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Timaru Herald, Volume CVI, Issue 16233, 31 March 1917, Page 8

The British have captured twC more villages on the iiont beforcCambrai, while the TB'rench have recaptured trenches lost by them in Champagne, and taken important ammunition and other depots-south-of the Uise. The Germans are reported to be burn-, ing villages far behind their present lines, suggesting that the retirement is not finished yet, and the Belgians report destruction of the country near Zeebrugge, Bruges, and Ghent, which indicate an extension of the withdrawal on a scale of which there has been t no previous promise* Unless the Germans were falling right back to the Meuse line, they would hardly give up their submarine base at Zeebrugge, subject though it has been to bombardments, and to the Meuse they will not' fall back" unless they are teiv ribly; short of men.

Below Gaza, in the country of the Philistines, British forces, in* eluding Anzacs, have won an~important battle. Twenty thousand Turks were defeated with heavy, loss, their commanding- general," a. division staff, and nearly 900 other prisoners being captured.. The British are still extending their railway in this region, and it looks as if the operations in the south of Palestine may play an important part yet in conjunction with the Mesopotamian campaign.Defeated in Philistia, on the Tigris, and upon the Persian frontier, the Turks are being harried now from pillar to post. German attacks in Galicia have been repulsed. The week, as compared with that preceding it, has been' n. bad one for submarine sinkings. The comparison stands as follows, last week's figures beincr sriven in parenthesis—Arrivals 2314 (2528), sailings 2433 (2554"), larger ships sunk 18 (16), smaller ships sunk' 7 (18), unsuccessful attacks 13 (19), fishing vessels 10 (21). The Alnwick Castle, sunk' in the Atlantic with some loss of life, is the latest victim. ': A gallant tale is told of troops on board the Tyndarus, who just escaped the fate, while showing all the spirit, of the Birkenhead.-

The action of the Russian Duma ia recalling Prince Eropotkin, the "leader of intellectual anarchism," to "aid in reorganisation"' can be regarded as an act of oolicy, designed to impress extremists with the extreme liberalism' of the new regime. As such it will not fail of its effect, and, if it does not share all his views, the new Government may well feel much sympathy with the case of the illustrious scientist, sociologist, and philosopher who has been an exile in England for more than, forty years. At the awe of seventy-five years it would be a remarkable display of sustained powers if the Prince were able to give much active help in the reorganisation of a country he has not seed since his prime. The lessons drawn by him from British institutions are nresumably porated in his books, and a -nolrtical philosopher may be wholly imsuited to the riart of a worldnj? statesman. The Prince, however, has had a wonderful career.-

Descended from, the royal house of Rurik, which is older than the Romanoffs, he was early repelled by the oppressions of desDotie government. By his thirtieth" year he was famous beyond Russia as a geographer', a geologist, and a preacher of reforms. Then he was thrown into prison and kept there for two years without trial, on suspicion of being implicated in a revolutionary movement. 'By a rare display of. ingenuity and daring he escaped, and made .his way to England. But he found it easy to run foul of other Governments besides the Russian, for in 1881 he was excelled from Switzerland, and later on he was imprisoned for three years in Erance, perforniinc as a Prisoner, experiments in intensive culture which have had the greatest effect on agriculture. On the occasion ■ of his seventieth birthday he received nn address from influential friends in Britain, exT>ressino- ndi miration nf his character and lif P . •worlc, ond felicitations from'all parts of the world. Among the greetings was one from an exRussinn Minister, who expressed i lie that the time -tra.s not fiv distant when "a liberated trould on'ne more -n-elcoroe her son." [Now the time has come.

The statesmen who hope yet to reach an Irish settlement should have been encouraged by the cordial reception accorded in Ireland to the Irish-Canadian Bangers—the Duchess of Connaught's Own —composed of Roman Catholics and Protestants. All classes ~n Dublin, lieaded by the Lord Mayor, welcomed and f«ted them, but the significant feature "vras the reception in the Citv of Armaeh, the See of St. Patrick" himself, and still the ecclesiastical

capital not only of Ulster but of All Ireland. Armagh lias two I'rimates and two Cathedrals. Tka Catholic section of the Hangers went to the Catholic Cathedral, where; they were welcomed by Cardinal Logue, who entertained the officers at dinner. The Protestant section went to their Cathedral, and the officers a mixed body, like the men), were entertained by Archbishop Crozier at tea. The local Civic Council, themselves a mixed body, entertained the men. The popular favour for both Catholics and Protestants in the streets was orange and green, the colours of the regiment. Not within living memory had the two colours been blended in Armagh. ,