CURRENT TOPICS

Southland Times, Issue 17660, 18 February 1916, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS

THE ROUMANIAN'S AND AUSTRIA. The reason why Roumania does not desire to fight for Austria is obvious to all who are acquainted with Roumania’a legitimate ambitions, says the Fortnightly Review. Roumania wishes to remain independent. She does not desire to bo absorbed by Russia, but she desires as little to become an Austrian province. German and Austrian rulers and statesmen may promise her internal self government under the Austrian crown. They may tell the Roumanians that all the Roumanians will, with their help, be united under the Roumanian flag, provided that Roumania will consent to merge herself in the Dual Monarchy. However, incorporated in the realm of the Hapsburgs, Roumania may become not another Bavaria, but another Bohemia. The Roumanians know that the Austrian Empire is based not on freedom, but on persecution, that the Hapa- • burgs are, and always have been, the enemies of liberty and of nationalism, that they have always persecuted the nationalities under their sway, and that the traditional Austrian policy will scarcely be altered for their sake. Besides, they have before them a warning exambple of the 3,500,000 Roumanians who dwell in Austria-Hungary, and who live under a modified form of slavery. Nowadays, nations ’are no longer enslaved by being kept in chains, but by other means. They are disfranchised, they cannot obtain justice, they are impoverished, they are given only subordinate positions, they cannot obtain redress by the law, their education is neglected, their language is destroyed, but on the other hand, they are weighed down with taxes and are compelled to serve in the army. That is the position of the unhappy Romanians in Hungary. In Austria-Hungary, close to the Roumanian border, dwell millions of Roumanians in dense masses, but they are practically unrepresented in Parliament and in local government. They are treated like helots, they are made to act to the ruling race as hewers of wood and drawers of water, and by violence and stealth, by persecution and bribery, they are made to abjure their nationality and to become Magyars. Thkt infamous policy of persecution by unjustified violence has made “allied” Austria-Hungary an object of hatred and contempt throughout Roumania. FEEDING THE ARMIES. The modern system of feeding th« armies in the field has come into operation since the South African War, and only dates from 1909, when motor pansport was first submitted for horse transport in the British Army. The old. heavy, four-wheeled, springless trans-port-waggon, drawn by four to six horses, and carrying up to 30cwt of supplies, was then replaced by the standard army pattern of motor lorry with engines of 40-lnp. capable of carrying three tons at a speed of 16 miles per hour. The change has enabled the number of transport waggons required for each regimental unit to be halved, the jfif" tance of the advance lines of the arm* from its depots to be doubled. A supp y column of motor-transport waggons, covering 50 or more miles per day, now takes the place of the old horse vehic es, with their limited radius of . one-half this distance. As an incidental result of this change from horseto motor transport, the number of men en gaged on supply services behind the fighting line has been and whereas 100 years ago the follow ers of an army in the field often excee ed in number those actually eng_ g the fighting, to-day the P™P or * onl been reduced to one to fiie, it be.ng reckoned that for every 10° men m the firing line there must be 20 men en gaged in the supply services at th<e rea . These gains, however, are chiefly g which affect the higher commands and the beneficial results of the change fr the • Tommies' ” own point o, view a e that fresh meat, fresh bread, and fresh vegetables have replaced the bul y beef’ and hard biscuit rations of bygone days, DETERMINATION OF FRANCE The French Army Bulletin publishes a letter which M. Poincare addressed to the officers and soldiers of France on the occasion of the New Year 1" the course of the letter the former President <?avs ; —“All Frenchmen, reconciled, sustain in common the same tna s. listen with respect to the virile less® ll of the dead, the lesson of courage. P ticnce, and resolution the * eS p" v f coolness, confidence, and serenitj Eterjwherc there is the same cold deliberate determination to hold and The problem does not admit of a halfwav solution. Any peace which should come to us with suspicious aspect and in equivocal terms, any peace which should offer ambiguous compromise and bastard combinations, would only bring ius beneath deceitful appearances, dishonour, ruin, and enslavement No Frenchman would have committed the crime of desiring this war. Every Goyeminent since 1371 has striven to avoid it Now with our faithful Allies we must carry it on to the annihilation of German militarism and the complete reconstitution of France. Any momentary faltering would be an ingratitude to onr dead and a treason to posterity.’ After declaring that the conquered people will be that which first grows tired the letter concludes :—“We shall not grow tired. France is confident because you are there. Your officers say again and again that never at any period have we had a finer army, never have men been better trained, braver, more heroic than ours. You will conquer. The year which is opening will bring you pride, it will complete the defeat of the enemy, it will give you the joy of returning to vour homes and the sweetness of celebrating victory by the side of those whom you love.”