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Timaru Herald, Volume CV, Issue 16076, 25 September 1916, Page 6

Between Mors and Martinpuicli the British iiavo advanced, on a mile Iront beyond the Germans' tlnrd, system of deience, and carried two lines of trenches. ~T]ie importance of successes oh this front is well indicated by an article on the Somme offensive, written before the third system was carried, .. which we publish in another column. _ The British are steadily improving their position, and the i'rench have made further progress east of Combles, where their line joins Sir Douglas Haig's. The fall of Combles Ave' can expect to hear at any time. Airships have again visited England, and one—unconfirmed report says two—has been brought down in flames. The advocates of'"frightfulness" by .sea and air, wjio have increased in number or in violence since Germany's affairs have gone so ill on land, must find this a bitter pill to swallow. The Germans wno protest that England is the real enemy and must be laid low by any means should ask their generals why they did not settle tne "contemptible little army" when it was small.

It is highly probable that the "Jfranklurter Zjeitung-'s" advice to tiie (jerman (Jeuurul Siatf tu draw m'its imes on the western front has been inspired officially. Tiie (iermans would benent by siiorter lines, always supposing that they could get t-o tne-a without being' cut up badly in the process. The Allies' task will be to prevent an orderly retirement. The "l''rankiurter Zeitung's" task may bo to prevent me German people beingtoo much disheartened by a g-reat retirement, if it should be inevitable, by suggesting well beforehand that no better thing could happen. It will be interesting to see if this suggestion swells into a Press chorus.

The battle of Halicz still goes with the greatest obstinacy, and though an Italian statement that several forts have fallen .is not to be relied on, there is no doubt that the Russians have been ground. Entrenchments much in tlio western style

[have to be carried, and our allies,, it is reported unoinciaiiy ironi ■ -fetrogrua, Have captured three more antes of trencnes- UincialJy : Petrograd says no tiling till it Has I news oi real moment to report | Tiie enemy iii the Dobrudja iiaa J fallen ijacK to a new line of entrenchments, abandoning Silis--1 tria, the' important Danube town, whose capture might have threatened Bucharest. Mackensen's invasion, there is cause to hope, will threaten no one very seriin the future. The trouble of' his army, far away from any P ro Per base, may well be to feed itself. Petroseny, referred to in an earlier message, is in southern lransylvaiiia, half way between he oerbian border and Hernia nnstadt. The Salonika operations continue satisfactorily.

Verjr soon, by all appearances, Ilmg Gonstantine will have made the greatest sacrifice for the Kaiser. He will have lost his throne for him. Already he has lost his popularity. Only Athens and the Peloponnesus,'or Morea, the southern peninsula of Greece, are still loyai to him, according to 'a . correspondent, and Athens is so loyai. that' placards,' Which he dare not suppress, are .displayed openly, in the streets, calling, on him to resign. The invitation :-I<3 , the- hated V Bulgarians to come in and take' Kavalla has made; e.ven those who were fervent . King's men "-a few, months. ago . revolutionaries. Baron. Schenk, from a safe place in Germany- complains ' that Greece is " completely under Venizelos's thumb.'' There would seem to be three courses open to E-ing Constantine: to follow tho example of the Kavalla army corps and seek German liospitallty; v? be de P° sec V after strife and bloodshed, by the revolution:ary committee which has now. three parts of Greece behind it, or to be deposed more quietly by the three countries, Britain, ranee, and Russia, which for I nearly a hundred years have been [protecting Powers for Greece.

n 1827 the tliree Powers saved Greece from tie Turks by the naval. battle of Navarino. Thev gave lier her first king, King Otho, and when lie was deposed by the Greeks in. 1862 because lie ruled tyrannously, tliev gave her a second, the father of Constantine, and gave her also, at the Greek nation's request,, a-'Con-stitution founded on the British, for whose continuancethey made themselves responsible, lit : was laid down by treaty* should be a " monarchical, independent, and . ' constitutional State." : On those terms King Cbnstantine, in turn, received his throne, and if lie will not' abide by them it is the right, even the duty, of the protecting Powers to take it from him. They .would not probably ask King, Gonstantine to resign if the great majority of- the Greek people were satisfied with his rule, but the spread of the revolutionary movement shows, that the majority of the Greeks are not satisfied with it, and that being so it will not be surprising if the three Powers declare- the throne forfeited by breach, of contract, and assist the Committee of Safety to find a. new .ruler. It appears to be hinted that Franco and Russia are ' quite willing to take ' this course,: and are only waiting' for the decision of. Great Britain.

Yenizelos has not figured as a director of the revolutionary movement, but there can ■ bo small doubt now that he is: direct:ing it -from behind the scenes- . If Britain intervenes against the King, she will do so when he reports that the time'is ripe ,for such action to be welcomed by the Greek people. The deposition of King Constantino would not necessarily mean Greek intervention in the war, but only that the .opportunity would be given to the Greek people to decide their nation's attitude- fafc themselves. • . If the Entente Powers had, sought to rusli Greece into the struggle on their side they would not have insisted on the demobilisation of. tho army. Tftey would have tlious-hl, it .an advantage to have that weapon ready for immediate use. The chances are that Greece has suffered so much in the last twelve months from self-inflicted wounds that she woulrl lie almost powerless now as an ally; ■