The Waipawa Mail. Published Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. THURSDAY, JULY 20th, 1916. CURRENT TOPICS.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 7751, 20 July 1916, Page 2

The Waipawa Mail. Published Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. THURSDAY, JULY 20th, 1916.

CURRENT TOPICS.

Steady Progress. People who were looking for sensational happenings when the big offensive commenced on the Western front will probably be somewhat disappointed at the comparatively slow progress which is being made. The capture of a few hundred yards of trenches a day does not seem much on the face of it, but when we consider the formidable obstacles which have to be overcome the achievement is significant. It must not be forgotten that our troops are at present fighting over country in which the enemy has spent months of toil and unlimited money in preparing the defences, and victory can only be achieved at a heavy cost. A more rapid advance may be hoped for when our troops have penetrated the third line of the enemy’s defences, but meantime we must be patient. It is infinitely better that the progress should be slow and sure than rapid and disastrous. We have gained the ascendancy, and it is only a matter of time when the ring of steel which is encircling the enemy will contract to such an extent that it will strangle those within its compass.

A Cheerful View. A decidedly cheerful view of the prospects of the British advance on the Western front this year is taken by “Special Reserve,” who contributes to the May number of the “Fortnightly” an article “based on five months’ experience on the front as a company officer in a regular battalion.” He deprecates the idea of hoping for victory through the financial and economic exhaustion of the Central Empires, partly because there is no record in history of any great military power which suffered defeat through purely economic causes as long as its fleets and armies and national spirit remained intact. An economic victory would mean nothing but the renewal of the conflict at a later date. Defeat of the German armies in the field is the only method by which to exorcise the evil spirit that has mastered Germany. The task cannot reasonably be left to Russia unless the period of conflict is to be prolonged into 1917 or even 1918. Mobilisation of Russia’s irresistible man power is a longer task than was anticipated. Even now she is credited with little more than 4,000,000 effectives for the coming campaign, a mere fraction of her huge reserves. With this force she might regain the ground lost in 1915, but without resolute help on the western front her armies could hardly hope to advance farther than her own original frontier before the autumn. Hence an advance from the west is the key of the whole military situation.

The Man Power. Nor does this writer think it at all beyond the capacity of the Allied forces on the western front. While not professing to gauge the full extent of German man-power, inclusive of second and third line troops, he claims that Germany is coming to the end of such troops as are competent to go anywhere and do anything which efficient soldiers are expected to do. “In the course of the last five,months nothing but her interior lines of railways have enabled her to place her effectives now on one front and now on the other. Before the Polish campaign began the German infantry opposed to us in the west were extremely awkward customers, but as that campaign developed the western line was filled with infantry who, in the main, seemed to have no idea but to dig themselves in and keep as quiet as possible. Similarly it was not until that campaign had been brought to a standstill that the Balkan adventure could be begun, because the active, as opposed to the passive, defence German armies had to be moved to the new field of operations. The counterattacks at Loos tell the same story. They could not be undertaken until special troops had been brought up, while the Servian adventure had to be abandoned to meet the attack from Bessarabia. Now the objection to the manipulation of a stage army is obviously that the heaviest casualties are continually falling on the best troops. The attacks on Verdun have taken their full toll. There must come a periqd when the spearhead of the German armies is blunted or destroyed, and an insufficient number of mobile soldiery exists for any given front.” LESSENS ITS SEVERITY. While influenza seldom results fatally it is the indirect cause of many deaths, as pneumonia frequently follows it. We have yet to hear of influenza resulting in pneumonia when Chamberlain’s Cough Remedy was taken at the beginning of the attack. When Chamberlain’s Cough Remedy is taken the influenza is greatly lessened in its severity and any tendency towards pneumonia is checked. Chamberlain’s Cough Remedy helps restore the system to a .healthy condition. Sold by R. W. Todd, Waipawa, and W. Malenoir, Otane.