MODERN WARFARE.

Grey River Argus, 7 August 1915, Page 2

MODERN WARFARE.

DELUSIONS SHATTERED,

WELLINGTON, August 5. "I believed before the war," writes a New Zealand, soldier, "that it would be at a distance that engagements would be fought, but here we have trendies, sometimes 50 yards, sometimes even as close as 10 yards or 15 yards apart, and with this comes the revival of hand-grenades. The next delusion was the fearful hardships to be endured. In the type of action <is waged here, everything possible in reason for our comfort is done. We frequently have fresh meat, and now we are getting, fresh bread, the first, being given to uf yesterday, while new boots and clothes are supplied as required. It certainly is an eye-opener in the matter of Organisation. Of course, for the first few days, and until the machine could work, things were pretty rough. Water has to be brought here, as there are no springs or natural sources of supply, so tank steamers are sent to meet the necessity. Even, parcel and paper mails reach us all right, but you can have no idea how short we are of magazines and other reading matter."

PRAYERS FOR SPEEDY AND COMPLETE RECOVERY.

The following letter has been sent by] his Graco Archbishop Redwood to the clergy of his Archdiocese : — Rev. Dear Father, — Sunday, August Bth has been chosen as Intercession Day in this Dominion, on; account of the great European Avar. Accordingly, we enjoin t^at, in all the churches and publiv? oratories of the Archdiocese, tfce last Mass shall be celebrated for the intentions of the conflict, n;.moly, that the gracious and merciful. Almighty may. vouchsafe to gr< nt to the brave and heroic armies of the Allies a speedy and complate victory. Also at Benediction, after the O Salutaris, the Litany of the Blessed Virgin shall be cither tccvited or sung. The clergy are exhorted to put the matter forcibly before their congregation in order to stimulate their piety, patriotism and fervour*. Yours faithfully in Christ. . FRANCIS REDWOOD. S.M.. Archbishop of Wellington.

The Archbishop preached a powerful and impressive sermon in the Basilica on Sunday, in the course of which he said : — "Now, this is a struggle that must be followed up -to the bitter end. It must be a fight to a finish. Either the German Empire or the British Empire must go down. J .. . If anything could prove that this war was not brought about by England and France it would be the fact of their unpreparedness. There was no better proof of the fact that the war was brought about by Germany than the fact that she was fully prepared." His Grace went on to suggest that the war had been allowed by Almighty God in order to flagellate those nations which had neglected or broken His laws, and in doing so used one nai tion as His instrument, but after that flagellation had ceased we could only hope that full retribution would be demanded for the inhuman methods 1 adopted by His instruments. ''Christianity is at stake," he went on to say. "Truth is at stoke. True civilisation is at stake ; and we have to contend for the victory on the side of right, on the side of truth, on the side of justice, and on the side of civilisation. This war is the greatest crisis that has ever happened in the history of the British Empire, and we must use all our pow-ers to crush our mighty | enemy. We must recoil from no sacrifice," and his Grace added a fervent appeal to Catholics to pray for the success of the Empire's -arras. ""Remember," he said, "that they are fighting for you that they are fighting for freedom, your liberty, your prosperity. Pray not only for those who fight, but for those who have fallen. No matter how negligent they have been in other matters, they made the great sacrifice."