CRISIS IN GREECE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2594, 31 August 1909, Page 5

CRISIS IN GREECE.

DISAFFECTION IN THE ARMY. RESIGNATION OF THE PREMIER, UNITED Pit ICSS AsRv.OIATLON—COPYRIGHT. (Received August 30, 10 p.m.) ATHENS, August 30. .The refusal of M. Ralli, the Greek Premier, to receive a military deputation, who demanded the reorganisation of the army and navy, led to temporary disaffection among the forces at Athens. Five hundred and forty-eight officers and 3000 soldiers quitted Athens and camped outside the city. %M. Ralli resigned, and M. Mavromichaelis, the new Premier and Minister of Foreign Affairs, granted the disaffected officers and men an amnesty.

[Under the Greek law military service for all adult males lasts for 30 years, of which 14 months are with the colors, 10 years and 10 months in the reserve, 8 in the national guard, and 10 in the reserve of the latter. The regulations provide for an army of from 120,000 to 130,000 men on a war footing, but there are officers only for about 75,000, and the peace strength is laid down at 20,500 men, though from motives of economy only some 9000 are kept with the colors. Thus the army is a skeleton organisation, and training is markedly inefficient. Officers grow old in their ranks and have little experience. The navy consists of three small - battleships, of about 4800 tons displacement, and a few gunboats and torpedo- craft of no large fighting value. Four torpedo-boat destroyers, built by Messrs Yarrow, were delivered in 1908. There is a naval personnel of about 4000, conscripts for two years or voluntary enlistmenti A small arsenal is situated at the Piraeus. Although credits for the engagement and remuneration of :.a foreign officer to reorganise the were passed in April 1908, no definii®7 steps were taken in the matter.]