NOTES ON THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2270, 2 October 1914, Page 4

NOTES ON THE WAR

A little further light has been thrown on the situation in France, but we are still kept in a state of uncertainty as to the extent of the Allies' success in the great enveloping movement in the North. The few brief messages to .hand do little more than hint at the magnitude of the operati3ns which have been in progress for the past fortnight, hut the imagination needs no spur to piece together a rough outline of the struggle. The Germans have been fully alive to the danger threatening them. Their long line extending from the Verdun region westward towards Reims, and then striking off in a north-westerly direction beyond the Oise—this long line, over 80 miles in length at the outset, has day by day been stretched out to still greater length. Each day tho Allies have striven to press forward a little further in a northeasterly direction, in order to get round tho Hank of the Gerifian Eight; and eaeh day Germans have moved a little further forward in a north-westeily direction, in order to prevent tho Allies accomplishing their purpose. So tii struggle goes on—heavy marching and desperate fighting. As the German line ' stretches out it must get thinner, hence tho hurrying forward of reinforcements, to enable the lengthening process to go on without unduly weakening the line". Now it would seem the. Germans have reached their limit. Either they havo been outmarched by the Allies or they, have not a sufficient force to enablo them to extend their lino further. Threatened now with the certainty of having their flank turned, they have been driven to the desperate expedient of endeavouring to break the Allies' line by a frontal attack at a point some miles from the northern end of the line, hoping thereby to compel tho flanking force to fall back again. Once more the Kaiser's troops appear to have failed. The t Allies' lino remains firm, and 'the enveloping movement goes on. The signs point to a great victory. One outstanding conclusion to bo drawn from the operations is that the Allies now outnumber the Germans in Northern France. Otherwise the enveloping movement could not have been pressed home in the manner indicated.

The , critical position of the German forces in Franco is no doubt in part accountable for the recent activities of the Belgian \forces._ Their unremitting attentions to the German troops in Belgium are designed to embarrass the transport of reinforcements being sent to the aid of the German Right Wing, and'also to detain in ; Belgium as large a force of the enemy as possible. Every German prevented from going to' the assistance of the forces in; France helps to lighten the task of the Allies, and' in this way the plucky Belgians ,are playing their part in the great movement which may lead to the Kaiser's army being driven pell-mcllout of Franco. The Kaiser Jiimself is reported to be inconsolable over what he is stated to regard as the fiasco which has developed out of his great invasion of France. The story of ibis quarrel with the Crown Prince over the matter may or may not bo true, but there can be little doubt that this ruthless war-maker, who has spilled rivers of blood seeking to gratify his arrogant ambition to bring Europe under his heel,' is beginning to realise that he must pay the penalty of his crime against humanity.

It is a day of good tidings. In addition to the good' news from France and Belgium, tho Russians in Poland are reported to have inflicted a heavy defeat on' the German army which was seeking to cut the railway communication between Warsaw and Vilna; while .in Galicia tho Austrians havo been still further punished. Off the African coast the British warships have made a line haul of German merchant vessels and also ' a German gunboat; which is some set-off to the recent efforts of the Emdeh in the Bay of Bengal. To crown all, there is a speech from Lord Kitchener, which, 'in view of his known caution in giving expression to his opinions, is decidedly cheering. Addressing Territorials about to depart for foreign service, he stated that it was known that the German food supply was running short, and ho appears to have taken a hopeful view of an early termination of the war. There is to be no slackening of effort; and preparations are to go on to throw further troops into France if required; but when Lord Kitchener goes so far as to say that the war now-may not last long, then we must regard- it as a piece of rare good news, and trust that nothing may occur to cause him to revise his opinion.

The succcssful attack recently made by German submarines upon three British cruisers has no doubt dono a goocl deal to build up the reputation of thfe under-water craft, and has possibly encouraged some quite erroneotis ideas as to their place in naval, warfare. A correspondent of the Spectator, dealing with this subject in a recent issue' of that 'journal, remarked that the result of a successful submarine attack. was so terrific and the process seemed to be so simplo and easy that it was no wonder people of unbalanced mind were hypnotised by the event, and imagined submarines to be the be-all and _ end-all of naval fighting. "But it would be just as reasonable," he adds, "to assume that regicide was to bo the be-all and end-all of differences as to forms of government. When the recent controversy (as to the respective merits of battleships and submarines) was at its height, I asked a captain what lie would do if ho saw a submarine in the iieighbourliood of his ship. lie said: 'If I had ariy reason to expect submarines I should, of course, have guns manned in the bows and on either broadside, and tlie sharpest watch possible kept for periscopes. At the first sight of one I should ojjeu liro with every

gun that bore, and /steer mv ship straight at it. The way to treat a submarino is to treat them as King Alfonso treated the bomb-armed Anarchist.' " The Kino of Spain, on the occasion in question, rode the Anarchist down. This little story throws not a little light upon the position. Tho submarine is admittedly a formidable antagonist, hut it would be absurd to suggest that the ordinary warship has .not a fighting chance against her. The submarine fires its torpedo from a fixed tube, the view through a periscopo is restricted and indistinct, the submarine is sluggish to the helm, and unhandy at any time, and if shot were pitching near the periscope no view of any kind would be possible, owing to the volumes of water thrown up. It therefore seems reasonable to suppose that even gunnery less expert than that which enabled tho cruiser Birmingham to account for a .submarine early in the' war might lead to the destruction of these confessedly dangerous craft. One very important point is that submarines are greatly inferior in speed, even when travelling on the surface, to any modern cruiser or. battleship, and this circumstance alone makes any organised attack by them upon a battle fleet practically impossible. Some of tho vessels of a blockading fleet are necessarily exposed to a certain danger from submarines, but it has already been 'demonstrated that the danger, though real, is limited.

The war has. directed public' attention to the possibility of increasing the area under wheat in the United Kingdom. Mr. Asquith has promised to give consideration to a proposal for offering a bonus or premium to farmers to induco them to break up pasture in- order to sow more wheat and other cereals during the autumn and winter.' There were 3,630,000 acres under wheat in England forty yea'rs_ ago, but the area has greatly diminished since then. Last year it was only 1,925,727 acres. The Economist. considers that the present areaunder wheat could be easily doubled, and give additional employment to labour. If the wheat area was doubled it would add 30,000,000 cwt. to Home production. This would be sufficient to feed the wholeof the people of the United Kingdom for nearly three month's on the existing consumption basis of 5.2 bushels per head of the population. The farmers are' pretty sure of securing good prices for their wheat next season, and this fact may induce them to devote more land to the production of this cereal even without the additional inducement which a bonus or premium would provide.

The dropping of bombs from aircraft upon defenceless 'towns savours so much of wanton barbarity that it might reasonable- he supposed contrary to the rules of modern war. This it appears is not the case, at least in any effective sense, so far as the present war is concerned. 'The state of international law on the subject is explained by Dr. J. M. Si'AiOHT in his book Aircraft in War. The Hague Declaration of 1899 prohibited for five years the discharge of projectiles or explosives "from balloons or by other new methods' of a similar nature." The matter was discussed again in 1907, when the airship had come and the aeroplane was coming, and the Declaration then adopted is the law that now exists._ Dr. Spaioht explains that it is futile as a safeguard against the new danger. At the instance of the Russian delegation it was agreed to make the prohibition permanent, but to limit its application to undefended towns, etc. The Declaration was further amended by inserting the words "by any means whatever," these words bein°; understood by the Conference to have special reference to bombardment by aerial force. The practical effect of the Declaration, Dr. Spaight states, is nil. "Though it has been accepted by Great Britain,_ the United States, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, Norway, Holland, Portugal, Switzerland, and Turkey, it only binds those Powers in wars between - themselves, not in a war with a non-signatory Power, or in one in which a signatory Power is joined by a non-signa-tory. Among the non-signatory-Powers are Germany, Denmark, Spain, France, Italy, Japan, Montenegro, Rumania, Russia, Servia, and Sweden." In the present war. therefore, the Declaration has no specially restrictive force on anyone. A generally accepted custom of war forbids wanton bombardment of open towns and cities, biit a belligerent is free to bombard portions of such towns or cities occupied by hostile troops or buildings used for war stores or as arsenals. . It would therefore appear that the present state of international law in regard to aerial bombardment is favourable rather than otherwise to the operations of a Power like Germany, which has shown itself quite unscrupulous in its methods of conr ducting warfare.

The part the Australiahi'Navy has played and is still 1 playing in the' great world-wide struggle on which the future of the Empire is staked has brought home to everyone the vital importance of the local navy scheme.. Had it not been that the leaders of political thought in Australia, supported by the people of the Commonwealth, had realised their obligations in the matter of naval defencc and. given practical eifect to their patriotic aspirations, then the- positioh in the Pacific would have been very different to what it is to-day. In all probability there would have been no expedition _ to Samoa, no capture of New Guinea, and our trade . and shipping would have been much more seriously affected than has been the case under existing conditions. An attempt has been made to belittle the tremendous influence the Australian Navy' has had oh the position in the Pacific. It has been stated that had not Australia decided to build and maintain a ileet of its own, the British Admiralty would have provided a still stronger fleet for these waters. Such a contention can only bo based on ignorance. The policy of the British Admiralty has never been to station modern and up-to-date boats in the outlying parts of the Empire. Look at the South African Squadron as it is to-day,' the China Sea Fleet, the East Indies Fleet —where are the boats there that possess the weight of guns and speed of the German cruisers Scharnhorsfc and Gnciscnau? The only British warship east of the Mediterranean with greater steaming power and heavier guns than these German boats is the Australia ; while in the light cruiser class the Melbourne and Sydney are with one exception faster than any other British vessels of that class in the whole of the Pacific fleets. An attempt was made sonio time ago to ridicule the idea ,of the Australian Fleet being of any real value in

case of an outbreak of war in Europe; and the thought of New Zealand building a Bristol cruiser was scoffed at by certain unthinking politicians. To-day x that Bristol cruiser would be a very welcome addition to patrol trade routes. Each day urings home more clearly the fact that the outlying portions of the Empire must be prepared to protect their shipping interests in their own waters, and not throw the burden on the Mother Country, which has plenty to do in safeguarding the Empire's interests m the North Sea.

It is certain that the decision of the Government to increase the daily pay of privates in the Expeditionary Force from 4s. to 55., and that of corporals from ss. 6d. to Gs. -will be universally approved throughout Naw Zealand. This is,, of courso, a much higher rate than is paid in the regular -British Army, but the circumstances here are different. The increase of a shilling a day will entail a material increase, in the total cost of the Force, but those who remain behind will not begrudge tho additional burden. The scale of pay as it has now been fixed represents a reasonable adjustment to the circumstances of the case. Adequate provision must be made for the support of dependents of the absent soldiers, if not through the medium of military pay, then by means of the patriotic funds which are being raised, or in some similar fashion. It is not pretended that the pay tho men receive represents a quid, pro quo for the service,they are rendering to their country. That service in itself involves a sacrifice which is not to be measured in terms of pounds, shillings, and pence.