NOTES ON THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2234, 21 August 1914, Page 4

NOTES ON THE WAR

No surprise will be felt at learning that the great battle the world has,been waiting for is being fought over the stretch of. country between Diesfand Namur. The battle, no doubt, has been .proceeding for the past day or two at least; beginning with minor encounters between tho advanced screens of the two armies and becoming more general as the main bodies of German troops come forward into the fighting line. To understand the position it may be explained that Diest, a fortified town, apparently was made the base of the Allies' ,left wing, while their right.wing was some 40 miles in a direct line to the south, protected by tho fortified town of Namur and the River Meuse. Thus tho fighting has been taking place along a front at least 40 miles in extent'. Actually it must have been more.. The places mentioned in connection with, tho fighting, reading from north to south, are Diest; Tirlemont,. 14 miles from Diest; Jodo'ignc, 8 miles from Tirlemont ; Raraillies, 5 miles from Jodoigne; Gembloux, 10 miles from Raraillies and Namur, 10 miles from Gembloux. At Diest and Tirlemont, that is to say,_ at points roughly speaking 14 miles apart, the Germans <aro reported to have met with successes. . At Jodoigne, Ramillies, and Gembloux, _ covering a distance of at least 23 miles, the Germans are reported to havq been driven back first by the Belgians and later they were forced to retreat still further by French troops which had come to the assistance of the Belgians. It is impossible to attempt to determine from the-meagre details to hand at the time of writing what significance is to be attached to the results of the fighting so far as it has progressed. What' does seem fairly certain is that over this long lino-of battle the Germans gained some advantage at tho northern end, while at the centre and in the south they were forced to retreat.

In tho light of the ncwsi to hand to-day the removal of the seat of Government from Brussels to Antwerp is easy to understand. Brua-

sels lies about 25 miles to the westward of Diest and Tirlemont, which are reported to have been captured by the" Germans. It would seem that the- Belgians recognised this to bp a weak point, and in consequence provided for the contingency which has happened by taking the precaution of moving as stated to Antwerp This does not necessarily mean that the German forces will reach Brussels, but they would seem to havo made a decided move in that direction. If, however, they have been beaten at the southern end and centre of the battle line to the extent indicated, their advance' in the north will be delayed if not quite' checked for the time being. Probaoly, however, the fighting has not yet been productive of decisive results to either side. With such huge armies as are engaged, and with the fighting extending over such a great area, it may be days before any material advantage is gained, such at least as is likely to enable either side to press home to victory. The nows from Belgium, for the next few days should prove of intense interest. At any time now we may hear of British troops participating in the fighting.

Eussia's progress against Germany and Austria continues to be satisfactory. The reports of her movements in Galicia are indeed somewhat astonishing. If they are to be credited her troops have not merely driven back the Austrians at the frontier, but have penetrated long .distances into the interior. There seems to be some conflict of evidence as to the exact position of things, for one.of the encounters recorded to-day appears to have taken place in Kussian Poland, where Austrian troops, would hardly be expected to oo fouird at the present juncture. No doubt there are rov-, ing bodies of mounted men from both armies scouring the country, and encounters between these at this early stage of the war are given an Exaggerated importance. Tho satisfactory feature which can be singled out from the confusing scraps of information to hand is the evidence that Russia continues to press forward, and at a. much greater speed than was anticipated.

Report's of naval activity in China waters are to hand to?day. We are told that two German cruisers havo been brought into Hong-Kong in a terribly battered condition,. the as r sumption being, froni fcho fact &at they have been brought into a British port, that they have been captured by British ships. It would be good news 'indeed if it should be that one of the two were the big armoured cruiser Gneisenau, the most formidable vessel the Germans now nsve away from home waters. This warship has a displacement of 11,600 tons, carries eight B.2in. guns and six 6in. guns, and can steam 24.8 knots. Associated with her in Germany's Far Eastern squadron is a sister ship, tin Scharnhorst, which, however, grounded badly in 1909, and has not been able to steam fast since. In addition to these cruisers the vessels with this squadron were the Leipzig (recently reported as having coaled at San Francisco, and^therefore absent from hev recognisad station), the Emden (sunk about August 6 in the fight with the Russian cruiser Askold), the Nurnberg (reported on August 4 to have left Honolulu supposedly for Samba and southern seas); and the Geier (reported on from Bata via, Augusts, to have stopped and searched at sea a Dutch liner outward bound from Australia). In addition to these cruisers there were half a dozen gunboats of about 900 tons, 14 knots. If. there is anything in the reported capture at all, it may be that it is a couple of these gunboats which have succumbed to the activity of the, British Eastern Fleot, or possibly .the owing to nor inability to steam fast may have fallen a victim. The Gneisenau is faster than any British boats of the samo class in Far Eastern waters, the light cruisers which we have there which could steam her down being only half her size, and much more lightly armed. The Commonwealth's Dreadnought H.M.S. Australia, however, outclasses her in every .respect.

Germany's rejection of Japan's demand that she should relinquish Kaiochau brings the Japanese fleet into the ' conflict, and by so doinit automatically releases the greatev part of Britain's Far Eastern flcnt for service elsewhere. The Japanese, fleet is, of course, overwhelmingly s'uperior to the few German warship" in Eastern waters, "and may be left to attend to them. The British ship* thus freed include two 'battleships two armoured cruisers, arid a num ber of speedy light cruisers. Thesn vessels would 1» very useful jusinow in these waters. Escorts will bo wanted for the Australian and New Zealand troopships, and' the action of Germany in rejecting the ultimatum of Japan should clear the way in this direction. Moreover, there are still German cruisers in- tne Pacific which need • hunting down, and there are wireless stations under Gerrdan control dotted about tho ocean which should be captured or put put of working order as soon as possible. Japan's appearance in the field of activity is therefore a matter of much greater importance than it at first sight might appear to be.' No real difficulty should be experienced by the Japanese in sficuring possession of iCaiochau. In November, 1898, Germany secured from China a 99 years' lease of this strotch of territory covering some 200 square miles, and served by a useful harbour. There is a neutral zone extending over 2500 square miles surrounding the area held by Germany. The port of Kaio'chau is under the control of the German Navy Department, and is used as a coaling station. It is fortified but not strongly enough to offer any prolonged resistance to'an attack by Japan in force. The nneasinesn caused in the United States by the announcement by Japan of its intention to dispossess Germany of this useful piece of territory has been quite allayed by the explanation that it is proposed. to hand it back to China. Tho point of interest to us at the moment, however, is the fact that Japan's action is likely to 'further assist in keeping our trade routes free of the enemies' cruisers.

Referrino to the suggestion of the London Times that the armaments of Australia and New Zealand may be best utilised in capturing Germany's colonies in the Pacific, the Melbourne Ape says: ■ ■ The German colonies are a menace to Australia. They should , be seized as soon <is possible—ami we should seize them. By so acting we shall bo serving the Umpire and serving 4 ourselves. Our Empire is at war, and in that war wo must play our part like men. Tho Age points out that the total German population in Germany's Pacific colonies is only 1535, and that these possessions are without fortifications or other effective means of defence, "save and except a

couple of second-rate cruisers which should very soon be captured or otherwise accounted for by the Australian Navy-or by vessels'attached to the Eastern sriuadron of the Imperial Fleet." The programme of annexation outlined by the Ar/e 'is attractive enough, but the probabilities aro that it would not be such an easy task as the Melbourne journal seems to think. It is quite possible that the Germans haye taken some measures for'the- defence .of their ■Pacific colonies and coaling stations before and since the war began. The. naval and military resources of Australia and New Zealand, however, should bo more than sufficient to carry out the suggested undertaking should it be deemed advisable to do so.

There is a certain amount of force in a contention advanced by an Australian contemporary that the.capture of German 1 * ships bound to this part of the world with cargo necessary for the carrying on of our industries is an achievement that has its disadvantages. Indeed, unless some satisfactory i arrangement is made it is certain that friend as well as', foe will suffer from'these exploits. No ono is likely to object to the enemy being despoiled of his ships, but when these ships contain, cargo consigned to British owners at British ports, it is obviously desirablo that the disabilities imposed upon the consignees by the capture of foreign ships in which their goods are being conveyed should be minimised as far as possible. To compel consignees to meet transhipment charges in respect of goods upon which they aro already paying freight cTiarges to their own port .js not calculated to encourage trade or allay the evils due to its dislocation. How the difficulty is to be satisfactorily overcome is a hard question to determine. Possibly it might bo arranged in the ■ case of goods consigned to New .Zealand via Australia that the cost of transhipment should be mado a charge against thecaptured ship. At anyrate, it is clearly unfortunate that British ships, in .despoiling the King's enemies, should incidentally (though to a minor degree) despoil merchants and traders who are the loyal subjects of the King. Perhaps the moral is. that British traders should patronise British ships.