Grey River Argus and Blackball News.

Grey River Argus, 21 October 1915, Page 4

Grey River Argus and Blackball News.

Delivered a'very morning*- tn GreymouVh " Kumar*, Hokitika, Dobnon, Wallaend, Taylor ville, Brnnnartou, Sfcillwator. Ngahere, Blackball, Nelson Creek, Ahanrn, Ikamataa, Wainta* Eeofton, Cronodun, Kir auga, Danollie, Cobden, Baxtei's, Kokiri, ?alara, Kaimata. Aratika, Eotuku, Moana, Burn, Ta JCinga, Botomann' Foeraa, I bonnie, Jaokiosi and ptira. . ' ■ ' . '■■."• ■ ' ■ I

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21st, 1915. The fearful blundering in. the ! Dardanelles is ndw pcming to light,, and as usual people are looking* round for someone who can be made to shoulder the blame- The loss of well over a hundred thousand^men "in the course of a few months and without any-substan- ; tial grains being achieved, requires some explanation. It does not ' therefore, .come .as a great sirr- i iprise to hear that General Sir i lan Hamilton who was in command of the Alied troops had been ] ordered to report himself in Eng- >

land, and that a fresh conmiandoi' had been appointed. We may be wrong 1 in suggesting that General Sir lan Hamilton has been blamed fo rthe failure of the Allies •to occupy Constantinople, 'mt at first blush it would seem .hut a brave officer and skilful tactician, whose work was spoken of in terms of the highest praise by the late Lord Eoberts had found a grave for a brilliant career in the little peninsula where lie the bodies of so many gal- : lant British soldiers. The game of war is a stern master, and in it we are very prone to forget past achievements and to take account only of immediate failures. We are afraid vthat the invention of telegraphy has not been an unmixed blessing, for our Admirals and Generals are never out of touch Avith the Admiralty or # the War Office. If our commanders were allowed to act more on their initiative there would be less failures to be chronicled. Nelson, on one occasion, disregarded the signals of his superior officer, who was outside of the fighting line, and he continued fighting and won through. He got over the difficulty that might arise through disregarding his superiors' orders by saying that he had not seen the signals- — he had placed the telescope to his blind eye when his attention was called to the signal by his own officers. The present, war has upset very many old traditions of warfare. The' Germans had great faith in their fighting machine, which was regarded as the most perfect engine of warfare that the mind of man had ever devised. When put to the test of actual experi-. ence it has been found to be no better than the British or French "contemptible little army" proved more than a match for the Huns. Napoleon said that God fought on the side of the greatest butalions. That is no longer the case, and if Napoleon had been speaking of the present war he would have said" that God fights on the side with the biggest supply of shells and guns. One man in a trench behind a machine gun is as good as three armed with-or-dinary rifles. It is not ' Germany's perfectly organised army that has been the secret of her successes so far. The true cause is her splendidly organised industrial forces. Germany has .within her- borders the largest supplies of iron and coal, and her factories turn out very large quantities of pig iron and steel. In addition to her own resources in coal and iron Germany has now control oi the iron and coal mines in Belgium and in two thirds of France, and her available resources in these materials ane to those, of the Quadruple Ejntente in the proportion of three to two. It is needless, therefore, for us to -hope for a shortage of guns and ammunition on the part of the Central Powers. Through the marvellous manner in which. their industries have been organised Austro-Gerniany is a self contained Empire of 120,000,000 souls. The greatest danger that the German have to face is internal troubles arising from the e\ - or increasing burden of taxation, grinding down, the people. Socialism has made wonderful advances in Germany, and it has been. said that the Junkres organised the present war to crush Socialism by arousing in the people the •.^military, spirit. This may 'succeed tor a tinie,. but when the people begin to feel the pressure of taxation and commence to ask themselves what they have gained by this fearful sacrifice -of human life a reaction will set in that will drive people to the opposite extreme and Socialism will then become all powerful, and may be the means of overthrowing the Kaiser and the incubus of Prussia nmilitarism that has held the German people in its grip for so long. Germany has staked every thing on the Avar, but she erred seriously in her calculations. The Teutons were told that the war would be quickly ended and that they would be back in their homes by Christmas. They were also told that if Britain intervened there would be a rebelion ill Ireland, a mutiny in India and a revolt in South Africa. All this failed to come to pass, and Britain is even now swelling her ranks by voluntary drafts of the prospective mutineers. We have also made serious miscalculations, and the fruits of these are now being reaped in the Dardanelles and elsewhere. A British military expert says that we must add three million' men to our present- army, ■ and warns us that if we do not do that disaster will follow." Those of our young men who, are still holding back should ... consider what this means. "Let them read the eloquent appeal' made by-Mr. Massey, and. if they arenot tlten convinced that their proper place is in the fighting line, • then we consider that they are not fit to be called Britons. •