A CLEAR PRONOUNCEMENT WANTED

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2637, 7 December 1915, Page 4

A CLEAR PRONOUNCEMENT WANTED

A considerable amount of uncertainty exists at the present time with regard to the progress of the recruiting movement in New Zealand. From one quarter the announcement is made that the position is far from satisfactory, while another authority leads the public to believe that all is well and that there is no cause for anxiety. These contradictory reports are liable to' engender a disposition to slackness in the community. People hardly know what tofchink, the result being that they wait for a more definite ij' a ew days ago we were told that the state of lecruiting was giving the Defence Department grave concern. It was officially stated that men were not coming forward in nearly sufficient numbers, and if the situation was not remedied immediately the matter would be serious. Since then there has_ been some improvement in recruiting, but'only yesterday morning the Department reported that the Eleventh _ Reinforcements were 587 short of its complement of infantry, while gaps in • the Tenth were still unfilled. It is true that more than the required number have volunteered for the other arms, but that does not compensate for the very considerable shortage of infantry. The published figures certainly justify the Department's urgent appeal for men to register and go into camp almost immediately. But, if the need for men is really as urgent.' as the Defence Department's recent reports have led the public to believe, the' statement made by -the Prime Minister yesterday at the war pensions deputation in reply to Mr. S. A. Atkinson's remark that ho understood a thousand more men were wanted at once, gave no indication of "grave concern, or anything like it. On the contrary, it is rather likely to leave the impression on the public mind that it has not. been considered necessary to make_ any special effort to sccurfe recruits. Probably when Mr. Massey is_ able to take the public fully into his confidence, the "surprise" he in store for us will clear the position up. At the present moment there are thousands of young New Zealanders who are making up their minds as to 'whether the time has come for them to enlist. To many of them enlistment may mean the abandonment of good positions. They may have been impressed Ly the Department's urgent' call, when just at the critical moment another authoritative voice gives them cause for thinking that their time to don the uniform has not yet come, This uncertainty must haye a deadening effect on the recruiting campaign. Dr. M'Nab, who has been endeavouring to rouse the people in the south lto a more adequate realisation of their responsibilities in connection . with the war, receutly declared that the real regarding recruiting is the spirit of lethargy. He tells us that a great number of people have the idea that the final result is assured, and that being so, they naturally ask themselves why should they worry. It is urgently necessary that this tendency, to take victory for granted should bo vigorously combated. Comfortable hints and assurances that everything is just as it should be arc not likely to foster the spirit that wins wars. They will certainly not increase the rate of enlistment. It the need for m.irn men is really urgent, and we believe it. is, the fact should be stated so plainly and unequivocally that no man or woman could possibly make a mistake about it.

has many facets, but with one notable exception of the news in hand relates to this singlo aspect of the situation. The exception is a message from Bucharest, labelled official, which reports somewhat rema) kable action by the RumanianGovernment. It states that the "military, from " Monday (presumably yesterday) is commandeering all steamers and other craft in Rumanian waters belonging to foreigners. Exactly what this means is not clear. It is possible that tho message has been garbled- in transmission, and that the action actually taken by the Government is ' the commandeering of all craft except those belonging to foreigners. In this form the statement would imply that Rumania is taking over water transport of local ownership, presumably as a step in military preparation. Accepted as it reads, the report would obviously mean that Rumania had embarked upon a course of action that is bound to bring her into early collision with somebody. The Austro-Germans, for instance, would certainly not submit tamely to the commandeering of any trading craft or munitions transports they may happen to have oa tho. Danube, and Russia, if she is moving any transports up the river, might be expected to object no less strongly to their seizure. The Danube, where it follows the Rumanian frontier, has Russian and Bulgarian, as well as Rumanian hanks, so that even the meaning of the term "Rumanian waters" is not clear, but it probably applies chiefly to tho Danube,- because, with the gateway to the Black Sea closed, there is not likely to be much shipping on the Rumanian. Black Sea coast. At all events, with the exception of this somewhat mysterious most of the news in hand centres in Greece, and it can only lw_ supposed that information is j being withheld meantime about some of the; most important developments astir in the Balkans.

Even the- attitude of- Greece, if it is still in doubt, a,nd there are at present , only unofficial suggestions to that effect, will be powerfully influenced, if not finally determined, by the general developments of a campaign engaging much greater forces than are likely to meet anywhere near the Greek frontier. If there is one fact cioarl}* established in regard to the Ealkans -■ it is that; Greece and the Allied Army based on Greece occupy only one co'mer of the picture. The uneasy speculations about Greecc which at present occupy so much spacc in the war news be read with thi< fact in. mind that events in Greece and in the. territories immediate! >; adjacent to Greece cannot in themselves be decisive. Left to bear the brunt of the campaign alone, the Anglo-French Army based on Salon, lka would almost certainly be helpless to accomplish anything of nK ment, even if its strength were gieat-ly increased. Undertaken as an isolated effort, an advance along the Salonika-Constantinople railway would be attended by deadly perils, and disaster would be almost inevitable. On the other hand, this, or some other move by the AngloFrench forces against the Bulgarians and Turks, should become perfectly feasible if there is assurance oi a simultaneous attack by Russia on Bulgaria, and of such assistance from Italy to the Serbs as will enable them to fight a holding campaign in the Albanian and Montenegrin mountains until that houi of vengeance arrives on which then hope.; arc fixed.

, The situation in the Balkans takes reasonable shape only if it is assumed that the Allies intend to prevjeute the campaign upon a comprehensive scale and in adequate strength, There is" a significant assurance on this point to-day in thf announcement that General Joffre 'i as . ' Jce ' l appointed Commander-in-Chief of the French armies in France and in the Balkans. Details of the resultant position are still a matter of speculation, both as regards the purely French command an I the policv of co-ordinated military effort which . the Allies have lately been developing, but the intimation that General Joffre is to assume control of the French operations in the Balkans seems-to coni.vey a definite assurance that the campaign will be conducted vigorously and in adequate strength. There matters really stand at the moment; the Entente has yet to show its hand, but it may be suggested that the mere absence of events in Southern Serbia is in its way a' positive indication giving colour to recent reports that the Austro-Ger-mani have swung their forces eastward from Serbia into_ Bulgaria to meet an anticipated invasion by Russia. There is some talk of the enemy—Austro-Germans and Bulgarians in combination—preparing an enveloping attack upon 'the Anglo-French army in the" 1 southeastern angle of ■Serbia, but to suppose that the Allies are leaving their enemies free to concentrate on sunh an enterprise is to suppose that they aro not so much developing a campaign in the Balkans as throwing away an army. At_ a time like the present, when available news tells an obviously incomplete story of . events and developments, it is as well to remember that the best military brains of the Entente have been turned upon the Balkan problem. Lord Kitchener has investigated it on the spot, and now we are told that General Joffre is to take an active, though presumably distant, part in its treatment. Remembering also that the concentration of a Russian army on the Danube,- and the prospect of Italian aid for the Serbs are 'as well attested as most other facts relating to the Balkans, it is possible to look to the future with confidence and to at least reserve judgment upon reports which suggest that the immediate fate and prospects of the Allies in the Balkans aro dependent upon the uncertain favour of Greece.

Official news of the Balkan campaign at present available states only that the enemy, attempting to advance, was twice checked on the River Gherna, and that Austro-Bul-garian patrols have entered Monastic The enemy repulse on the Cherna implies that the Allies have made only a very limited retirement in south-eastern Serbia, a fact in keeping with official Italian assurances that the attitude of Greece is satisfactory, as against unofficial reports and rumours to the contrary. The absence of any mention of Germans entering Monastir lends some support to reports that a considerable part of the Austro-German force has turned east into Bulgaria.

Not much is added at time of writing to previous accounts of the reverse sustained by the AngloIndian force in Mesopotamia, except the suggestion made by a Gerjtinut uuwHpapnr that tl.lo minqtlvlriUKn of the British p.lass was duo to

Arab tribes, whom the British believed to be faithful to their cause, siding with the Turks. This is almost certainly a puro invention, perhaps inspired by a desire to cover up the fact that the Turks ha\e had to send powerful regular l'tinfm'ccmcnts into Mesopotamia. The Germans, no doubt! are anxious also to encourage the idea that the Allies are faced by an increasing problem of Moslem hostility. Official reports have at all events made it plain that the immediate cause of tho British retreat' was the appearance on the Tigris of Turkish regular divisions in strength four times greater than that of General Townshend's little army. A comment by tha London. Daily Chronicle is worth noting. It says that the situation in Mesopotamia should be quickly retrieved, because the British force on the Tigris can be more quickly and easily reinforced from India than can the Turks from Constantinople. It is possible, indeed, that reinforcements are immediately available, for General Townshend's division was an advanced force thrown out ahead of the British main body in Mesopotamia. There is ho news at present to suggest tba.c General Townshend has retreated furthor than Kut-el-Amara, .100 miles below Bagdad, _ but tha point remains meantime, in doubt.

Nothing has yet come through in amplification of Sir John French's recent report that British operations on the Western front resulted in the capture of strong points and gun. positions, though this statement certainly pointed to fighting of a more open character thtin the siege warfare which is in constant progress. From a description of conditions on the British front, supplied to-day by Mr. Philip . Gibbs, thcie seems to be little prospect ot any important forward move in the immediate future. The troops are again enduring the privations of a winter campaign in water-logged t:< r.ches, but are definitely better off than they were last winter as regards the factor of artillery support. According to Mil. Gibbs, the Germans are busy completing cupola forts on some se.ctions of their line. It is a striking testimony to their industry and enterprise, but they have themselves demonstrated that' forts are incapable of. standing against mobile guns and howitzers.

Stories through neutral channels of what is jhapponing in enemy countries aro always of uncertain value, but there is no particular reason to doub't the Copenhagen report cabled to-day that one German ammunition factory, in Prussian Saxony, has been blown up, and that another, in Silesia-, narrowly escaped the same fate. Ammunition factories have been destroyed, by treachery or otherwise, in all the principal Entente countries, and it is very probable that Germany has suffered similar losses. The Copenhagen report gains in credibility rather than otherwise from the fact that the' successful" and unsuccessful attempts upon the war factories are attributed to disaffected .workmen. Owing to the painstaking and minutely-detailed surveillance! that goes hand in hand with Prussian militarism, munitions ivorks and similar establishments in fihe interior of Germany are tolerablj secure from enemy attentions other than those of raiding aircraft, but the country must by this time -abound with disaffected workmen to some of whom the destruction of Government war establishments may be expected to appeal.