The Star. Delivered every evening by 5 o'clock in Hawera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Opunake, Otakeho, Manutahi, Alton, Hurleyvilla, Patea, Waverley. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1915. THE WAR.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 4 September 1915, Page 4

The Star. Delivered every evening by 5 o'clock in Hawera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Opunake, Otakeho, Manutahi, Alton, Hurleyvilla, Patea, Waverley. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1915. THE WAR.

The war news ot the past Week has not given tae Allies or their irlends much satisfaction. Again it has to be admitted that the enormous force brought to bear by the Germanic combination has Jbeen successful in seriously embarfi^Biiqjg-; flamboyant boastuig of the has to be taken with, allowances for an exaggeration which is i;'a dlstmgu:^ing note of ; their commßnicatioisy hut even when ,such; allowances h^^ been mfideJthe,sweeping character of their advance cannot be denied, nor • can its importance be ignored. Compelling evidence of the feeling in England i« afforded by statements such, as that made by Sir Leo Chiozza Money: as to the large captures made, and that of Lord Milner, who .admits that tte Russian power is or seeiris to be; : temporarily broken,v;l^ present attack on Russia is; a strong justification of 'S%h»\ critjcwin ; ;>bfv^er^ many's original war-making < scheme. It has been pointed put by critics that if Germany had confined * her warmaking to Russia, leaving France and Belgium alone, she would almost certainly have escaped embroilment with England, and if France had taken the aggressive on behalf of her ally Russia ehe would ,have been1 easily contained on the mountainous south-east-ern frontier, and could not have attacked through, Belgium, except At the risk of becoming a treaty-breaking Power, and making it impossible for England to come in. It is quite evident that Russia was so ill-prepared that she would have been unable to stand against the German-Auatrian combination, and that before long Germany might have compelled her to make peace, and then have been ready to deal with France. But, fortunately for the present Allies, Germany made the cardinal mistake of provoking the strong alliance with which she is now confronted, and 'has been so weakened by her attacks alternately west and ea3t that, she has lost much of the superiority of force with which she opened the ball. The present position of affairs is not by any means all that we could wish, but it certainly might have been a great deal worse if Germany had been as wise politically as she is strong militarily.

But despite the reverses which the Russians have had to suffer, largely owning to their shortness of munitions arising primarily from unpreparedness, and secondly to their isolation, their lack of access to the sea, and to sources of supplies, their campaigns of both attack and defence have wrought great wastage to the Germanic combination. On the other hand the national spirit has been so aroused, the crisis is so serious as regards the whole future of Russia in relation to the Slavonic ideal in respect alike of race and religion, the two greatest forces in any nation, that there is not a whimper over the present difficult situation, nor any thought of doing other than reject peace overtures as •unworthy of discussion. So long as this position remains the realised fruits of German successes must be small as affecting the whole, situation. The Germanic combination must go on and if the positive results are as ineffective as one believes, and certainly hopes, Will the campaign be of gre«it advantage P The enemy cannot let go, cannot retire without forfeiting all the political advantages of a terribly expensive movement, and the further he goes forward with an oncoming winter the greater/ his difficulties. Unless there is some decisive achievement within the next few weeks to crown the success of Germany's military policy in the east the difficulty of her general situation must be very serious.

The following extract is from an article in the Westminster Gazette. It appeared several weeks ago, and admittedly In the interim the position in the east has not improved from our point of view, but nevertheless the general arguments of the writer are not materially affected. It says: "In the war of peoples, the war which ultimately will be decided by numbers and material resources, Russia has enermous advantages, if her people ; are determined and united. She can- ! not be seriously injured by any attack on her western frontier; she has the | peculiar power of drawing victory out of defeat, by challenging her enemy to tasks which he cannot finally achieve but must . accept, whatever loss and cost they may inflict upon himself. By long tradition she has acquired .the habit of waging a kind of warfare in which boundaries are of no account, and of pursuing strategical aims regardless of the moral or political effect of ceding territory or evacuating towns. In the present war she has most honorably taken the aggressive in order to co-operate with her Allies in the west when her own natural inclination would have been to reserve her .strength and lure 'the enemy on to her own ground. By so doing she has 'exposed herself to -the thrust of the great .phalanx which Germany and Austria Ha<i pfep&red for the spring of this year. She has suffered accordingly, but at the same time she has inflicted losses on the enemy which, if the phalanx should eventualy come west, will render the French and British task so much the more manageable. For all this and for the admirable fortitude and composure with which she now rallies her forces and calls upon her people for renewed efforts we owe her thanks and sympathy."

/TRf-o^afes -^l^^^gre^t^Mt^fices^ theref ;|«crifices wliich^ar^b|o s ugh^^home^ fj£? pwlin^ this district, tod '"if" Nteiir* 2Jea- r ,tf*nd generally^ 'ty almost every casualty ■liatissned,^^t^»n' laflyVetaecess would abundantly* justify "and glorify tne Sacrifices. Victory %outtl 'hate very, great consequences. May it be achietedr In the west lately there has Happened nothing dramatic, nothing calculated to be decisive, but there are indications that the .comparative quietude is likely to be broken before long. The recent conference between Kitchener,Joffre and French has been followed by an extension of the British' front, and probably it necessary ■:%& permit:;:^;.;th^':ippei^oiiii^ of augmented British, forces, «nd th* redjuk^ionv and strengthening of the' tremendously long front which tlw»: French i^rOops; haVe so gallantly maintained. The slackening of the German submarine campaign <>f | piracy fandl murder, whether ,it be that Germany wishes to placate America' or that, the attack is weakening for want of boats or lack of sufficient compensating naval advantage, i^w'elcbme: ' ■■■''."■■'■" ■ ■ ■"' .*..•■■ -■ " • ■-. -:"-: ■■• : ■■' ■ • ■■'•■•■ ■ , ...

Generally ; the whole position - v iis such''Vas;;,;to£'jc^'; ill tbje; capability,; and::; energy \i of v r\>ur peo^ pie,, to necessitate hard liyinif, hard fighting^ economy, resolution an^;^ durance, and withal calm confidence in the ultimate -result. "KitchenerV has never said the^ war would last ten months, or days, or ten years," one who knows him remarked recently. "He has simply said—and it is typical of. him—'We are going to beat the Germans.' " -It is typical, too, of the nation, let us hope. It means no boasting, no music-hall Jingoism, no, underrating Of the great task before the Allies, but an unconquerable determination that the Überties of Europe shall not be submerged beneath a.German lldod.