NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15767, 16 November 1914, Page 6

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

LEAGUE OF EUROPE. "A EuHorE reorganised, with the smallest possible legacy of bitterness and hatred will be a Europe ripe for union," says Professor G. L. Dickinson in the Labour Leader. "Wo must aim at a permanent League of Europe which will control and limit national armaments, while leaving every nation free to accomplish in independence its own internal development. Utopian as this idea may sound, it would, I believe, be possible to realise it at the peace if public ppinion in all countries can be effectively brought to bear. And if it is not done at the peace it may be too late, for then every nation will be left free to arm against every other, and the miserable circle of suspicion and fear, culminating in war, may be renewed again. To stop a competition of armaments is the first condition of peace, and I see no way of doing that short of a League of Europe." THE RUSSIAN SOLDIER. To show the sincerity of Russia's efforts to reorganise her armies after tee inglorious Manchurian campaign, it may be said that two reforms adopted were the banish-' ment of vodka—Russian whisky— the introduction of English gomes. Leading English footballers were engaged to teach the troops how to play, and other English games spread widely through the army. Germany long ago copied our games, and became very adept at them, too. Frenchmen have for many years been tiring to cultivate a passion for sport, and' English games have been a s great a fashion as Euglwh clothes. It is worth remembering that the Continental nations still regard the Englishman as their beau ideal and frankly try to reach his pitch of manhood by adopting his habits. The physique of officers and men of the Russian Army is better than that of the Germans. The Russian peasant has colossal powers of endurance, and is accustomed to travel enormous distances on foot. He has never been much pampered by civilisation. He likes, too, much alcohol, is an inordinate smoker of coarse cigarette tobacco, but when he can get neither— as in a war campaign—ho is affected by neither. An ambitious military genius, looking round for men to conquer the world, would probably ask for nothing better as raw material than the Russians.

KRUPP, KAISER, JUNKER. " I have visions of a really chastened Germany, of a Germany which has sloughed all this wicked nonsense, which has found her better self again and which is once more that ' deep, patient Germany,' " says Sir Conan Doyle in the Daily Chronicle. " She never can be now what she could so easily have been. She could have continued indefinitely to extend from Poland to the Vosges, one vast community, honoured by all for industry and for learning, with a huge commerce, a happy, peaceful, prosperous population, and a colonial system which, if smaller than that of nations which were centuries older in the field, would at least be remarkable for so short a time. None of these things would the world have grudged her, and in the future as in the past she would have found in the British Dominions and in Great Britain herself an entry for her products as free as if she were herself part of the Empire. The work of 60 years will bo destroyed. But will not the spiritual Germany be the stronger and better? We cannot say. We can but hope and wait and wonder. What is sure is that the real Germany, of whom Carlyle spoke, can never be destroyed. Nor would we desire it. Our wrath is not against Germany, but against that Krupp-Kaisor-Junker combination which has brought her to such a deadly pass.'' LONDON'S AERIAL DEFENCE. Tests made over London at night have indicated that searchlights can detect a Zeppelin even in foggy weather. It was the first fogey night of the winter, not a thick pea. soup fog such as November and December bring, but a very marked fog. The British airship which has been making experimental flights over London by day and by night made, her appearance at dusk and sailed over the city for several hours. Searchlights were trained from several strategic points, and they managed to follow her wherever she went. Much of the time there were two shafts playing upon Ihe big, brown, sausage-shaped craft, and they kept her in sight when sho dropped down near to the roofs of high buildings and followed her upward course and her sudden turns and windings. Thousands of persons were out in the streets gazing upon the spectacle. It has been believed that the Zeppelins will choose a foggy day for a raid on London, if they attempt such a hazardous exploit, just a 6 the British flying men selected a thick mist for their flights across Belgium into

[Germany, when bombs were dropped on I Dusseldorf. Every preparation has been made to give a warm welcome to the Zeppelins if they invade English air. The London searchlights have swept the heavens constantly at night for the past few weeks. Aeroplanes fully equipped for fighting are kept in reserve and could be launched like fire engines on the stroke of the bell if an alarm of an approaching Zeppelin were sent out.