NOTES ON THE WAR.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17076, 27 January 1916, Page 6

NOTES ON THE WAR.

The explosion in a munitions factory at. Buffalo adds another to the already long list of “accidents” that have_ occurred in munition works in the United States since the outbreak of the European war. The serious explosions commenced almost as soon as the Allied Governments had entered into contracts with American firms. A Dupont explosives store at Pompton, New Jcr<*y, was blown up before the end of August. 1914. This was almost the only affair of consequence for several months, the explanation being that, contrarv to the current opinion, American firms were not at that time manufacturing munitions for the Allies on any extensive scale. The Allies bought up what stocks they could immediately secure, and it is stated that the sto.es destroyed at Pompton had actually been acquired by one of the belligerents. But it was not for several months that the business was organised in America on a really big scale. Plants bad to be laid down or converted before that could happen, and in the early stages of the war the principal service that America was able to render to Britain was not. in the supply of munitions and explosives, but in the supply of machines and machine

tools for the equipment of factories in the Mother Country.

Ail elaborate list of outrages and “accidents” perpetrated in America was compiled hy the New York “ World ” at tho end of October. This list shows that from the beginning of last year not a month passed without a tiro or an explosion- or a bomb outrage in a factory working under contract with tho Allied Governments. The talo is sufficiently striking to be quoted:— January IS—Roebling chain plant, Trenton, N.J.; loss 1,500,000 dollars; due to bomb; was making goons for the Allies. February 13 —-Dupont powder shop, Haskol-l, N.J.; one hurt. March (s—-Dupont powder shop, Haskell, N.J.; five killed. April I—Equitable powder plant, Alton, 111.; five killed. April 30—Dupont powder mixer, Carney’s Point. May 12—Anderson gun cotton storehouse, AYalliiigton, N.J •; three killed. May 15—Dupont powder still-house, Carney’s Point. June 20—Dupont powder mill, A\ ayne, N.J. July 13— United Safety powder mill, Jelfersontown, Ivy.; three r.illed. July 13—Part of Dupont powder plant, Carney’s Point, N.J.; ono killed, three hurt. August 16-—Aetna powder mill, Sinnamahoning, Pa.; five killed. August- 29—Part of Dupont powder mill at Wilmington, Del.; two killed. August 31--Dynamite-laden train derailed and blown up near Pinole, Cal.; three killed. August 31—Bomb explodes at, door of M. F. Combs at Depew, N.Y.; superintendent of a plant in erection to make aeroplanes for the Allies. September I—Copper-melting tank explodes at National Conduit and Cable Shell plant, Hastings, N.Y.; six hurt. September 29—Part of Dupont powder plant, Haskell, N.J.; four killed. October I—Part of Dupont powder plant, Pompton, N.J.; one- killed. October 6—Aetna powder plant, Emporium, Pn.; 285,000 pounds of explosives destroyed; four killed, seven hurt. October 12—Part of Dupont powder plant, Pompton, N.J.; seven burned. This list of outrages and accidents on land may bo supplemented by a list of fires and bomb explosions on ships carrying goods for tho Allies: — August 30, 1914—Alfred Nobel; cotton cargo takes fire at sea. September 26—Cedric; fire in hold just after vessel leaves New York. October 17—Dagsid ; on fire at pier on East River. November 9—Rembrandt; cotton cargo afire; thought to bo due to bomb put in hold at New York. January 29, 1915—Preston; cotton cargo partly burned. ' March 21—Clan M/Kellor; cotton cargo from the United States afire at Genoa. March 31—San Guglielmo; cotton cargo from the United States afire . at Genoa. April 22—Devon City; sugar oargo fired by bomb. April 29—Erne; cargo afire. May S—Banksdale, from Now York; bomb found in cargo in hold at Havre. June 10—Kirkeswnld, from New York; nine bombs found in cargo in hold at Marseilles. July 4 —Minnehaha ; fired at sea by bombs put in ship at Now York. Julv 24—Cragside; fired at pier in New ' York. July 30—Ivnitsford; fired at pier in Brooklyn. September 13—Sant’ Anna, from Now York; afire at sea; laden with Italian reservists; convoyed to Azores. September 18- -Atbinai. from Brooklyn ; burned at sea; was carrying food supplies for tho Allies. Tho later news regarding the attempted German attack .at Nieuport comes from enemy sources. According to the Berlin communique, the tower of the cathedral at N ion port, which had' been used as an observation post by the French troops, was destroyed. Candour compels the admission that the loss is not - irreparable from the artistic point of view, at least according to the views of people who profess to be able to judge. Th© so-called cathedral is a Gothic church of the fifteenth century. The massive tower was ad'ded, it seems, in the seventeenth century, and' the interior decorations were made at various times by various artists. The roof is a modern one of timber, the pulpit is Gothic, the stalls Renaissance and the altar style is undefined, which means, doubtless, that it has no special merit. Nieuport, in fact, lias few attractions for the lover of medieval art. There is, or was, a dignified Gothic cloth hall in, the main square, and at one end of the main street is the ruin of the Templars’ Tower, which was destroyed as long ago as 1383. How much of Nieuport has escaped destruction is not clear. Tho town has suffered bom'bardment from time to time, but apparently the correspondents have not thought the ruins worth description.

The battle in Artois, in which the Germans secured a footing in the Allied trenches east of Neuville-St Vaast, seems ':o have been a very local fight, the original attack having been made on a front of little more than a mile, on the Irens road close to Thelus. ’Die action would have no particular importance except as the prelude, to a. more serious effort, hut the accounts do not suggest that (he enemy had any large effort 'n preparation. Their first attack seems to have been stopped at the outset, but a later effort was more successful. These local actions are never purposeless though the bare reports may give the rend'er the impression, that they are simply an ordinary incident of the trench warfare, and it may be inferred, in the absence of further information, that the enemy was perhaps endeavouring to disturb an Allied movement that he knew to be in progress, possibly the withdrawal of a division from the trenches and the substitution of fresh troops.

There is a. Turkish report now concerning the position on tlm Tigris. According to the enemy. General Aylmer was fighting thirty-five miles east of Kut-el-Amara, but this must he a mistake. All the British reports show that the relief column has reached the Turkish entrenched position six or seven miles cast of Kut, and there is no reason to suppose that this is not the correct statement of the position. The Turks also claim the defeat of i British force, at Korna, or Kurna. The assumption is that Arabs have been attacking patrols down the. river at the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates, but this idea is founded on the supposition that the Korna mentioned' is the one shown on most of the maps.

* f There may be another river village or the same name, and, as the available information is extremely scanty, it is impossible to say where the alleged battle was fought, or what basis of fact there mav be for the enemy’s claim.