mort : homme berlin on the other hand says ger i mans northwest of verdun stormed the eastern spurs of hill 304 and held them ! against repeated counter attacks in | this fighting the french are declared to , have lost heavily in me 1 , killed and wounded admib the loss admission is made in berlin of the truth of the report of the capture by the french of the quarry south oi haudremont northeast ol verdun heavy losses were suffered by the british when the germans took tren ches from them over a front of aboui a m e and p quarter near givenchy er le and in the counter attacks tc mem according to berlin the situation generally on the rue fronl remains unchanged ihe british operating against the in mesopotamia are gradually drawing nearer kut-el-arnara where a large number of their officers and men who recently surrendered are still be ing held captured . the british who have been rein forced by russian cavalry have now reached the region immediately south of kut-el-amara with the intervening territory between them and ther ob jective clear of turks except for small guards near the junction of shatt-el hai and the tigris river united states sends britain protest note * i to fßritish interference with american mails—wilson's ? finger in it t waslfngfcn may 22.—a new note to britain :■; making further protest against i interference with american mails yas 4a:d oefore president wil son to-fayj it will probably be sent to london mo-morrow the general terms of life note wa,s framed by the state department but the president is irrclughhsfsome of his own lan guage | underwriters expect peace increase of o per cent in iheir rates against peace declaration london ftlay 23—the underwriters yesterday cfearged fifty per cent to in sure against a declaration of peace be tween britain and germany before january lsf the that underwriters are of opinion that prospects of an early pcacejare better than two months ago when the rate for the same risk was only 3 per cent fin m ia m m m will speak on irish question asquith to make pronouncement in commons on thursday london may 22—a statement from premier asquith will be presented in the houjsees.pf commons on thursday there was ijio cabinet meeting to-day but as<juits was in consultation with different ministers including david lloyd geoijge minister of munitions and with jffhii redmond the irish leader putting pf the statement until thurs day wa f r the purpose of enablnig the cabincjl lo thoroughly review the situation i may set lynch free once more gen mixv/tll shows how sinn feiner i may be pardoned i i jondon i may 22.—regarding the lync|i case the foreign office said to-day that 1 general maxwell com manding tile force in ireland had sent a ele|ram to asquith which as serted taatflynch participated openly in the rebe.lion having been seen fre quently in irish uniform in liberty the fighting court martial sentenced him to death maxwell after re ceipt of.tthe request from the american embassy eviewed the sentence and commuted m to ten years imprison ment f it is relieved that general max well leffiajjvay open to the premier for further itonimutation of sentence but it is noi hcnown what action mr take 9 irish rebels are sentenced none of tjle sentences provided for oublhm 1 may 23.—the following offcidly announced sentences of the military court martial trying the offenders 1 against the crown in the recent ipiising have been confirmed jererfliak c lynch sentence of death has been ijommuted to ten years ser vitude sentence of ten years servitude has bejsfti pronounced on peter gallig ham flioj desmond fitzgerald will iam p'rtigdge john corcoran five years on patk h fahey three years servitude on william hus sey mfchael fleming senior and one year's ei#itude on michael fleming jr | french decoration for belgian queen paris may 22 president poincare in ma|ing another visit to the bel gian fforit has conferred the war cross queen elizabeth of belgium as ar expression of the admiration of the frknch people for the mangificent courage and untiring devoton to the wounded whch she has never ceased to show finder the enemy's fire if italy faces great trial r\u.»«.rians ri~v2 lrjmcnady ocrfingtncn i ed their fighting forces and are waging desperate conflict dome may 23.—italy's great hour has struck is th theme of commen in the public pre - s on news that has been received from the front all the reports coming from the fighting agree that ihe number of aus trian troops now in action has been more than doubled and that the aus trian artillery cspecialily heavy and | long range guns is daily increasing i and unmasking the imposing offensive j prepared by austria wi'h its obiect of reaching the alp above vicenza from which the ausirians would be i able to dominate the entire venetian region and threaten the flank and rear of the mam italian army occupying the provinces of udine rid bolluna cymric was sunk by hun torpedo britain contradicb yam thai boiler i miralty referring to the report sent out from berlin to the effect that survivors of the british steamer cymric which sank may 9 asserted that the sinking of the vessel was due to an explosion of her boilers declared the statement entirely unfounded on the contrary i says the admiralty the cymric was torpedoed without warning previous accounts from british sources as well as despatches to the state department at washington from the american concul at queenstown j said the cymric was torpedoed more irish trials are in progress announced today that in addition to i the sentence of death imposed on lynch a similar sentence was impos ed upon peter gallingham but this sentence has been commuted to five a number of other persons were al the court martial opened today the private case of john macneil presi dent of the sinn fein volunteers who was formerly a civil servant in the four courts of dublin but is now professor in the irish university »* disregarded his advice baron wimborne says he asked for additional troops and intern ment of sinn feiners \ i ondon 22.—1n the irish en quiry viscount mddleton gave fur ther evdience of the warning he had given baron wimborne then lord lieutenant lansdowne and others of the impending danger he had told the under secretary for ireland that the situation was so bad that redmand was in danger of his life wimborne in giving evidence said he declared he imagined the charge that would be brought against the irish govern ment would be one of supreme blind ness and irresolution in dealing with the propaganda and hostile demon , stration of sinn feiners ever since the departure of the irish divison to the front at the end of last summer he said that the irish garrison had been inadequate and in march of this year he urged on general french the desirability of sending a division of troops to ireland early this year the police reports showed that the sinn feiners move ment was growing and lord wim borne said he then suggested de portation or internment as a remedy lord wimborne caused a stir in the room when he said that the admiral at queenstown had received informa tion that caseme had departed from germany that his ship was accom panied by two submarines and might be expected off the irish coast about easter sunday and that this informa tion he said had not been communi cated to the iristi government the commission will hold the next meet ing on thursday in dublin grand duke imperils turkish line by unexpected drive toward bagdad . grand . duke nicholas com mander ef the russian army op erating against the turks on the mesopotamia-persia border and seeking a junction with the british forces in tigris valley has sprung a coup on his adver saries by a sudden drive south west of lake urumiah the turks were prepared for a con tinuation of his offensive further north toward erzerum » > the grand duke has crossed the turkish frontier near rowandiz and is now only 80 miles from the line of communi-l cations of the turkish armies now blocking the advance of the british toward bagdad put britain on rations withdrawal of men from farms to the army makes it difficult to pro vide food supplies ondon may 23.—francis dyke akland financial secretary of the treasury speaking to the house of commons on the agricultural ques tion today made a somewhat disturb ing statement it was imperative mr akland said that farmers should drop prejudice against the employment of female lab of as a breakdown in home supplies was only avoidable if the labor situa tion did not grow worse the danger point of greatly decreased production had already been reached and even as things were going it was now feared that england could not hope to main tain last years level if more men were swept into the army from farms she could only escape famine by di verting to the import tion of foodstuffs by ships which arc so urgently needed for the transport of munitions and akland concluded we are unable to say whether there will be ships lo di vert that way during the course of the debate fol lowing akland's speech rowland ed mund prothero of oxford university expressed the opinion that sooner or later the government would be com pelled to put the country on rations in order to economise food supplies and he urged the government to grasp the serious situation forthwith still push turks back british forces in mesopotamia have now virtually won way to kut-el-amara jondon may 22.—a despatch re ceived from general sir percy lake commander of the british force in mesopotamia shows that the forces of lieut general gorringe operating on the south bank of the tigris have now virtually reached kut-el-amara this region i's now benig cleared of turks up o the junction of shat el hajl river with the tigris at kut on the north bank and the tigris to the east of kut-el-amara the turks still occupy sannayyatt the official communication issued to night concerning operations in this region says that general lake reports that on may 20th the rght south bank of the tigris was celar of the enemy as far as shat el hail except for a small rear guard covering the bridge over hail some five hundred yards below its junction with the tigris our main force by this bank has reached the line of magasis dujailam on the left north bank the enemy is reported still occupy ing sannayyate position the weather is intensely hot i and trying the temperature during the last few days being over 100 degrees in the shade six vessels sunk at sea two are sunk by mines and four oih ers fall victims to the hun submarines jondon may 23.—a lloyds de spatch says the greek steamers an astaois and coroneos have been sunk the french steamerhanguedoc and the italian bark erminia have been sunk according to reports received by lloyds the languedoc was 1612 tons gross shipping registers do not re port her recent movement the er minia 1544 gross tonnage sailed from savona on may i 1 for philadelphia stockholm may 23.—-the swedish steamer rosalind 877 tons from copenhagen to stugund in ballast was sunk by a mine ofl stockholm skerries the crew was saved copenhagen may 23.—the danish steamer oarla 316 tons was sunk by a mine outside sandhammar point on the southern coast of sweden accord ing to a stockholm despatch the crew was saved in better health on the firing line than when at home what dr grenfell says of conditions of men in trenches montreal may 23.—dr wilfred grenfell cmc noted labrador mis sionary recently returned from the war in an address before the canadian club of montreal to-day referring to the splendid efficiency of the army medical corps said that in spite of trench feet typhoid and other troubles the actual condition of the health of the men of our army to-day was ex actly twice as good as it would have been if they were living in their own homes in canada k the schooner maggie sullivan 27 days from cadiz has arrived with salt consigned to a s rcnderl & co turks in reteat towards bagdad london may 23.—the daily chro nicle says the turkish army has begun its retreat towards bagdad evidently orders have been given to concentrate in that locality in view of the new rus sian menace from the northeast liquid fire attacks fail germans used barbarous appliance ui their attr.cks on hill 304 in the ver dun region but were completely repulsed by the french although the enemy made persistent efforts french have recaptured most of fort douaumont daris may 23.—fighting continued with extreme violence on both banks of the meuse along the verdun front the whole night two german positions on hill 304 failed completely the war office announced this after noon the french made further gains with in fort douaumont the germans now hold only a small angle in the northern corner of the fort the battle around hill 304 was especially severe and in attacking positions on the west side of the hill the germans used liquid gas the of ficial statement says and pehetrated one of the french trenches but were dislodged at once on the east side of the hill the germans attacked after intense artil lery preparation but were not permitt ed to reach the french linesl the principal fighting east of the meuse was in the sector between 1 hiaumont and douaumont the germans and succeeded in reoccupying one of the trenches north of thiaumont farm which had been captured by the french , ¥% say the germans treat prisoners war brut ally lord robert cecil says it may be ne cessary to retaliate on huns in britain london may 22.—lord robert cecil minster of war trade stated ni the house of commons this after noon that representatives of the unuit ed states government had been re fused permission to visit some of the industrial camps in germany where brtish prisoners were employed the minister added that the treat ment of prisoners in germany was somewhat better than formerly though the situation in some of the worknig camps and industrial establishments left much to be desired . a suggestion made by rowland hunt unionist member in a question that german prisoners in england be subjected to most rigorous treatment short,of actual cruelty would not be lost sight of lord robert cecil said but the government was anxious to avoid reprisals if possible admit huns made gains british official report refers to loss of trenches—minor activities by both sides ondon may 23.—a british official statement on the campaign in the western zone reads after a heavy bombardment all yes terday sunday becoming most in tense in the afternoon the enemy at tacked our positions at the north end of vimy ridge and succeeded in pen etrating our front line trenches on a front of about 1500 yards the depth of tpe penetration varies from oqe hun dred to three hundred yards today our artillery subjected the german po sitions to a heavy bombardment on the remainder of the front we sprang mines near rochincourt hohenzollern redoubt and the quarries and there was mining activities alsp near neuvillel st vaast and south of fleurbaix artillery on both sides has been act ive oppostion lens and east of ypres we obtained direct hits on an ene my battery east of blairville yesterday enemy aeroplanes were active and many were engaged by our machines eight were driven off though none was brought down one of our reconnaissance machines was forced to land in the enemy lines *\ the portia sails west at 6 o'clock this evening . 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