NOTES ON THE WAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15700, 29 August 1914, Page 6

NOTES ON THE WAR.

FRENCH MINISTER FOR WAR, The new French Minister fw War, M. Miilerand, has succeeded probably moro than any other French Minister in recent times, in popularising the army. He is a Socialist, and the German Emperor once wrote on tho margin of a report of one of bis speeches, " Oh, that wo had such Socialists here." Prince Bulow read both tlio report and tho Emperor's commcnt in tho Reichstag. M. Miilerand was Minister for War during the'whole of 1912, but resigned in January, 1913, owing to a difference with tho Ministry over an appointment ho gave to Colonel Paty de Clam, which revived the Dreyfus case. He was the first Socialist to accept office in France, when he became Minister for Comnierco under M. WaldeckRosseau. During his previous term of office at tho Ministry of War, he did a great deal to increase the confidonco of the public in the army. Some people eroffed at his inauguration of military tattoos in the streets of Paris, but they nevertheless served to keep the army in tho public eye, and were interpreted as part of tho new spirit in France. A few months ago M. Miilerand gave expression to that spirit in a stirring speech at Belfort, in which lie referred to tho heroic memories of 1870 associated with tlio fiiego of that- town, as "a trumpet blast that appealed to the sense of sacrifice and of duty." After describing tho three vears' s'fervice law as a necessity of the European balance of power, ho declared that the tombs of tlio heroes who had fallen in this corner of French Alsace were a pledge that France would never consent to sign her own abdication.

GERMAN FRONTIER FORTS. Tho Russian invasion of East Prussia, recalls one of the most recent of Germany's prosecutions for betrayal of niili t-a.iv eccrots. In tho middle of July a Gorman sergeant named Polil was sentenced to 15 years' penal servitude and expulsion from the army for soiling to Russian plans of frontier forts. At the beginning of this year Pohl gi\en a, post as clerk in" the. First Engineers Inspection, to which are subordinate the fortress inspection of Konigsborg and the fortress inspection of Kid. Ho lind fallen heavily into debt, and desired a largo sum of money in order to marry. In those straits ho is said to have approached Colonel Basaroff, the Russian Military Attache in Berlin. The Russian officer offered him £\ per fortress plan. Polil gave him ilio plans of Pillau and Boven. Pillau is a fortified post west ol Konigsborg, guarding the entrance through tho Frischo Ndming from Danzig Bay into tho Frischo Ilaff. It is a kind of outpost of Konigsborg. Boyon is a small fortified post in tho province of East Prussia, sonio 30 miles from tho Russian frontier. Pohn recoived £25. Ho then, it is paid, offered Colonel Basaroff sketches inferring t.o Borkum and Heligoland. He had mado eopiea of these sketches and had arranged to have another meeting with Colonel Baewolf when he tvas suddenly wrested

RUSSIA'S MILITARY ACTIVITY. Of all tho armies at present, in the field, least is known about that of Russia. Soiuo idea, however, of its proportion, and of its superiority over that of previous years may bo gathered from a consideration of tho expenditure duving 1914, as compared with that during 1913. Tho expenditure of tho Ministry of War for 1913 wn.s distributed under nine heads; in 1914 the addition of the Quartermaster-General's Department, charged with the quartering, etc., of troops not stationed in fortresses, increased tho heads to 10. The total disbursements for 1913 were £55.150,000: for 1914 they were tabulated at nearly £60,000,000. Tho ordinary expenditure for 1914 is £4.790,000 more than in 1913. The increase was thus accounted for: Construction of barracks, £1,050,000; engineer and artillery school buildings, £290/<00; other military schools, £360.000; transport of troops and freight, £460,000; engineering plant, £200,000 ; pay of troops, £580,000 ; pay to re-enlisted soldiers and families, £220,000; rations, £740,000; equipment, £70.000; reserve and militia exercises, £410,000; remounts, £100,000. The it-cm "Maintenance of troops," which was £38,246,700 in 1913, stands at £40,099,409 this year.

GERMAN NEW GUINEA It is interesting to recall at tho present juncture hovr the German? became possessed of German Now Guinea. In the early eighties of List century all >' ew Guinea, excopt the Dutch portion, war, a sort of no man's land, although British attempts to coloniso it had been made. Australians naturally regarded this unappropriated country as destined to become part of tho British Empire. Indeed, in 1883 Sir Thomas Mcllwraith, then Premier of Queensland, formally annexed tho greater part of it, but his act was repudiated by tho Imperial Government. The following year, however, as is told in Lord Esmond Fitzmaurico's Life of Earl Granville, the Gladstone Cabinet decided to proclaim a protectorate over the whole of tho island save the western end, already occupied by the Dutch. Bismarck had then entered upon his later policy of colonial expansion, and rumours of possible German opposition led Lord Derby, Secretary for the Colonies, and Lord Granville, Foreign Secretary, to delay the Cabinet decision by limiting the area of annexation. Extreme deference was shown to Germany, and negotiations for the settlement of the question were being carried on at Berlin, when suddenly the British Government learnt to its dismay that Germany had annexed tlm whole New Guinea coast down to the Gulf of Huon, together with adjacent islands, Tliiib the territory was secured by Germany through a breach of faith.