GENERAL WAR NEWS

Southland Times, Issue 17866, 17 January 1918, Page 2

GENERAL WAR NEWS

EARLIER CABLES THE CALL FOR MEN. PROBLEM MUST BE SOLVED. (By Telegraph. —Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Australian and N.Z. Gable Association.) LONDON, January 15. In the House of Commons Sir Auckland Geddes said: "Our enemies are staking everything on our failure to solve the manpower problem. A successful solution means certain victory.” Much had already been accomplished. The Ministry in December filled 37,000 vacancies for men and 36,000 for women. The co-operation of the Trade Committee of the trades’ union was of the greatest value in assisting in the substitution. The army had established seven centres for discharged soldiers at which the Ministry was setting up an employment exchange, enabling discharged men to engage in work of national importance and also bringing back into civilian life men in the medical category not wanted immediately for army purposes. THE CASUALTIES. NO CARELESSNESS OF HUMAN LIFE. LONDON, January 15. In the House of Commons Sir Auckland Geddes, Minister of National Service, said the Government had considered the casualty problem carefully, and had determined to stamp out carelessness regarding human life. He warned pacifists, who were attempting to stir up strife in munition factories, that they would encounter a surprising blast of hatred anti contempt. THE BREST-LITOVSK NEGOTIATIONS. ANOTHER ADJOURNMENT. AMSTERDAM, January 15. Dr von Kuhlmann, at the Brest-Litovsk negotiations, adopted the standpoint that portions of Russia were striving to obtain separation and were already qualified to conclude agreements with Germany. M. Trotsky replied that the present .representative bodies could not prove that they spoke in the name of the entire people of Russia. Von Kuhlmann and Count Czemin intimated that they were willing to invite representatives of these sections to BrestLitovsk. M. Trotsky replied that the territories concerned had no democratic representative bodies. The Russian delegates then proposed strong conditions regarding the right of self-determination for these peoples. Herr Hoffman protested that the Russians spoke as if they were the conquering party. The German army command refuse to evacuate Courland, Lithuania, Riga, and the islands in the Gulf. The negotiations were adjourned. POLITICAL UNREST IN GERMANY, HEADS CALLED TOGETHER, AMSTERDAM, January 15. The Kaiser has summoned Dr von Kuhlmann, Prince von Bulow, and Count Bernstorff to Berlin, also the Ministers at The Hague, Berne, and Copenhagen, to consult them regarding impending Ministerial changes. The Tageblatt says Count Hertling, the Chancellor, is seriously ill owing to overwork. The Morning Post announces the impending resignation of von Valentine, the Kaiser’s chief civilian secretary- Great political changes in the upper personnel are foreshadowed. A SIGNIFICANT CONSULTATION. AMSTERDAM, January' 15. The fact that the Kaiser is consulting German diplomatists in neutral countries adjoining Germany is regarded as significant in view of the latest discussion on war aims, THE FRENCH FRONT. LIVELY ARTILLERY ACTION. LONDON, January 15. French communique: There is lively' artillerying in the Champagne and on the right of the Meuse, especially' north of Beaumont, where our batteries caught enemy assemblages. SERBIA’S PLIGHT. ANNIHILATION OF THE RACE. AMSTERDAM, January 15. A Serbian manifesto protests against the annihilation of the race. The Austrians have carried out wholesale deportations of Serbian boys to Germany and Galicia, and has sent 15,000 to the concent ration camp, deported 2500 young children, and simultaneously thousands have been sent to Asia Minor, and thousands of girls to Turkish harems. Now the Bulgarians were systematically deporting whole families for the purpose of wining out a!I traces of Serbian nationality, and removing priests, schoolmasters and doctors. THE YOUNG AUSTRALIAN. GERMAN PROFESSOR’S CONTEMPT. SYDNEY, January 16. The Herald publishes an article from a. German newspaper by Professor Burrkbardt, who was present at the last Science Congress in Australia, which states: — “When the Germans come to Australia they do not anticipate any difficulty' with the young generation who have proved themselves arrant cowards. They' will he put in gangs making fortifications for the German conquerors anti locked in stockades at night.”