Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. SATURDAY, JULY 3rd, 1915. OUR WOUNDED SOLDIERS.

Greymouth Evening Star, 3 July 1915, Page 4

Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. SATURDAY, JULY 3rd, 1915. OUR WOUNDED SOLDIERS.

XiiE announcement of tiio expected arrival of the s.s. Wiilochra at Wellington on July 16th with the first batch of wounded men from the Dardanelles serves to bring' home to us the real responsibility of the people of New Zealand to these men. The Dominion has every reason to be proud of the part her sons have played in the war, and the practical and proper way to show that pride is., as a Canterbury contemporary contends, to make the period of convalescence care-free, and comfortable, and afterwards to see that neither the men nor their dependents suffer through no fault of their own. It is certainly "up to" the employers of the Dominion to give preference of employment to ex-soldiers, but amongst the wounded there may bo .many men who will not be able to resume work for many months, if at all. The responsibility for the care of this class rests primarily on the Government, but their families should have a claim upon the various funds that are being collected in every portion of the Dominion. After the Boer war, a good deal of laxity was shown by the public, and not a little by the Defence authorities, with regard to the welfare of men who were unable to find employment when they returned from South Africa, and that carelessness must not be repeated with the men from the Dardanelles. The desperate risks these men have faced are only just now being realised, and the wonder is that the casualty lists are not a great deal bigger than they are. We who have enjoyed the coin- j forts of our homes whilst our brave boys have been enduring ' untold hardships and hourly risk- • ing their lives—for our sake, it ] must be remembered—must not let it be said that we were so i utterly selfish as to ignore their I claims to special consideration. ' The spirit that marked our cheers and our flag-waving when they ( left our shores for an unknown destination should not be lacking i on their return, for of them it can i

be truly said: "Well done, thou good and faithful servants." The care of the wounded has been delegated to the hospital boards in the various districts, but it is obvious that these institutions cannot provide accommodation for

more than a small percentage, so that a large number of offers of private houses have been received and gladly accepted by the auth-

orities. These facts cause us to hope that the praiseworthy efforts now being- made will be continued and that our sick and wounded soldiers will be adequately cared and provided for. New industrial conditions for women in Great Britain have been Ijemale created by the war. It was Workers, officially reported recently that up to April 16th 47.000 women had registered for special war service, including- over 8000 who believed that they could be useful for armament work. It was stated by the Presiednt of the Board of Trade a few weeks ago that only 440 of these applicants had then been placed in employment, but the work of placing them was only just beginning. Some of the principal munition factories had informed the Government that during the next few months they would require extra women workers to the total number of 13,000. The 440 women placed in employment were distributed among a great variety of occupations. Forty-one were, assigned to agriculture.

NOTES ON THE WAR

The suggestion that Australia might offer aid in the manufacture Munitions of munitions of war has met from. with the loyal response from Australia, those capable of assisting states a Sydney paper). . A good deal of doubt exists as' to the stocks of metal available, but with the Broken Hill works at Newcastle and the Lithgow factory in full blast many thousand tons could be provided in quick time. The workshop plant is very much a matter of lathes, which could be rapidly assembled where required, and as plenty of skilled fitters are available there should be no difficulty in providing the necessary labour, Cockatoo Naval Yard could turn out shot and shell at a few days' notice, and there arc other establishments which possess the facilities for a modest output, where expert knowledge of what Is required is all that need be supplied. The vast machinery shops belonging to the Railway Department and the State Dockyard at Newcastle are fitted with modern machinery easily capable of adjustment,

and all that is necessary is for the expert to send' along specifications for the work to be satisfactorily undertaken. There may be some difficulty in manufacturing for other than British guns, as patterns of the Feneh and Russian shot and shell are not presumably available; but Australia's own ordnance stores contain a variety of projectiles, and the calibre and driving bands can be. easily copied. Metal for driving bands is obtainable in plenty, and several experts of acknowledged ability in the manufacture of projectiles are on the spot. The great hope that the Russians will b«= able to retain their hold on The half of Eastern Gnlicia, hav- = Italian ing lost, temporarily at least, Campaign, most of the remainder of the province, lies in the Italian campaign, which has already called for Austrian reinforcements. Artillery fighting on all fronts is the latest report from .lylatnnntn 1118,8(111 ? ? ? ■ Italy. The Milan statement that Gorizia, one'of the main strongholds on the Isonzo. has been captured is apparently premature, since it has not been followed by official confirmation. The Italians' operations on the north are difficult through the mountainous nature of the country, and on the eastern side progress must be firmly consolidated, or the advances made into Austrian territory might prove disastrous to Italy. The Istrian Peninsula, for example, on which Trieste and Pola stand, might easily, prove a death trap to Italian armies which should attempt to occupy it before the. armies further north had pushed well past the Isonzo river, and had occupied positions which would prevent the southern forces from being cut off. Again, unless the Trentino passes are very strongly held, a powerful Austro-German army, forcing its way down past Trent, might be able to cut off Venetia from the rest of Italy,_which would be the worst threat to Italians operating further east. "Slow and sure" must be the motto of the Italians.