Progress of the War.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 15955, 17 July 1917, Page 6

Progress of the War.

Few fresh developments are reported to-day from the fighting fronts. The official messages "relating to the Rus-

sian offensive in Galicia record no further advance oil tile pare of General KorniloiFs forces, operations apparently being impeded by the July rains, which have caused the inundation of the Dniester and the Lomnica. The severity of the July rains last year was one of the factors which saved tho | enemy from a big defeat, and should | the present unfavourable weather coni tinue it may possibly enable the AustroGcrman forces to rectify and consolidate their positions, thus rendering the Russian advance more difficult. when

operations are again resumed on a large scale. It is particularly unfortunate that the weather should have broken at the present juncture, as it will mean a cessation of the cavalry advance, which

a recent message stated was proceeding with irresistible dash, driving the enemy panic-stricken towards Lemberg. A German official message says that there is activity at- Dvina and Smorgon. This is very likely, attacks on these sectors being delivered to prevent tho Germans from sending reinforcements into Volhynia and Galicia. Unofficial versions of the offensivo state that panic has spread among the population of Galicia, and that refugees are fleeing in thousands into Austria, whilo tho country towards Stryj and Dolina is reported to be already deserted by its inhabitants. Great aerial activity continues on the West front, and an official message to-day states that fifteen German aeroplanes were brought down. This is in addition to thirtyone enemy machines brought down on tho previous day, making a total of forty-six, the British losses for the same period totalling sixteen, indicating the continued superiority of tho British aviators. In the fchampagne sector the French forces carried out a vigorous attack on the German position north, of Mont Haut and on tho slopes of Mont Teton. Tho assault was eminently successful, powerfully constructed positions being captured and consolidated. Tho Germans launched heavy counter-attacks on tho French lines, but without any other result than heavy losses to their troops. There is no fresh news regarding operations in the other theatres, with the exception of a report from the .Russians detailing local successes in the vicinity of Lake Van, in Armenia.

In the annual report of the Tourist Department it is noted that the expenditure of the Department in 1916-17 was £1857 less than in 1915-16. This is hardly so encouraging as it may appear, for the expenditure was still very greatly in excess of the revenue. The revenue was £33,137 and the expenditure £45,785. The report contains no balance-sheet, although it does contain a detailed statement of receipts. "Wliy there is no detailed statement of expenditure wo cannot imagine, and its absence makes the report anything but satisfactory. The more so, because the Department is costing the country a great deal of money—the losses for th© last six years aggregating, as it appears from some totals printed in the report, no less a sum than £115,000.

This is so large a sum that tho public ought at least to be told in the report something concerning the directions in which it has gone. The xibsenco of a balance-sheet may mean that the Department expects to be treated as one to which money is no object. It is questionable whether even in normal times the country can afford such, a luxury as a Department which loses money in a, handsome manner; in war time there is no excuse at all for running the Department at a loss. Wo aro aware, we need hardly say, of the value of judicious advertisement of the country's excellences, and it would bo possible to spend £115,000 a year in .-judicious advertising (abroad and to feel that it was spent profitably. But the Tourist Department's activities are not quite those which, are nowadays most likely to supply the real-needs of New Zealand.

Perhaps, when the Estimates aro under discussion, some member may ask for some more definite information concerning the finances of the Department. It would bo worth while enquiring, for example, into the true position of each of the resorts under the Department's caro. A table in the report sots forth, that at Te Aroha, Hanmer, the To Anau-Milford area', and Queenstown, the year's expenditure exceeded the receipts by, respectively, £1227, £1220, £899, and £344, while tho balance was on the other side in respcct of Rotorua, Waitomo, and the Hermitage. Over all the resorts there was a credit balaiico of about £300. But it is admitted that no allowanco was made for interest on capital expenditure or for depreciation of plant or buildings. A very substantial sum, obviously, ought to bo allowed for under tlicso headings. The Department's activities are well worth the attention of the House.

Desperate attempts arc being made by somo of the Cold Feet party to eonfiisc the public mind as to the questions at issaic in connexion with the Sccond Division. No .juggling with figures will excuse us for deserting the XcuZealandors at the front, or justify a broach of our solemn pledge and assurance of our inflexible determination to continue the war to a, victorious finish by every means within our power. Tho question as to what reinforcements are actually necessary is not t-o be settled by any Staff publications issued at the beginning of the wac, but by cxperienco gained at a bitter cost during tho war. It is not sufficient to provide enough men to fill the casualties after an action, but to give the men in the firing line regular periods of rest and respite from the horrors of the trenches. Tho War Office has told us tho quota necessary for these purposes, and it would be an act of perfidy on our part towards the men already fighting if we were to fail thorn at this juncture.

It is a noteworthy fact that tho letters from newspaper correspondents professing to be in favour of the Second Division shirking its manifest duty are practically alt anonymous. That is exactly the kind of couragc wo should have expected from any man who would seriously argue that it was the duty of single mon to fight for tho women and children of a nation, and that the husbands and fathers would be bost dis-

1 charging their duty by keeping out of 1 the conflict.

I A\.hile the voluntary system was in i force any attempt to discourage recruiti ing was rightiy regarded as seditious, | and punishable accordingly. Surely, i from a moral point of view, if not ! legally, it is just as seditious to attempt j to create disaffection among the men I of the vSecond Division, and to discourj at;e them from going to the support of our men fighting for us at tho front. ! « ' AJt.hou.cli not intrinsically much, the ! Australian Government's gift to the French nation of an acre of ground upon which stands ilie htatue of La Porouso, ilie Frcnch navigator, is a truly graceful act of homage to our gallant Allies. La Perouse, who was born in 1741, was a young naval officer in 1759, serving on the Formidable when it was captured by Hawke. During the war with England, between 177S and 1753, he served his country with distinction, and in 17So he sailed in command of an expedition of two vessels despatched by the French Government to discover the "North-West Passage," and, generally, to explore tho world lying between Asia and America. He arrived on the coast of Alaska in June, 17SG, and afterwards sailed south, visiting the Hawaiian Islands and then in turn sailing to Asia, the Philippines, tho coasts of Japan and Korea. He reached De Castries Bay in July, 1757, and a few Jav.3 later discovered the strait between Sakhalin and Japan. His subsequent journeyings took him to Samoa, tho Friendly Islands, and Norfolk Island, and on January 28th, 17SS, ho arrived at Botany Bay, -where the first t.e ginnings of Australian colonisation were in progress. After a s>ort Ms.y ho sailed again, and was never more heard of. Nearly 40 years later a British ship under Captain Dillon discovered what must have been the wreckage of La Perouso's two ships, on the reefs of an island north of the New Hebrides.

Although Mr G. T. Booth fully grasps the public sentiment against the spoiling of Cathedral square—ho goes further, indeed, than most people, contending that the Beautifying Association should demand that tho Square be cleared of trams altogether—tho Tramway Board is still very obviously against looking at the problem of the Square through any eyes but thoso of a traffic manager. Nobody wishes tho Board to go in for beautifying the Square; all that is asked is that the Board shall not stand in the way of, or mate more difficult, the restoration of the Square to its lost ost&te. Tho Square has become, as Mr Booth rightly nointod out, a light railway depot, which it was never meant to be, and which it ought not to be. If it cannot bo clcared of trams and tram-lines, there can, at any rate, be some mitigation of the present 6tato of things. We hope the Board will recognise that public sentiment must bo considered, even in the making of tramway arrangomonts, and that members will strive to got out of the frame of mind which produces such preposterous suggestions as that tho Godlcy statue should be carted off to exile in some utterly irrelevant corner of tho city.