FORECASTING THE END

Waikato Times, Volume 87, Issue 13271, 29 August 1916, Page 5

FORECASTING THE END

NEWSPAPERS DISCUSS POSSIBILITIES OF PEACE. BUT MILITARY PREPARATIONS To CONTINUE. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Assn.) LONDON, August 28. The newspapers are discussing the likelihood of the prolongation of the war. They point out that all official utterances, including those of the late Karl Kitchener, have urged preparation for a loni: and tedious struggle. The latesl Ministerial pronouncements contain no more optimistic hints. .Military preparations continue on the vastest scale, and there are no signs of diminulioii or stoppage. Everywhere there are indications that the authorities are steadily increasing the supplies of men and munitions. The War Office has taken over 2 17 volunteer battalions, thus freeing men lit to go to the front. It invites all men physically tit, not engaged in war work, to join the volunteers. It is noteworthy that the military authorities are calling all men classed as sedentary work. Neverlhcless, there is a large volume of helling at short prices predicting thai there will be peace before June. Viscount llaldane, speaking at Auchterarder, Scotland, said: "We had two anxious months—the first when the Herman hosts were pouring through Belgium, and the second when the Germans had an overwhelming superiority in numbers at Ypres in October, 1914. Now, with the French magnificently resisting at Verdun, and our armies smashing the Germans on the Somme, we recognise that we have reached the final chapter of the war."