Manawatu Evening Standard. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1917. "THE GREAT WORLD PERIL."

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLII, Issue 1012, 14 November 1917, Page 4

Manawatu Evening Standard. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1917. "THE GREAT WORLD PERIL."

In speaking of the greatness of the world peril against which the Allies have to contend, not merely in their own interests, but also in those of humanity generally, M. Painlevo, the French Premier gives us a timely reminder that Ave must he prepared ■for every sacrifice, if we are to attain the common ideal. Russia's parlous condition, the Italian debacle, and ' the growing insolence of the enemy in regard to peace terms, which Germany, through Von Tirpitz, declares must be exacted from the Allies, all point to the conclusion that wo have still a long and very thorny road to travel, before the victory for which wo are striving can possibly be obtained. Italy is to receive the help she needs. "By every railway and all other routes," M. Painleve assures us, "French and English soldiers with guns and ammunition are being hurried across the Alps to assist |ltaly." If Italy falls under the ham-mer-like blows which have sent her reeling out of Austrian territory far back into her own country, the Allied cause would suffer terribly, although the final result of the war would be in no way affected, for Britain, France and America retain the unconquerable will to see the war through until all danger of the German peril is removed. Those who attended the war lecture last evening had ocular prool of the sinister designs Germany had conceived against the peace of the world, long before the war started, in ,the maps which were flung upon the screen. It was not for merely peaceful trading purposes tnat Germany des.'red and . schemed to create a great Central African German Empire;, or thai'" l she set about securing access for her, 1 submarines and war ships to the heaid wafers of the Persian Gulf, through the medium of the Berlin to Bagtlad railway. England might hold the iswav for the time being in the NoriSi Sea and the Atlantic-, so long as Germany, from central positions on the East anil West African coasts and from the Persian Gulf, was in a position to strike at British trade and commerce, and to" attack, at her sweet will and pleasure ,!any Power, America included, that dared to stand in the way of her ambitions. The maps reproduced on the lima!it screen last evening, although probably n«t new to some, must have brought ihonie to the more thoughtful portion of the audience the greatness of tine peril which it is the object of Alio Allies to avert, and-render impossible', for all time. With West Africa in liVt possession, Germany could

strike at any portion of North or South America on' the Atlantic seaboard, and could hold up the world's shipping on that great international highway, brom East Africa she would command the Pacific routes and Australasian trade, and, with a base in the Persian Cult; which she intended to secure, she could strike at shipping passing through the Suez Canal to India and the Far hast, as also to Australia and New Zealand. Could she extend her authority ana possessions in Africa from East to West, as she intended doing by absorbing the Belgian and French Congo spheres, she would occupy the same position in Africa that she now holds with Austria in Europe to-day that ol the Central Power able to strike north, south, east or west.. That she was, ant j is, in deadly earnest in her .ami* Lions, and that, unless brought to her knees and taught the salutary lesson .hat the mimes she has been guilty oi .anno! be committed with impunity, nor uithoi.l adequate punishment Allowing in their train, there can be no hope of permanent peace ior the worm, is apparent to every one who has jjiven any sort of attention to the course Ol events in Europe during 111 a last three vears it does not need the reminders of a Ueventlow or a Tirpita, nor should we require the limning ol such pictures as were presented to us in th Shle" vesterday,' of Von Hmdenburg and Ludendorff scheming vigorously tor the prosecution of the war and planning to call up the boys of seventeen and the men of sixty, in order to increase the "man" power ol Germany, to assure us that we are up against a nation o desperate gamblers, who w. Ire sort to all'sorts of trickery and subterfuK* and leave no deed 61 violence una - tempted that may seem to seive the* pnrpV which, like ours, ~ ha ■merging as conqueror, trow the war.

"MADE IN GERMANY." One of Iha methods by which Germany seeks to obtain her ends js by disseminating false news concerning the progress of the war, and by sowing the seeds of dissension amongst the Allies, it is oi importance that Germany should appear to the outside word to be winning in every sphere o action The Germans, as a nation probablydu.lieve they arc winning. On papei uej seem to be>r in the Baltic, a».d .along the Eastern and Balkan fronts. they aie meeting with little or no "***"<»'' General Sa.Tail seems to be merely holdj the fort, pending the possibility "L seemingly 'further off. than ever of adequate forces being placed a is disposal to make a fmward move Italy welknow is in a bad way ana the Germans claim to have made immense captures of men and war material, etc. (probably grossly exaggerated), on the Sstro-l'talian front. The Germans beilierovdieir submarines are blotting out British and Allied shipping,, and. that the cutting off of supplies is nngmg England to her knees, and that it is only a matter of time for her M *J" k fi o Vledge her defeat, Apparently the believe, also that they maintain then stiperiority in the air. /Their .latest claim in regard to the aerial war is .that in October "the, enemy lost 244 aeroplanes, of- which 149' fell behind our fines." The. message concludes with tlie laconic assertion: "We lost Q,. Jhe trutlFof that statement is best measurr,Kbv the' actual results obtained m other months in which the Germans elaim'to haveTiad equal success. On the Westernnfront, for instance, between SSS theVeek ending-July Bth the official records .showed the losses of air machines to have been as follows:

British German Machines u Driven down Missing Desl roved out of control Mn V ' .SO ■ 133 116 Julv 2, 14 I 1

Total 167 251 117 The July record is supplemented by the British official record for the month, which places the total losses at 420f:Wt those the Germans lost 291, and the Allies 129, 89 of which were British. The British brought down 247 German machines that month, the French dS and the Belgians 9. The other day we had Mr Bonar Law's statement in regard to air raids upon open towns, which came as a surprise to everyone, because it indicated that, in the war of reprisals upon which we had been forced to enter, British machines were inflicting more damage upon Germany than German machines were doing in .Britain. The more important of the air raids organised by the Allies and Germany between the Ist of May and the Bth of July have been tabulated from' the official returns by the New York Times," upon whoso authority the figures already given are published. During that period the Allies twice raided the Sissonnes Aviation Camp, thrice raided Zeebrugge, and also - successfully raided Bethenville, Bethel, Ostend, Bruges (on four occasions), St, Denis Westrem (three times), Treves (twice), Colmar, Nieuwmunster, Liehtervelde (munitions depot), Ludwigshafen, Essen and Coblenz and the Ghistelles and Ostend aerodromes. During the same period the Germans only attempted eleven raids on Britain and France, two of which were raids by Zeppelins. In the series of raids during June and Julv on Zeebrugge. Ostend, Bruges, St. Denis Westrem, and other places, the British machines all returned safely on every occasion, although heavily bombarded" by German anti-air-craft guns, yet the enemy claimed to have brought down several of these machines. Given as she is to exaggerating the strength of her gains and the extent of enemy losses we may derive some consolation from the fact that the position for the Allies is never so black as Germany paints it.