The Waipawa Mail. Published Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. THURSDAY, MAY 11th, 1916. CURRENT TOPICS.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 7718, 11 May 1916, Page 2

The Waipawa Mail. Published Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. THURSDAY, MAY 11th, 1916. CURRENT TOPICS.

Daylight Saving. The war has.wrought many changes, and not the least important of the many is the conversion of public opinion in England to the value of daylight saving, by putting the clock back for an hour. Various attempts have been made to introduce the innovation, but objection was raised that it would seriously interfere with business customs, and that the possible gain was not commensurate with the inconvenience the change would cause. Now, faced by the need for economy, British Parliamentarians see. many good points in a proposal which hitherto they would not tolerate, and tin* system seems on a fair way to adoption. Mr T. K. Sidey, of Dunedin, has several times tried to bring about the reform in New Zealand, but we have been just as conservative as the Mother Country. Probably if the bill were re-introduc-ed during the present session it would stand a good chance of becoming law, notwithstanding the desire on the part of the Prime Minister to keep the length of the session down to the lowest possible limit.

The Anzacs. The fact that the military authorities have seen lit to lift the veil which shrouded Ihe movements of our Colonial troops indicates that the time must be regarded as almost ripe for the big push on the west which we have been expecting so long, and we shall have all the more interest in it seeing that our boys are to be privileged to take part in if. That they will worthily uphold the honor of the Anzacs gained in the memorable Gallipoli campaign goes without saying, and we are equally certain that they will, when occasion demands, justify the confidence which the General Stall is placing in them by giving them a section of the western front to guard. Another Thrust. Germany is making another big effort to break through the gallant defence of the French at Verdun, hut so far to no purpose. Discussing the lighting in I his quarter Dr. Fitchett, in “Life,” says:—“For Germany, the disquieting significance of the fighting around Verdun is not lo be measured by the scale of the slaughter, great as that is. German success, it must be remembered, depends on the degree in which it can impress the public opinion of the world generally, and the imagination of the neutral States in particular, with the belief that nothing can resist the great German war-machine. The neutral States are all ‘sitting on the fence’ waiting to jump down on the ‘safe’ side—the side, that is, which has the best chance of winning. Now, the effort to carry Verdun gives the world—better than any other event in the course of the war—the first authentic measure of the military strength of Germany. There is no resource it possesses, no art it knows, no energy at its command, which it has not used against Verdun; and all, put together, have proved insufficient! It has expended half a dozen army corps, the elite of its forces, to make a gap in that particular section of the French line, and if has failed. It can never dare, or do, more than it has dared and done to carry Verdun; and it has not done enough. The great German wArmachine, working at its highest, has failed.”