The Sun SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1914. MORE TROUBLE FOR THE TEUTON.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 217, 17 October 1914, Page 8

The Sun SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1914. MORE TROUBLE FOR THE TEUTON.

"Inactivity prevails in the centre in France along the fighting front. The troops realise that attempts to carry the positions by frontal attacks would be doomed to disaster, and both are waiting developments upon the wing''— a recent. message to this effect very aptly sums up the position as' it obtains from Belgium to Verdun. So farvas the present job the wings are concerned, it is satisfactory to be told that the Allies are making some progress. The critical situation is still where it has been practically since Namur fell —on the German right wing. The punching power of both combatants is concentrated in northern France, and the protracted and destructive engagements that have been reported for weeks in this quarter testify to the severity of the allied attack and, the desperate resistance of ' the Germans. Authentic information ' is to hand of the advent of a third dreadful enemy—typhus fever has broken out among the German lines. It is not surprising. The sufferings the 1 troops on both sides have undergone ' since the "stale mate" in France are yet to be revealed in all their hideous- ! ness to the world. It is comforting to ' think that, thanks to their strategic position and the general organisation, the Allies have been much better off in ' the trenches than their opponents. The stories of German trenches, sodden, ( and brimming with the dead who could ' not be given decent burial because of ' the ruthless pressure of the Allies, are 6 confirmed by the epidemic of diseases which .has smitten the enemy's soldiery. ( These, epidemics work dreadful havoc, * onee they gain a foothold,, and the Germans have excellent cause to fear ( their latest foe. Away in Poland, a battle of the magnitude of the Laon- " Verdun struggle is raging. The ad- j vance guard of the enemy is reported f to be almost 'within gunshot of Warsaw, and it is obvious that the Grand Duke Nicholas has received a challenge which will reqiiire : all his Resources to meet effectively. Notwithstanding tlie Aiistro-German invasion of Poland, the 1 K ■ t Russians, are still busy with the bombardment of Przemysl. This suggests 11 that they have every confidence in their c right wing and centre—the latter to hold down the opposing centre, the c ' former to repel the enveloping move- * meht of the enemy's left, and, if possible, to retort in kind. Tlie Russian " n right (or the First Army) is commanded by General, von Renneukampf, e whose work at the head of the Cossacks in Manchuria won him an enviable F reputation for dash and resource. :He 0 has with the First Army some' of the finest cavalry in Europe, and as he has. since Osterolle, outpointed • and outfought General Hindenberg, it is pro- c bable he will do so again.' t

The wily Mr Wilford,.whorepresents the Petone Woollen "Mill employees/ in Parliament, hag drawn a '..broad" beam of limelight on himself, and his little Bill to cut down the hours 'of women employed in woollen factories. If there is one man who likes the limelight better than another in the present House it is the member for the Hutt. In. this instance it. reveals him on the eve of an election as a noble, humanitarian soul, eagerly solicitous for the welfare of a section of his female constituents who, for long years have been compelled to toll ■ 4.8 hours a week for their daily bread. It is, of course, a terrible thing to have to work 48 hours a week, and no wonder the . feelings of this modern Shaftesbury;aye harrowed at the action of stonyheartiefl Reform mem\. bers in the Upper Hoioe;wli6' refused to let the Bill pass, at|d Jn<^deiit;ally : provided their critics whip to scourge the Reform Party during the election campaign. Mr the Hutt stood to win either If he had got his Bill through, it would haA'e been an exploit worth -bragginV about, but its rejection is, worth even more to him and his in tlie argument that is bound'fo ensue about the nobility of Mr Wilfard and the inhiunanity of the in the Upper House, the essential -fact that the fixing of the hours of labour is a function rightfully belonging to the Arbitration Court, will be completely obscured.