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Timaru Herald, Volume CI, Issue 15444, 5 September 1914, Page 8

'lhe censorship lias closed down hard on the latest fighting. Such information as we have is {riven generally without particulars of "when" or ••where." The Germans wore still makin/? way 011 "Wednesday—tlie latest date referred to. An advanced patrol had even reached Senlis, thirteen miles from Paris, but liad been driven back again seven miles. The worst feature is Ihat ihe Germans luivo been getting reinforcements. but the French claim to have tilled up oil from their ivscrvos. The roiicence of the Press Hnreau niav mean that things ;u - e going jj]

with tlie Allies. • We must- all hope that it means that Lord Kitchener lias some move in progress which cannot be divulged just vet, but may put a different complexion on affairs. Are the Allies hoping for a British Blucher to arrive ? Forests within twelve miles of Paris will afford a good screen for the defending army if it is forcod Lackso far.

Since the above was written news suggests that there" has been a lull in the fierce fighting north of Paris. It seems clear that at Lemberg the Austrians have suffered one of the worst disasters of their history. Their losses at Sadowa were much smaller if Russian accounts do not exaggerate. The withdrawal of the German defence from the Thorn-Cracow line to the line of Posen-Cracow indicates that tie Russians have made great progress in their invasion of Prussia, in" spite of one defeat. It is unlikely that the Germans will get much assistance . from the Austrians.in- future. The raid on Ens-land which, according to "The Times,'' the Germans contemplate, is too fantastic a project to be tried at present. Admiral Jellicoe would be delighted, no doubt, to meet the German Fleet in the execution of such a project. The "Times" story will be useful if it stimulates recruiting in Great Britain.

Amiens, which has been captured by the _ Germans, is an unfortified city about tlie size of Auckland. Tlie capture of La Fere, which was suggested a few days ago but has not been confirmed, would be far more of a military misfortune. Tlie proudest possession of Amiens , is tlie Cathedral of Notre Dame, tlie most perfect specimen of Gotliic architecture .in France. It would be a misfortune indeed if any resistance of Amiens caused injury to be done to tliis building by tlie Germans, who have shown at if a lines how little they respect cathedrals. The French say that they iwill defend Paris to tlie last gasp, and .the triple ring of forts described elsewhere will make its capture by the Germans a very different problem from that which faced them forty years ago. The forts were then- ouite close to Paris, and .offered hardly any check to the invaders: ', !Now Paris has been made so strong that it was described recently by a German Writer as the jjjjeatest fortress in the world. The actual defence of the works, apart from troops temporarily collected in the fortified area, would need, it is said, only about ~170,000 men, and the French will not shut up men in a fortress who can be more useful in the field.

We are told this morning that a party of German naval prisoners wlio "desperately attempted to rusk " the uritish Territorials wlio guarded them in barracks were "'all secured and taken to Edinburgh Castle." That, presumably was their punishment - closer guardianship. We wonder how British prisoners in Germany would be treated if they "rushed" a German force. The Hague Conference in 1907 laid down the rule that attempts of prisoners to escape can be punished, but if, after a successful escape, they are again taken prisoners, they are not liable to punishment. We should be very sorry however, if British punishments were ever based on the German scale, which at Aershot made 260 lives of civilians pay the penalty for one officer killed by a boy. The Kaiser had no need to send an artist to the front to immortalise his conquests. Scenes like those of Aershot and Louvain—hapless peasants forced to dig the graves of their sons and brothers,. amid the taunts of brutal soldiers who had shot them—scenes like the shelling of hospitals and firing on British medical corps in Prance, will immortalise themselves without the aid of canvas. It was characteristic of the Kaiser's vanity and spirit of display, however. that he should desire an artist.

General Pau, who has had hard work to do on the left wing of the French army, to which lie was transferred from Alsace, is the Lord Koberts of the French Army.' He is 66 years old, but as a French writer puts it: — Amongst his fellow-generals—-those who wi'Jl be called to command the different armies in war time—General Pau is the man that is taken for granted.' - ' He showed what he was like 44 years ago, in the previous war against Germany, when as a young lieutenant just out of the military school of St. Cyr, lie fought splendidly at Froesc-hweller, and lost his right wrist. This misfortune might have been allowed to place a less willing man on the retired list, but the authorities knew the .stuff that'Pau was made of. He commanded his battalion by 1881. was a colonel in 189-3, a brigadier in .1897, a general in command of a division in 1900, and a general in command of an army corns at the chief French camp, Xane/. in 1907. When General -Toffre wanted a man with the dash and activity of a boy of eighteen he chose this veteran, and if the French cables have not magnified tlie exploits-of the " popular hero of Paris."' General Pau has justified the trust.