Progress of the War.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16324, 23 September 1918, Page 6

Progress of the War.

All the war news this morning, except) that relating to the Baku expedition, is highly encouraging, but tho most important and satisfactory despatches are those relating to General Allenby's great victory in "Palestine. By means of a brilliantly-planned series of operations, carried out with extraordinary dash and energy by the troops—British, Indian, and French—the Turkish main forces have been almost enclosed in a net. Thousands of prisoners, with a great store of guns, ammunition, and supplies of all kinds have been capturod, and it looks as if the Turks will be fortunate if more than a remnbnt of their army manage to escape. To add to their discomfiture, our Ally, the King of Hedjaz, has mado a successful attack upon their railway communications. The difficult nature of the country in which our men have had to operate makes the results which have been achieved all the more remarkable. Another battlefield which has suddenly become very interesting is that on the Ralonica front. Vigorous attacks are being developed by British, French, Greek, and Serbian forces, and good progress is being mado around Lake Doiran and up the Vardar Valley. On the Western front the Allied forces are giving the enemy no rest. The recent advance of the Americans on the Lorraine sector has caused a panic in. Metz, and evacuation of the city has begun, in spite of the Governor's ns* surances and exhortations to calmness. Tho banks, we are told, are transferring] their funds and books to Karlsruhe. The well-to-do inhabitants are leaving, and the military authorities are evidently making arrangements for the systematic evacuation of the civiliani population. As already stated, Metz is now within range of the Allies' guns, \ but tho aerial bombardment has probably been much more deadly than the gunfire.

It is amusing to watch the attitude of the two conspirators in regard to the recent Austrian "Peace Note" now that they realise that they have been found out: Simultaneously with a cable message from in which the Austro-Hungarian Government acknowledges the rejection of its peace

,' suggestion—which it is good enough to t add is still open—there comes from Berlin the German reply to AustroHungary's Note stated to hare been handed to Vienna on the previous day. In this the German Government, obviously with tongue in cheek, expresses a hope that the effort may meet with success, "though the reception of previous attempts is not encouraging." Germany, it adds, is ready to take part in the proposed exchange of , views. It will thus be seen that Geri many is the only belligerent which has agreed to enter into the conference propose! by Austria. These two Powers : might conceivably be able to settle the ,; war to their own satisfaction, but they I are now learning that although it is j oasy for even one Power to bring ! about war, it is a much more difficult 1 task to chain up the forces of destruction when once they have been . let loose. i * j It is to bo feared that the Central | Powers will not derive much comfort ! from tho conditions which Colonel i Roosevelt reccntlv laid down as essenI tial to a lasting peace. Germany, he | declared, must be beaten to her knees. To leave her with a strangle-hold on I ttussia, and through her allies dominj ant in Central Europe and Asia Minor, would mean she had won the war. He added that Belgium must be reinstated land reimbursed; France must receive i Alsace; Italy Italian Austria; RouI mania Roumanian Hungary ; Turkey I must be driven from Europe; Armenia j freed ; the .Jews given Palestine; the j Syrian Christians protected"; and the | Slav races released from the menace of the German sword. The Colonel is not lof course, actively in American politics just now, but he exercises a strong influence on a large body of American opinion, and when it comes to stating America's duty and aims in the war ho speaks for much moro than the I Republican Party. His most pointsd i statement: "We must either lick the j Kaiser or his boots" —may have lacked the polish of the Presidential periods, but it put in a nutshell the alternative that lies before America and the Allies. « An Auckland professor is reported to have said the other day that he was afraid that to be described as the wealthiest of all the learned in New Zealand would not mean much, and he doubted whether the other way about it would mean much more. New Zealand, however, is not peculiar in that respect. The combination of great wealth and great learning is rare in any country, and the exceptions which rise in one's mind are noteworthy because they are exceptions. One of them died a fortnight ago in Australia, in the person of Mr John MeGarvie Smith, whose career was notable for the services he rendered to his country. He owed little to fortune, for he was only 13 when he had to set to work to earn his living. He became a watchmaker and jeweller, established two shops, and at tho age of 23 began to study chemistry at Sydney University, sacrificing all his leisure to the pursuit of knowledge. • — In time - he became a competent motallurnst, and as such he discovered improved methods for the treatment of ! refractory ores, and was able to assist greatly the owners of the Mount Morgan mine by giving them the successful _ chlorine process for dealing with these ores. He discovered a vaccine for anthrax mtich superior to one that had been discovered by Pasteur, and he did admirable work for the New South Wales Government in the direction. of public health. The anthrax vaccine reduced almost to disappearing point the losses of sheep caused by anthrax, and the human risk attendant on handling the wool or skins from diseased animals. Shortly before his death he handed the formula for the preparation of the anthrax to the New South Wales Government, as a free gift, the value of which he estimated at no less than a million and a half. He also endowed the institute which is to carry on bis work with £10,000, and presented it with his fine laboratory and equipment valued at several thousands of pounds It was a royal gift, which will long keep the donor's memory green among those who will benefit by it.

' It was not Mr Smith's fault that he did not add to his national services the discovery of a vafceine against snakebite poisoning. For years ho deyoted himself assiduously to research work in that direction, and only abandoned the quest when he reached the conclusion that it was bacteriologically impossible to inoculate against snake-bite. In the pursuit of his object, he gradually acquired a collection of 500 Australian snakes of all kinds, and in order to collect their poison, he handled the whole lot of them onoe a fortnight for over three years, without once being bitten. Ho appears to have found that a vaccine which would protect a person against the bite of one variety of snake might not be effective against the bite of another variety,' and so he relinquished a task which, if suocessful, wquld havo been tho means of saving many lives. He naturally collected much diata in the course of his researches, and it is possible that some scientist of the future, building on the foundations raised by Mr Smith, will succeed whore he failed. « So little news has been vouchsafed to us regarding the ill-fated British expedition to Baku, on the Caspian Sea, that it was not until Saturday, when we learned of the disaster that had befallen it, that wo were told the name of its commander. General Lionel C. Ihxnsterville, 0.8., the officer in question, has had an active and distinguished career, having taken part in most of the fighting in recent years on the north-west frontier of India, and also in the Boxer rebellion. He has commanded at different times several Sikh regiments, and before taking charge of the Baku expedition, he was in command of the Peshawar district. But what will invest him with the greatest interest in the eyes of the public is the fact that he is tho original of ' 'Stalky" in Rudyard Kipling's well-known book "Stalky and Coin which he gfives a picture of life ' at the famous United Service College, at : Westward Ho, North Devon. It is generally known that Kipling himself figures in that book as "Beetle," but probably few people knew who "Stalky" was, or that "McTurk" was one of the Beresfords. Even Mr R. Thurston Hopkins, who published in 1915, a voluminous work on Kipling, did not definitely say which was which. But in referring to "Foxy," the old drill sergeant at the college, ho says: ""fliis ox-soldier was in the service of the college up to a few years ago, and he described Kipling, Bercsford, and 3>unsterville (the 'terrible three' of 'Stalky and Co.') in most vivid

terms " Readers of the book will admit that if the trio really played the pranks that one of their number has since made famous, the vividness of . "Foxy's" language was thoroughly . justified.