The Waipawa Mail. Published Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. SATURDAY, MAY 13th, 1916. CURRENT TOPICS.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 7719, 13 May 1916, Page 2

The Waipawa Mail. Published Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. SATURDAY, MAY 13th, 1916. CURRENT TOPICS.

Secret Service. After all the elaborate preparations which had been taken to veil the movement of the colonial troops from Egypt to Prance it must have been galling to the high military authorities to find the Anzacs welcomed in the trenches by a banner shown on the German lines bearing the device, “Welcome to the Australians.’’ A Cologne paper the other day paid tribute to the excellence of the British secret service as shown by the way in which Casement’s footsteps had been dogged right up to the moment of his arrest, but the enemy’s spy system must be well nigh perfect. Anyone who has read the revelations of Dr. Graves must admit that Germany has little to learn in this branch of warfare. Nor has she, for that matter, in any other branch, with one notable exception, to fight in accordance with international rules. The Anzacs had an experience of German methods in their first engagement in the French trenches, when a man attired in Australian uniform endeavored to mislead them. The cable is significantly silent as to the bogus officer’s fate, but we take it that he was not given as long as Sir Roger Casement to prepare his defence.

The Rising Scale. Parliament has been in session but three days, and already there is marked evidence of the fact that many members are not satisfied that the Government has not done all it could do in the direction of controling the rapidly rising scale of the cost of living. Everyone knows that very great difficulties have to be contended with in the matter of shortage of shipping, but that does not affect the products of our own country, from the local consumer’s standpoint. Tile problem of the cost of living is becoming more serious every day to the man with a large fabiily to maintain, and so far no real effort has been made by the Government to cope with it. The Board of Trade, which was not appointed till months after the law providing for its constitution had been passed, has taken some evidence in regard to matters placed before it, but up to the present the result of its investigations is nil. The only indication the Government has given of its real interest in this pressing problem is the announcement of the Prime Minister that the export of butter is to be. restricted. Let us hope this is an earnest of a desire to deal with the whole question comprehensively.

The Big Push. Everyone is looking for the “big push” which is imminent on the western front to make a great difference in the. war outlook and to bring the termination of the stupendous struggle appreciably nearer. But it is as well not to build too much on this theory. An officer in a high command in France writes to a friend in New Zealand in an optimistic strain, but sounds a note of warning. “The farther one is away from the fighting line ” writes the officer, ‘ 1 the more pessimistic the view one is apt to take. At the front you find no despondency or pessimism. There is no sickness, and everyone laughs at troubles and difficulties. The only fear one ever hears expressed is that politicians will patch up a peace before we have given the. Germans a proper licking. Our feeling out here is that the war, from our point of view, has hardly begun yet. Up to now we have been struggling to hold out while Germany was at the height of her power. From now onwards conditions will change. We have plenty of men—if the Government will only enlist them. Our munitions are just coming into full play, and for the first time we can give the Germans back not only shell for shell, but two or three to his one. Germahy, on the other hand, can never be stronger. From now onwards she must weaken in men, in resources, and in morale. That is a fact, and there is no getting over it.” He proceeds to point out the likelihood of a big German offensive to anticipate the Allies, but is confident they cannot succeed. “If the Germans attack," he says, “they will suffer enormous losses. We should be able to outlast them, and, with any luck, we should score heavily. We may have reverses, hut no one has any doubt that we shall be able to keep them from breaking us up, as we have done before, and then it will be our turn. I believe myself that if we introduced compulsory service now, the announcement would have such a moral effect on our allies, and on the Germans, that the. war would finish within 12 months.”