A GIGANTIC STRUGGLE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 72, 25 March 1915, Page 4

A GIGANTIC STRUGGLE.

There aTe many indications which suggest that the Imperial authorit-as regard the stage of the wax on which we are now entering as critical and decisive, and this impression is reflected in the comments of the heading newspapers at Home. It is now generally recognised that the enemy intends to make a final and desperate effort to overwhelm the weaker portions of the Allies' line before France and England have been able to develop all their latent resources of military strength. And it is not possible to deny that if the Germans make such an effort, it wiH require all the available forces that the Allies can put into' the field to defeat •Uhem, and that the fighting will be of a nro_t sanguinary character. Tbe French official "review" now in course of publication, recalls the fact that the efforts of the Germans to outflank the Allies along the Aisne and their subsequent attempts to break the lines north of Arras were defeated only by the " tenacity and brilliancy " oi the British troops. Thi 6 reference to one of the most glorious achievements of the British arms idnce the war began may remind us that our troops, though outnumbered four to one at Ypres, held their ground for over a week unshaken, and finally drove back the overwhelming forces of their assailants. Bat the gallant struggles at'Ypros and along the Yser, where the little Belgian army played its glorious part, arc now to be re-enacted, probably ou the same" gTound, and under even more desperate and sanguinary conditions. It Is now realised that the Germans are preparing for a lost furious onslaught, and that, even if they are repulsed, the losses that „the Allies must sustain will be of a very formidable character. But when this critical moment has passed, it will be for the Allies to take the offensive, and we have already had some experience -of -what this means in the recent fighting near La Bassee. The losses at Neuve Chapelle were far the heaviest we have yet sustained' in proportion to the numbers engaged, and this is only a foretaste of what is to come when the Allies take up - in- earnest the task ot dislodging the Germans from their entrenched positions, and forcing them back toward their own frontier. It is well that these .acts should be grasped, because it ,is essential to the final success of our cause that the nation should not;undcreStimate the magnitude of the task it has undertaken, and the sacrifices it will he called upon to make before victory is finally secured. Unfortunately, the great question at issue is somewhat ob-Cured at Home by the conta-weray over toe merits of tho taxy HY-rt-jni. -as -opposed to t»_ap-i__ory i-tu-tary rarric.. In onr cmHo -«-fn_n_iß..

to-day will ibe found extracts from the "Daily Mail" and the- HDaily Graphic" 1 which are evidently meant to imply the urgent neceEßity for compulsory training ;dn view of the tremendous struggle that •we have now to face. On the other hand, •the advocates of the voluntary system | aTe so strongly attached by sentimental and political 'hraditionis to their own view of the case, and so b'.tterly prejudiced i against any form of "conscription," that we find the leading newspapers who hold this view constantly magnifying the [successes, we have gained, minimising the losses wo have suffered, or underestimating the efforts and sacrifices that have still to bs made. We do not suggest that the outlook is gloomy, .or that there is any excuse foT pessimism on our side. But it in futile to 'depreciate the .strength of the enemy, or to imagine that anything lrss than the most vigorous, long-eustained and united efforts on the part of the nation and the Empire will serve to accomplish bur purpose.