SYDNEY SUN MESSAGES

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 17 March 1915, Page 5

SYDNEY SUN MESSAGES

FASHION .&KE> HARD TIMES

PROLONGAMfiM V QF THE WAR.

GERMANY HAS .NOTHING TO GAIN

DECISIVE HOUR JFOR ITALY

APPROACHING

(Received March 17,. 8.30 a.m.)

LONDON, March 16.

A controversy is raging over the somersault in fashion which decrees a fuller skirt. A correspondent urges that women an these .anxious times deserve the consolation of new dresses; others declare .that drastic changes are cruel to women of .small incomes who are unable to ;buy new clothes, and are therefore compelled to continue tight skirts sand advertise their poverty. The new fashion will only be benefiting dressmakers. Paris says the age of the ankles will decide the length of the skirt, which slim-ankled maidens are wearing short. A woman must look supple. With loose waist, free chest, and properly balanced footwear she ought to achieve the movements of a Diana. The ungraceful walk caused by tight skirts has not yet departed.

The Times' ' military correspondent says that if the submarine blockade proves practically valueless as a means of coercing England, and if the Austro-German eastern offensive fails, the enemy must admit that prolongation of the war will be without object, since it will make Germany's situation worse instead of better. The German navy has lost more tonnage than ours, and we are therefore in a relatively better situation than in August. The Germans would like to discuss terms before their military machine begins to wear out and while still in possession of Belguim and West Poland, and with a nominally unbeaten fleet.

- The Giornale d'ltalia in a semiofficial article on the problems of neutrality says that Italy must, if necessary, sacrifice blood and money. The people must not cradle themselves in an illusion that neutrality can be prolonged indefinitely, and must be prepared for- the decisive hour, making Italy greater, stronger, and happier, which is inevitably approaching.