PROGRESS OF THE WAR

New Zealand Times, Volume XLI, Issue 9256, 25 January 1916, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

The Montenegrin news' continues, mixed, The only important item, chronicles the fact that the German newspapers are letting the publicdown gently about the alleged capitulation of Montenegro. One item explains the (defeat at Mount Lovchen, by referring to the torpedoing of the Brindisi with' munitions arid 400 Montenegrins on board, besides a few American passengers, all of whom perished. Tins is evidently wlTat King Nicholas referred to when ho said that the .enemy .torpedoed his supply ships. ...It is legitimate ground of complaint that the Allied navies did not take better care. That they can take care effectively is proved .by the* American Consul’s state-; mont that the enemy’s submarines did their best to torpedo the'23oo Serbian women and children he sent away -in Italian ships. The navies were evidently on the alert, and to that fact those poor people owe their lives.

In this connection it is curious that Turkey admits responsibility for the sinking of the Persia. That' can only mean that the submarine in question was manned and officered by Germans andiflew the' Turkish ■ flagi - i-I’bt ;1 the Turks have no submarine service. !Wt} the' claim that tire Turks did the sinking ? Not ■ because the Germans are ashamed of the sinking. They are incapable of that.feeling... Did they npt do some useless killing with, an aeroplane in Kent yesterday ? The object is to shunt the American remonstrances in the case of the Persia - .© ll to the Turks.

The Serbian Prime Minister is full of confidence, /as appears from an interview to-day. But she would inspire more confidence if, he could show that the Serbian-.armies would take less than the six months assigned in another message. This tone is a, : great contrast to that of King Constantino, who is reported, as still grumbling at the high-handedness of the Allies. But as a French journal is careful to point out, the Allies are. ia Greece by the Greek invitation, and the Greeks have allowed . German submarines to have baser in Greek waters. It was. from such” bases that the submarines • went forth which sank the Persia and the Ancona. The King may feel disappointed that the Allies, refusing to be hoodwinked.'raided these submarine bases, and broke up the 1 German establishn ents that were m full swing. Ho was accustomed to the polite gentlemen who took his word as a matter of curse for everything, and ho does not like the , people who take care; of themselves and root out the enemy wherever they find him - . This whining about the high-handedness of the Allies is the host proof of the double dealing tbat was going on.

No doubt the landing at Salonika was permittod"by Venizelos,,who thereby stole a march on the King, and, in fact; made his pro-German policy absolutely impossible. .Unable, after he got the upper hand of Vehizelos, Ito force the retreat, of the Allies from Salonika; the King arranged to stab them in the back when the fighting began, and when that amiable plan was frustrated by the superior force and brain power of the Allies, he arranged to give advantages to the enemy. Here, again, he has been frustrated, and ho whimpers prodigiously. But ho cannot complain. Had he been true to the Serbian treaty he would have had nothing to complain about. There is still no word, of the enemy’s threatened attack on Salonika, Ferdinand’s acclaim of .the Kaiser as the great, benevolent. Caesar scattering benefits notwithstanding. The only nows from the Imperially-favoured region to-day is that tiro Bulgarian army complains that the magniloquence of the Sovereigns is not 'Solid enough for food. It would have preferred bread considerably. We begin to understand - why that attack does not come off. • * ' • We are still getting scraps of details about the Gallipoli evacuation, the wonderful generalship, and the rest of *it. It was a wonderful operation, creditable to the skill of the men who

conceived it and the nerve of the men who carried it out. But the British Empire has had enough of Gallipoli. The simple truth Is that the evacuation was bad- for British prestige and quite contrary to the British tradition which is of perseverance to the end with anything begun. -Moreover, the history of the siege of the Gallipoli positions shows that we established an ascendancy. The probability is that if sufficient force had been sent in reinforcements the Turks would have yield, ed. One is almost tempted to think that the Turks were glad enopgh to see the last, of the Allies, and .perhaps even shrank from interfering with the evacuation, knowing that . the desperate, resistance, they would - have encountered would have inflicted enormous losses on them. That, of course, it is impossible to believe, for as the armies were getting away by degrees a Turkish assault must, with a docent selection of the time, have swept the board. Nothing could have stopped such an assault after half the men had got away. Therefore, it is quite : clear that the Turks Could nbt have had any inkling dT what was ' going on. But the whole subject is distasteful. The .jnilitary reasons for withdrawal .were, no doubt, good, and nobody wants to find fault with them. Nevertheless, nothing will alter the fact that we scuttled, and the less we are reminded of it the better. Had strong reinforcements' been ■ sent and the fight forced to-a finish, the Empire would have approved. As other views prevailed, the Empire is silent. But let us hear as little as possible of the matter. Now that it is over it ■ should he done with.

.. . The German Budget Is announced for March, and we are told that it is going to show a. considerable, diminution of- the ordinary expenditure, and all the war expenditure comes out of loan. . ThisOeads to a comparison not to German's advantage, because a substantial part of the British war expenditure- is defrayed’ out of revenue. .Now that revenue is raised by„ taxation which cuts deep into , war profits, arid'.deals heavily with wealth. The German system' is administered, by the Junkers who wanted the war without wanting'to help pay for it. No doubt they do; not (escape, scot free, aud before the’ war the special tax bn all property which made the- war possible by increasing- the ’German 'army and ..war. "prephratibris, was Very drastic. But that that soit-.of thing is ribt beiiig continued during "the campaign we may judge from the fact that the Socialists- in • the -Reichstag are; calling for the' drastic taxation of war profits;

The fact that aeroplanes have been reported as raiding the Kentish coast makes one wonder- whether the Zeppelins have been discarded. They were once* thought capable of very gr.eatOJuiigs, and indeed there-was no end to the exploits they were to do. They atefe7 the bulk or the-’ German people imagined, going" to -,annihilate thy jßritish -fleet-from- -the heavens above, while the German ships ,botn--barded—ft~from —the - Water Tine,*, and the submarines torpedoed',it from the waters beneath. The industrious Count was the idol of Germany, and his victories were to eclipse all contemporary -doings. Not content with destroying the-fleet-of Britain ho was to sail- back and forth over.) Britain leaving'"a track of ruined cities in" a setting of awfully desolated landscape. After that a German army was to land in Britain and destroy everything left standing by the bombs of Zeppelin.

These craft were very slow in getting to work. 'When they get - to work they proved frail and unreliable. After many months two or three of them got to London and other places and mura few women and- children. After that they appeared no more. Today :,we, have aeroplanes; - Perhaps , a certain ’American professor will revise his lectures on the craft, their wonderful strength, their 'weather worthiness, their remarkable sun. platforms, their certainty of sweeping e the;. ftir of all enemies’. He certainly staked his professional reputation on a bogie. These wonderful craft make no more raids. •

• The aeroplane that came in over the •Kentish coast by night- killed a man and-'wduttded some children, a murder for which the perpetrator certainly deserves death, for it is justified by no (mjil(jtary reason whatever.. Had ho by chance fallen near his victims,-the folk in the neighbourhood might have been infuriated enough to beat the breath out of his body. It would have served the wretch right, of course. —Blit' ” 'Germany would have filled’ the world with abuse and demanded the punishment of his murderers: It would not have availed.

The seaplanes that came by day to the same coast were met and driven off by some of our flying -men before they could do any damage. It proves that the defences are in good order. One wonders, by the way, why one never hears the name of Graham White. He was one of the organisers, if not the Chief organiser, of the air defericeSi his ; picture was in every window, and. newspapers and magazines were never tired of tolling the story of his; life, and- giving particulars of his most sensational flights- : All the world honoured the Englishman who had "on his own” kept the flag flying high up in The air, making .. records to beat those of his French rivals and predecessors. But to-day no one hfars a word about him. Where is he? And who is at the head of the aerial defence forces ?

In France and Belgium the war seems to have taken considerably to the air, for we have reports of several aerial battles, in which the redoubtable Fokkers do not. seem to have had the best of it. Barge squadrons were engaged, and some bombs were dropped with effect on the great fortress of Metz. Everyone of these raids had a military , object, and fought the; enemy’s armed force, his guns, and his aircraft. They did»not steal off in the dead of the night to spring bombs on to infants in their cradles and Sleeping ploughboys. They did battle with the enemy, freely exposing themselves to the risks of the battlefield.

The Austrians report the renewal of the Russian offensive in Bessarabia, claiming a Victory after a hard-fought serries of battles. We wait for the Petrograd statement. In the meantime we note that the Russians are still successful on the Caucasus frontier. They report that they are cooperating in Persia with -our force at Kut-cl-Amara. They are some 200 miles distant, and are advancing, having stamped , out Persian treachery. Athens reports a dreamy in which the dreamer saw 3000 motor-cars and

some submarines, in sections. together with mines, all on the move lor Bagdad, At the same time the tellers of fables are telling us that the -Germans have informed the Turk that he must settle -with Kut-01-Amara before taking Egypt on. « ♦ •

A friend sends us the following passage from Mr B. Williams s "Life of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham.”

"In January, 1740, a motion that the instructions to Haddock should be produced, together with any other papers that might throw light oil the mismanagement in the Mediterranean command, and the escape of the Spanish fleet, was opposed by Sir Robert Walpole on the ground that it would bo a mere waste of time. _. ,

“ ‘On the Oontrary (retorted Pitt) our time cannot be more usefully employed, during a war, than in examining bow it has been conducted, and settling the degree of confidence that may be reposed in those to whose care are entrusted our reputations. our fortunes, and our lives. . . . We are now to examine whether it is probable that we shall preserve our commerce and our independence, or whether wo are sinking into subjection to : a foreign power.’ ”

Pitt was, of course, perfectly right, and might have been in favour of less censorship and more debate, perhaps even more newspaper criticism than we have in the present day. But he would have strictly subordinated these privileges to the duty of giving no useful information to the enemy. That, of course, ought to he the only restriction—a restriction which some of the most prominent critics of our time do not have sufficient sense of patriotism to observe. In 1740 there were no telegraphs, let ns remember.