WAR NEWS.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 4946, 22 September 1914, Page 2

WAR NEWS.

SOME TALK OF PEACE. LAUGHABLE CONDITIONS. Electric Telegraph—Press Association. Copyright. London, Last Night. Reuter states that Washington reports that the German Ambassador states that Germany is 'willing to make peace on the basis that European Germany is not dismembered. The press ridicules the talk of ’ peace and suggests that it was inspired by powerful German Americans. Washington, Last Night. Herr Von. Bethmann Hollweg, replying to President Wilson’s enquiry as to whether the Kaiser will discuss terms of peace, suggested that as the Allies compacted not to cease hostilities except by common, agreement, the United States should obtain peace proposals from them. New York, Last Night. Two high diplomatic sources state Germany’s essentials for peace include the dropping of all suggestions for dismemberment and talk of a fight to a finish or the concession of Alsace and Lorraine to France, the , recognition of Germany’s right to ex- , tend her commerce to the ends of the earth and maintain on army and a navy sufficient to safeguard her overseas commerce. Reports from Paris state that the Kaiser has informed the Pope that he has never ceased to desire peace. DEMONSTRATIONS IN BERLIN. “WE WANT PEACE.” Rotterdam, Last Night. Travellers relate that there have been many peace demonstrations at Berlm and the walls are placarded We want peace!” mentioning the recent operations in h ranee and seek to cloak the German failures, declaring that the main object of the fight is Russia, Hot -r ranee. THE USUAL BOMBAST. Rotterdam. Last Night. The “Cologne Gazette” states that Germany will not accept a peace that does not give a full indemnity for the sacrifices made. Nbhting could be more insulting than a compromise with England which does not once and for all banish thoroughly the English piratical spirit. The “Berliner Tageblatt” says Germany will not lay down her arms until she is assured that her position in the world is improved. FOR THE FATHERLESS. PRESENTS FROM AMERICA. Washington, Last Night. President Wilson supports the newspapers’ proposal that American children should send Christmas presents to all children in Europe ren- ' dered fatherless by the war. THE GERMAN ARMY. In his enthusiastic praise of “the mighty regime”—the German Army —Dr. Graves, who at psychological moments insists on his confidential knowledge, draws aside the arras, end allows us this glimpse of the makers of war: “There is a small, dingy, unpretentious room in the General Stabs Sebaude where, at moments of stress and tension or international complications, assemble five men —His Majesty, at the head of the table; to the right the Chef des Grossen General Stabs; to his left the Minister Of War; then the Minister of I Railways, and the Chief of the Naval Staff. You will notice the total absence of the Ministers of Finance and Diplomacy. When these five men meet, the influence of diplomatic and financial affairs has ceased. They are there to act. The scratching of the Emperor’s pen. in that room means war, tile settling in motion of a fighting force of 1,500,(XX) men.” Another instance is supplied: “When the feeling and stress over the Moroccan question was at its height, General von Heeringen on leaving his quarters for his usual drive in the Thiergarton was eagerly questioned by a score of officers i awaiting his exit.

“ ‘Excellency! Geht’s losP’ (‘Do we begin ?’) “Grimly smiling, returning their salutes and without pause, limping to his waiting carriage, he gave his answer:

“ ‘Sieben Buchstaben, meine Herron !1’ ” (“ Seven letters, gentlemen I’ ”) In German military parlance this means the Emperor’s signature, Wilhelm, to the mobilisation order.” Dr. Graves, turning from gay to serious, credits the Intelligence Department of the General Staff with the greatest ora n iscienjro under heaven. He found (during his training) that “the whole of England, France, and Russia was carefully cut up into sections ,each of those sections being in charge of two officers and a secretary, whose solo duty it was to acquaint and make themselves perfootlly familiar with everything in that particular locality,” from the blacksmith’s shop to the villago

pump. Incidentally, he admits that the other leading Powers have shrewd Intelligence Departments. He goes on to explain how Germany obtained mastery of the air. Facts in this connection, “known only to the General Staff at Berlin,” and “not even in the Cabinet* of Europe,” are submitted. For instance, those Zeppelins which have provided tragedy headlines in the world’s journals, are passenger dirigibles —not those used in the general army flights. By a secret system, known only to the German General Staff 75 per cent, of accidents have been eliminated. AH the objectionable features ascribed to the dirigibles —bulk and heaviness of structure, inflammability of the gas that floats them, and insufficiency of fuel carriage—all have been eliminated. Government chemists have invented an envelope “lighter than aluminium yet possessing all that metal’s density, and the flexibility of steel. Its formula is a Government secret, and England or France woull give thousands to possess it.” A new gas, ab'sojujtiejy non’-ipfiammable, anl capable of being reduced to liquid form —“to produce the gas it is only necessary to let the ordinary atmosphere come in contact with the liquid”—is another feature. The last dirigible tried by the War Office in 1912, adds the writer, made a continuous trip from Stettin over the Baltic to ITvsala, in Sweden, thence across the Baltic to Upsala, in Sweden ,thence across the Baltic again to Riga, in the Gulf of Finland, where it doubled back to Stettina a journey of 976 miles, with a complement of 25 men, and carrying twelve tons of dead weight. The trip was made in particularly boisterous weather. The German aerial corps, the Lieftfeeliiffor Abteilung, is toomposed of ten battalions, each consisting of 350 trained men. Only the smartest mechanics and artificers are selected. Compared with the usual pay in Continental armies, the wages of the German aerial corps are exceptionally high ;in fact, the highest in the German Army. Describing the dirigible station at Heligoland, Dr. Graves, after a passing reference to the comprehensive protection afforded such stations, tells of the three oblong sheds, the middle housing two dirigibles, the other sheds one apiece. The whole structure (800 feet by 200 feet by 120 feet high can be shifted to an angle of 40 degrees by means of a machine similar to the railroad turntable. The reason for this is that with the veering of the wind the sheds are turned so that the doors will be placed advantageously for the removal of the airship. According to this authority the Hsfligoland fortifications hare beien reduced fo the secondary; the island does not need forts any more —“the new forts float in the sky and rain death.” He talks of a fully equipped Zeppelin “like Xls, carrying a crew of 24 men, sax quick-firing guns.

[ and seven tons of explosives,” keeping aloft 36 hours, and pictures the havoc a dozen such vultures could create over a city like London or Paris. The argument that a racing warplane could wreck the dirigible, Dr. Graves exclaims‘Quatscb 1’ which is a German Army term for piffle! He contends that at 6000 ft. altitude,the monoplane pilot is so cold as to be useless, while the Zeppelins can make 8000 ft. or higher, “everybody aboard in warm, comfortable quarters, ready to drop explosives to the ground.” » He adds: “The Xls, sailing over London, could drop explosives down and create terrible havpc. They don’t have to aim. They simply dump overboard some of the new explosive of the German Government—-this new chemical having the property of setting on fire anything that it hits—and then sail on.” That is the skeleton of the “German Avar machine,” as sketched by Dr. A. K. Graves. We repeat that in its latest demonstration some sand has worked into the bearings.