The Times correspondent at Scutari gives an interesting account of
Scutari under the International Commission. Since the middle of May, when European bluejackets were substituted for Montenegrin pickets, a new atmosphere of contentment and security has pervaded the town. The difficulties which confront the five foreign officers are, how- ever, considerable : no organization existed when they arrived, everything had to be created afresh, and sources of income are either prospective or already earmarked for the Ottoman Debt, and therefore useless for municipal purposes. Again, the powers of the Commission only extend to Scutari itself, and the complaints and requests of the distressed villagers are perforce neglected. The affairs of Scutari itself are regulated by a Municipal Council of Christian and Moslem Albanians, assisted by an Italian officer; bluejackets police the streets, and offenders are tried by European officers, while disease is checked by the preventive measures of a mixed Sanitary Commission, and food distributed to the hungry by the Austrian and Italian relief expeditions. (A. later despatch states that thirty-four villages are also receiving relief.) The correspondent concludes by stating his belief that the alleged desire of the Scutarenes for union with Montenegro was a ercation of Montenegrin fancy ; that the departure of the Montenegrin troops was awaited with unconcealed anxiety ; that the Scutarenes seem perfectly content with the occupa- tion by the Powers, and, while indifferent as to the future government of Albania, are unanimous in the opinion that Scutari is the only capital of Albania.
