FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1916. ENEMY FOOD SHORTAGE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXII, Issue LXXII, 13 October 1916, Page 4

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1916. ENEMY FOOD SHORTAGE.

Germany and Austria have held out well in the matter of .food for their peoples, but the British Navy's great achievement in bottling up not only their warships, but their mercantile marine, and rigidly restricting if not wholly preventing trade in contraband, has compelled them to depend almost c entirely on their own domestic supplies and resources, and these are now at la-st proving critically insufficient under the pressure of the war. The consequent conditions are so many conquering battalions for the Allies, themselves organisers and .winners of victories on sea and land. All this means the steady approach of Germany's ultimate defeat, though of all the conditions „ and events that tell more and more against her, insufficient food within her own borders, and the borders of her allies, is probably the most formidable. It is true that Mr Cui'tin, an American journalist, who is the latest writer on the subject with respect to Germany, does not disclose an entirely desperate situation. He says that Austria-Hungary is without butter, but that there is war-bread, and acorn coffee, sweetened with saccharine, and that men of the army and navy have plenty, though the reserves and Landsturm men are en short commons. The same writer's account of the state of things in Germany has some touches of the comic in it, especially when he says that such- imported articles as chocolate, Dutch cheese and Scotch whisky are plentiful, though the free consumption of these may lead to somewhat tragical results for the consumers. -Anyway, Mr Curtih states that generally the whole nation is growing thinner, and that now the most acceptable presents amongst friends are gifts of food. The situation disclosed by these and other similar particulars may not be dispressingly distressful to the Germans, but it certainly shuts out cheerfulness from the prospects before them; in fact, it indicates the imminence of a very sad future. Then things are very much worse in Hungary, Germany's ally. Speaking in the Hungarian Diet of conditions that have developed since the time of Mr Curtin's visit, Count Karolyi has just been showing that while the cost of living for a family of five in Germany has increased during ihe war by 95 per cent., the increase in Hungary has been more than twice as much—2lß per cent. Then he is reported as saying in this connection: ''We shall probably be forced to make peace through lack of nourishment. It is vain to conquer provinces and obtain military advantages if our population has nothing to eat. If -famine forces us into peace it will be shameful and disastrous." Here the Hun.garian statesman describes a state of things which, however melancholy for him and his countrymen and their German allies, is certainly full of promise for Britain and her friends. Then, after all, while the Hungarians are running out of food supplies, they and the Austrians are certainly not conquering provinces and obtaining military advantages, notwithstanding Count Karolyi's hypothesis to that effect, while, on a large general view, they and their friends are clearly on the losing side. In the House of Commons on Wednesday Mr Asquith showed that the Allies have recently ad-r vanced seven, miles on a front of nine miles on the Somme, and all gains have been held; that '■ the enemy's losses have been of the heaviest, and they had practically abandoned the attack on Verdun; while the total Allied captures on the Somme number 60,474 prisoners, 304 guns, and 1030 machine guns. Then real headway is being made in Mesopotamia despite difficulties, and the health of the troops is good; besides, the Allies' offensive from Salonika has (says Mr Asquith) met with considerable success, and they are within eight miles of Monastir; while the Anglo-Belgians have occupied the whole coastline of German East Africa, the complete conquest of , which, is now only a matter of time. In the Balkans a tremendous drama is in pi-ogress, with prospects substantially favorable To the Allies. Already Roumania's invasion of Transylvania has cut off a source of large supplies from Austi'ia-Hungary, and thwarted Germany's hope of obtaining thence cattle, grain, hides and oil during the approaching winter. This is one of the reasons why Hungary is now in such a sorry plight, and unless what has been gained by lloumania is lost the enemy will still be deprived of important resources on which he had counted in his plan of campaign.