Though Austria has replied to Italy's remonstrances on the subject of unanchored mines, promising to give serious attention to the matter with a view to preventing a recurrence of disasters to shipping, she has not offered any indemnity to the families, says the Milan correspondent of the "Daily Chronicle." Italy will bring the question of indemnity before The Hague Tribunal.
Beside bearing marks that place beyond doubt the fact of their manufacture in Austrian arsenals, it is quite clear that these diabolical devices were not borne toward the Italian littoral either by stormy weather or by pure chance. The Ministry of Marine found itself compelled to bring all mercantile and passenger navigation to a standstill over the whole area of the Adriatic and Ionian Sees. Austrian derelict torpedoes already have been fished up as far north as Chioggia, and as far south og Taranto and Brindisi, "'A discovery which caused particularly painful stupefaction and preoccupation to our military authorities," writes 'Il Secondo," that, whereas the Austrian min' are normally fixed to the sea bottom by means of a steel cable terminate ing in a small anchor, not single drifting mine among those just. dredged has any anchor at all. Again, not one had its full length of cable. Indeed, it was found that all bad been deliberately severed with a wire cutter, and all at exactly the same level."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.