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Press, Volume LIII, Issue 15793, 8 January 1917, Page 6

That a very critical position has arisen in Austria-Hungary lias been clearly shown by recent cable messages. The news published this morning of the clearing out of strongly pro-German officials at the Foreign Office and elsewhere shows that the new Emperor does not relish the extent to which Austria lias been dominated by Germany for German ends. The very severo stringency as regards food and finance in the Dual' Monarchy, added to its difficulties owing to the mixture of races, must be giving the Emperor and his advisers very grave anxiety.

Austria was clearly jockeyed into the war by Germany in the first instance, and we have no doubt that "with disillusionment has come bitter regret that she allowed herself to he so befooled. Doubtless she would bo quite ready to conclude a separate peace, but lion- could it bo managed? How can she shake herself free from her German Ally? Suppose she agrees to give up Trieste and meet the views of the Entente regarding the Balkans, she will still have to reckon with her own very dear friend Germany. Probably the and Hungarians are now quite convinced of the wisdom of the Scottish proverb, that the man who Avould sup with the devil needs a long spoon.

The cable message published elsewhere that a- broad gauge railway has been completed from the Suez Canal to El Arish, confirms the view we expressed that our troops are not going to stop within the Egyptian boundaries. It is, indeed, quite possible that we shall hear of the New Zealand Mounted Regiment invading the Holy Land, and even occupying Jerusalem. The fact that the last fifteen miles of the railway to El Arish was completed within fifteen days must have given some of our boys food for thought as they mentally compared this progress with the rate at which the railways are constructed under the Public Works system in New Zealand. It is seldom we make as much progress in a year as was made in the Sinai Desert in a fortnight. ♦ The official defence of the Armenian massacres reveals an interesting likeness between the German and the Turkish way of thinking. This do

fence is contained in a recently-pub-lished statement by the Turkish Foreign Minister. The Young Turks, he said, bad always looked upon the Armenians as '-a valuable asset of the Turkish Empire,'' and bad given them a share in the government. During the Balkan War, however, the Armenians, who had seemed satisfied after the Turkish Revolution, took up their separatist ideals again. It was impossible. said the Minister, to grant autonomy to the Armenians. When the war broke out, ho said, he called the Armenian deputies together, and to them he made the following curious speech : —

"I fully understand your position, and hope- that you understand ours. We have engaged in a war in which we may go down. That will be your opportunity to make arrangements with the Entente, but bear in mind that the Ottoman Government will apply tho most severe measures if you act against tlie Turks before you know wp are conquered. Bear in mind that the slights Ist false move on your part will bring trouble to nil Armenians. Sit quiet anil let us try this i~sue. When you nrc sure we liave lost, :j.i ) over to the Entente ami get from them all you can." 4 It- is next alleged by tho Minister that when the Russians came the Armenians rose, and "the Turkish Government took the measure which had been outlined to the Armenian leaders beforehand." As a matter of fact the massacres began almost as soon as the war started, and for two years no attempt at an explanation wag made. The thoroughness with which the Turks brought into action all the most horrible resources of a race bent upon exterminating a weaker race was quite German, and quite German, also, are the Minister's hypocritical pretences of regret. "1 will say," he said, "that the loss to the, Ottoman Empire through the deportation of the Armenians has been immense. The Armenian is able and industrious, and, therefore, valuable in the economic scheme; but what could be done? We' were at war," he concluded, in the very accents of the German Government, "and obliged, therefore, to employ every means to make secure our own position." To those who dislike "unnatural alliances" 'the Turko-German companionship can cause no dissatisfaction. * In the current (January) issue of the "Loco Record," the official organ of the Second Division of the railway employees. there is a curious article protesting against the infliction of punishment on railwnymen for serious breaches of the rules necessary to the safety of the railway system. The protest is nominally against what is alleged to be undue harshness in the scale of punishment, "but unless it has expressed its' meaning badly the "Record'' would seem t 0 wish to protest against any punishment at all. Once, it tells us, men were hanged for stealing a sheep, and the reduction of the penalty has not increased sheepstealing. Capital punishment for murder, we are nlso nssured, doe« not deter men from murdering their fellows. Murders take place in spito of all punishment —so its argument eeejns to run —and therefore punishment might well l>e dispensed with. With a good deal of this curious meditation as preface, the "Record" says that the Queensland railways have given a lead by "only recording a fine without deducting tho money." '"They have shown," it is added, "that it is a success, and tho men aro just as jealous of their record as if they had twelve months' reduction." In concluding its article, the "Record" says that severe punishment for passing a signal embitters a man. "He would have tried his best not to do this again, and others have no need of being terrorised by such severe punishments." Now, tho engine-drivers in our railway service arc, on the whole, very competent men, and it is quite certain that they are very anxious to remain efficient and avoid accidents. Surely this competence can be regarded as due, in its proper measure, to the firmness with which the. Department insists upon really deterrent punishments. If there were to be no substantial penalty for dangerous remissness, the men would still bo anxious to avoid accidents, but they would not have that keen interest in refusing to "chance it" which they have at present, and the result would come in duo

course in the shape of serious accidents, any one of which would cause a sum of misery greater than years of disciplinary penalties inside tho Service. It may be —we do not know —that the actual penalties imposed by the Department are a little too drastic. That is a fair matter for discussion, but it ought to be recognised that penalties must be inflicted.

At a recent public meeting of "anticonscriptionists" in Christchurch one of the speakers was brought forward a s representing "the Irish Leagues," and he represented himself as competent to speak on behalf of "the Irish element" in New Zealand. We feel perfectly certain that thousands of "the Irish element"—a phraso which we suppose is intended to indudc not only Irish-born people but New Zealanders of Irish desccnt—will bo filled with indignation and disgust at finding themselves claimed b- tho party of disloyalty and lawlessness. The two most prominent men of Irish blood in this Dominion are Mr Majsey and Sir Joseph Ward, and it seems to us to bo extremely ludicrous to suppose that when these two mora «ere the joint authors of tho Service Act, the other people of Irish birth or descent in this country could be on the side of the "antis." The other day the people who held an "anti-conscription" conference in

Wellington made a point of saying, in their official report, that the conference had representatives of, amongst others, "the Irish League." We do not know what purpose the enemies of the Act have in view in thus seeking to represent their activities as partly Irish, but we do know that it is outrageous that the "antis" should thus defame a large number of loyal people. It is much to be hoped that the organisations of Irish people will make some protest on behalf of the loyal- and law-abiding Irish New Zealanders, in order that the insulting delusion of the "antis" may be iftmoved.