NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16118, 24 January 1918, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

AUSTRIA'S: POISONOUS PROPAGANDA.

Austria, which at present has . cn hand as much trouble of her own na she can deal with, appears some wee'o ago to have been active in trying io foment discontent and dissension among the Italian troops. Some 01" the latter were undoubtedly affect;:! by .the insidious propaganda carried on among them by the Germans before the great counter-offensive which drove them back almost to the outskirts of Venice. But since then they have taken enemy statements at their true value, and Austrian efforts to cause trouble have failed. These efforts took the form of. lies as to the action of English and French troops in Italy. At places where the Austrian and Italian lines were close together an Austrian would suddenly call out. says a correspondent, at the front, that a "bomb that does nor explode'' was coming over, and shortly afterwards an object would be shot across which, on touching tho ground, scattered a quantity of pamphlets, v!I printed on red, white, and yrenn paper> to render them attractive. One of these manifestoes said: "At the request of the Italian Government, English and French soldiers have fired at Milan and Turin for two days with machine-guns on old discharged soldiers who refused to go to the front, as well as 011 the people who tooi: their part. Innumerable ki'isd and wounded./'

At ono place the enemy hoisted :• placard 011 which was written: "Revolution at Milan and Turin : '2000 killed, -tCOO wounded." ['ho Italians smu» t themselves by making a Injget of vlie placard, which soon becamo iilep'b!.The bombardment of manifesto-shells always provokes an immediate bombardment .by shells -which hurst. The murdered mother and martynv! babes appeared again and again in all this vile propaganda. ''Soldiers, instead of giving you peace, thev assassinate your wives and children!'' wrote the slayers /of women. "Your wives and little ones are . being slaughtered by machine-guns, or are dying of hunger." Tim sort of thing came well from an enemy ihnt in Italvj as the Germaus did in Belgium, advanced to the attack behind a screen of captured civilians, including women and children. The question of British troops being employed to' quell riots in Italian cities was brought up in the House of Commons, and a Minister emphatically denied the rumour. HOW AUSTRIA MADE READY. Before the war, as is well known, Italy was a partner with Germany..mil Austria in what was termed the Triple- Alliance. And yet much of Austria's success in the present operations against Italy are due to the preparations that sue was making during all the years of the Alliance. While Germany was securing by all sorts of means, as large a control as possible of all Italian national industries important for war. Austria, says an Italian correspondent, of the "Observer,"' while protesting friendship, was preparing for the invasion of' Italy, adapting and fortifying the Trentino in order to make it a huge military camp. These preparations made it- possible for the Aus-tro-Germans to undertake operations at a time of year which it had been thought was altogether unfavourable. A MILITARY ZONE. Even'in peace time the garrisons in certain pflfrtg of the province of Trentino accounted for more than half the population; indeed, we are told that the whole country was under military government; camps and fortresses were built; some thirty-seven forts were erected near the frontier, and military areas closed to civilians sprang up everywhere. Mountain peaks which had been for centurics the Sunday resorts of near townsmen were suddenly appropriated by the military. Enormous sums were expended on military roads through mostly uninhabited country, and charged chiefly to .the commune*. There are three hundred and sixty-six communcs in the Trentino, but only one hundred and thirty - six post offices, because troops on the march carry their own post and telegraph services with them. But when the undertaking had a military value money was lavishly spent. For instance, the famous bakeries built all along the Trentino frontier nominally to "counteract tho ill-effects of bad maize, were large and substantial buildings, quito ridiculously out of proportion to their apparent object, but perhaps none too large to accommodate the armies which have been threatening the Piave defence from tho west. Permission to build a house within miles of a military 'zone was given only on condition that the proprietor bound himself to raze it to the ground at a word from the military command without protest or indemnity.

CLOSING THF. MOUNTAIN PASTURES.

The inhabitants, the Trcntini. sulfered in many wajs under tho military rule to which they were subjected. One instance, in particular, may be mentioned. For years Italian shepherds were in the habit of taking their flocks itj> in the high Trcntino valleys for trio summer. Tho Austrian Government intervened (the same systc:n was applied to the Serbian frontier), and stopped the practice, causing the economic ruin of ;-ma!l mountain communities, for whom tho letting oi pasturage was the only means of income. The community of Leyico alone losi, thorebv an income of 1-30,CC0 crowns a year. Tne policy of ruthless subordinatiti.i of everything to military requirements gave the Austrians a certain advantage when the war carno for which they had prepared so carefully. nut it also served* to keen alight and feed tho fire of resentment which burned throughout Italy at the treatment of

"Italia Irredenta," and broke into I fiamo when the opportunity offered. I WOMEN-IVOR KERS AND MAX- [ POWER. I The solution 01 tho question of man- i power which is giving the War Office f, cause for grave consideration just now £ lies largely. 1:0 doubt, in the acccpt- | ance or rejection by organised Labour f of the Governiiieni s proposals for a ' moro rigorous ''combiug-out'' of labour in industries which have hitherto- been treated as wholly or partially es&ontial. / To some extent the difficulty will no J doubt be met by further dralts on tha : t) woman-power of the country-, which.has . -i already proved of such inestimable value. Sir Auckland Gcddos, tho Director of National Service, in his speoen in the House of Commons a few days ago, mentioned that last mouth his Department had filled SO.COO vacancies with/,,, women. This, however, was but a very t ! small number out of the army of womea who have enrolled themselves in many [ capacities in the war-service of ths \ country. _ ' Some illuminating facts, showing,the. enormous si;:o of this army, and its rapid development, were given in the British Labour Gazette issued in November. In .1 uly last 4,7G6,0C0 women workers \<e':e employed in Great Britain - —a number exceeding bv 1,421.000 : those emo'nwd in July. 1914. The ; number of women who have directly re- - pineal men since the war was given as J,092,0C0. About 070.000 women were ; employed on munition work and 632,000 on other Government work, such as. the . ' manufacture of clothing and food for ; . . the troops. . ; 111 the period of three years the nuniber oi' women employed in industries rose from 2,134,000 to 2.702,000, in agriculture from 130,000 to close upon •. 200,000. and in commerce from a littlo under half a million to over 800,000. The- effect of the war in opening new ; ; avenues of employment for "women, or widening old one, is seen even more ' f .i rn ,-i T in the increase from 1200 to ~-. "]7.£o!> in the number «>f women era- 'it plovers -of tramways, from 17,000 to- r practically lOO.OCO in those engaged in .j "transport and trains,'' ami from 2001 to 204 000 in employees in Government •i'establishments. The girl bank clerk holds (55,000 positions in bpults where ' formerly sh * occupied fewer thm 10.000, £ and the Civil Service, through which j-,# three years before some -1500 women -A. employees wore thinly scattered now -Vfco"Ttts 60.000 in its various sta_fTs. _ This Government return, it is men."iioju'd, does not tc'l the.tale of the- ft labour of women, since domestic ser- . • and K-imen employed in. very workshops in tho dressmaking trade were excluded, as well ns women at work in -military, naval, and Red Cross hospitals. Under tho last hend the'-n luul been an increase equal to ■ . full-time workers. Oti ihe othehand, there had been a ■ of 400 000 from small workshops and " domestic service, who bad left, to take up the more remunerative and. from ft W public point of view, more useful em ployment.