PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3028, 15 March 1917, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

There is a cautious yet reassuring note in the speech of Mn. J. I. MacPHEKSON, Under-Secretary to the War Office, in the House of Commons on the British air service on the Western front. Mr. MacphekSON is a prudent Scotsman, representing the Ross and Cromarty Burghs, and he takes a prudent, circumspect view of our air craft and its accomplishments. Wo have had the supremacy at times, but we have had to fight for it, and in order to maintain it we must keep on fighting. There has evidently been some inquiry as to the efficiency of our air service in the House of Commons, and the Under-Secre-tary for the War Office has. undertaken the simple duty of his office zmd laid - before the whole liJmpiro tho simple facts. The casualties during tho past six weeks have aggregated something like one hundred and thirty, or approximately from ten to twelve per week. No statement, or even estimate, of tho Gorman losses is given in this official. reply, but wo know from Sir Douglas Haio'b messages that tho enemy airmen have suffered heavily Our airmen appear to be still under some handicap in tho matter of tho I class of machine supplied to them. While some are supplied with the best type of machines, there aro others of a less serviceable character, whioh aro being rapidly replaced. It is satisfactory to know that this chango is being made, but it has been a slow business. Tho airmen aro tho eyes of the armies they servo and if they aro not in perfect order and thoroughly equipped our interests must necessarily suffer. }£r. Maci-behson assures us that at no time has tho Gorman air scrvicc been able to accomplish such \york as could be compared with the British. This is reassuring, but nothing short of actual supremacy will satisfy tbo Empire, whoso' interests depend upon the highest efficiency in all services.

Most of our raiders will readily discover tho diffcrenco between the hunger riots in Germany and tlio food crisis in Russia. As wo feavo shown previously in tlicso notes, tho hunger riots of Germany arc duo to a positivo scarcity of food. Tho pcoplo of Germany have bv hunger bccomo exasperated beyond endurance, and. we have seen wlial, outrages they have, .submitted to at the hands of tho military. In Germany there is not enough food to satisfy all. In llussia tho position is quilio different. There is abundance of foodstuffs throughout tho Tsar's dominions, but f.].w /.rouble manifestly j; I.lie inadrrjvaey nf »fiy( j ibu(ion. The- people nf Russia rcaliVo- thai, there is plenty of food in tho country, Some, have it and eorno have

not, hence fclic necessity far placing .Russian foodstuffs under a proper system of control. Tho municipalities hav-i been empowered to control tho food supply of Eussia. ibis will assist to establish popular confidence, lead 1.0 n fair distribution, and, working in conjunction with the railways, the local authorities will bo provided with adequ&to supplies. As the weather improves there will bo let's railway congestion and the food crisis of li.ussia. will pass away. Would that the sanio could be said with respect to Serbia. As For Germany, tho moro hunger her people suffer tho more turbulent they become and the sooner will they bring the Junker autocracy to sue for pcacc.

The revelations mado coneoniing Germany's treatment of llussiaus in prison camps, as related by De. Kiui.ov in our cables this morning, emphasise- the utter abandon of the German mind of any consideration for sick and suffering humanity. An outbreak of typhus led to unutterable horrors among the afflicted, and the Germans loft these helpless sufferers to shift for themselves. T.hey sle,pt on bare planks in tho dead of winter. Their extremities were frostbitten, and bad to bo amputated. Hunger and inattention added to their sufferings, and tho wounded Russian soldiery wore without attention for nearly three weclcs at a time. .Nowhere among the Allies has such treatment ever been imagined as possible. Indeed, with us, the sick and wounded of tho enemy havo received similar comforts and the samo medioal attendance as our own. This is another exemplification of tho impossibleness of: world-domination by the Germans. _ They have lost all Eenso and sensibilities in their inad ambition.

There are somo cheering notes in tho limited war news. In eix weeks preceding February 15 sixty German submarines havo been destroyed. No greater tribute to the masterfulness of tho Navy could be paid, and while_the fact_ reaches us by way of Washington, its authenticity probably may be accepte-cl without any serious question. All the positions reported yesterday to havo been taken from the Germa,ns by the French in tho Champagne have be«n retained, the counter-attacks of the enemy having been destroyed by machine-guns.

The approval of tho Chinese Senate to break off relations with Germany means much. It is a closing of one of the most profitablo trado avenues in the East to the manufacturers, merchants, and financiers of Germany. The cessation of diplomatic relations may not mean actual warfare. Germany is impotent in a military sense in China; but she is far from impotent in intriguo and business. The break means tho expulsion of Germans from China. When the truo inwardness of this step is disclosed it will be found, wo dtmbt not, that Japan has had more than a finger in' the pie, so to speak. Maeshal Teeauchi, who is the chief of the Japanese Administration, has a strong unalterable objection to Gorman influenco in the Chinese Empire. Since the closing of tho Deufcchasiatischo Bank, Japan has taken stops to restrict tho activities of Germans in China. In order to sccure a "Pour Powers Loan," as it was called, Japan made a stipulation that China should intern or _ isolate all Germans. Whether this could bo done without breaking with Germany is a moot point, but Japan, acting in consort with tho Allies, has evidently found means to the occasion. There is also an expenditure of twenty millions sterling projected in China on railways, and by-way of placating our American cousins, it is being arranged that this loan shall be supported by tho American International Corporation. Out of all this and much more German madness has shut the Gorman merchant and financier. This break gives emphasis to tho truth that there is -no chanoo of Germany's ever dominating tho world.

The most striking feature, however,- of to-day's messages is tho splendid advance made in the northern sector of the Somme line, towards tho chief objective in this quarter—Bapaume. The achievement recorded is a most noteworthy one, namely, from Irles, the capture of which was reported earlier in the week, past a desperately strong position at Loupart Wood on to the village of Grevillers. From Irles to Grevillers is a distance of about 4000 yards, or something like 2| miles as tho crow flies. But it is not merely the distance covered; what is of far greater conscquenco is that the enemy has been ousted from a dominating position affording him marked advantages for observation and defensive purposes, and our front line has been pushed forward apparently to within about 3000 yards of Bapaume. It is splendid nows. Tho British lino here now extends very sharply from its original front near Gommoeourt towards Bapaume. Some progress is reported to-day north and northeast of Gommecourt, but effort in this direction apparently is not being pressed overmuch, it being probablo that the forward movement towards Bapaume, if maintained, will in clue course compel tho enemy on the northern flank to fall back or be caught in a dangerous salient.