PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3114, 19 June 1917, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Pronounced aerial activity and bombardment at different points in t'nfc low country between Ypres and Armentieres hold out a promise of early developments on tne British' front, but at the moment of writing matters are still at the stage of expectation. Determined attacks by the enemy on the French positions on tho heights of the Aisne have enabled him to gain a limited lodgment in a small French salient a few miles west of Craonne. But the German description of tho captured position as a "mountain of prominence" appears to be a purely imaginative effort.

Some promising indications of improving order in Russia are mentioned in tho news to-day. Not much has been heard of tho Duma dinco the revolution occurred, but it speaks with bold decision in the resolution declaring that a separate peace or prolonged inactivity on the fronts would be ignoble treason to the Allies. It is _of good omen also that the Provisional Government, in addressing a Note to the Allies asking them to arrange a conference with the object of revising war aim agreements, expressly excludes tho Pact of London, under which the principal Allied countries ,-ind some of tho smaller nations linked with tho Entente are pledged not to make peace separately. The Council of Workmen and Soldiers' Delegates is also reported to be taking a more reasonable tone, as it descends from academic discussion to the treatment of practical issues. It is stated that in its recent deliberations its members have expressed sympathy with Poland, Belgium, and Serbia, and have recognised the right of these countries to compensation. Modification of the doctrine of no annexations and no indemnities in tho place where it originated would obviously reduce tho gravity of Russia's internal problems and assist her to evolve conditions which would enable her to resume her place in tho Allied ranks. Apart from news of political developments there are German reports of fighting at several points on the East front, but it would be somewhat optimistic to expect the Duma's demand for an immediate resumption of the offensive to bo promptly met. Recent news is good chiefly as pointing to a steady, though gradual, restoration of internal order.:

Captain Bathurst's statement that the main reason why fewer vessels are sunk by enemy submarines is the arming of merchantmen makes very light of tho counter-offensive which is tirelessly maintained by the Navy, and probably goes further in this direction than tho facts warrant. Facts supplied by the First Lord of the Admiralty on the rare occasions when ho has momentarily lifted the veil on tho anti-submarine campaign have gone to show that steady toll is taken of tho underwater raiders by mobile naval craft, and tho measures that are being taken in America and elsewhere to increase tho available flotillas of submarine chasers afford plain evidence of their value- and importance. There is no doubt, however, that the arming of merchantmen is a vital factor in tho development of the anti-submarino campaign. No recent announcement has been made regarding tho progress made in arming of British merchant ships, but Britain is probably at least as far advanced in this enterprise as Italy, and tho Italian Minister of. Marino stated on March 15 that Italy would Boon have all her merchantmen of medium tonnage armed and fitted, in addition, with wiroless apparatus. "In this way," said tho Minister, "tho whole Mediterranean will be united in a close network* which will enable us to follow all the movements of the enemy and to drop rapidly upon them wherever they appear. All our coastal places aro suplied with guns to frustrate piratical attempts, while a constant watch for submarines and airships is maintained. Our Boy Scouts have been of great assistance in this work. Tho result of our precautions is most satisfactory. # » * • An example of the utility of arming merchant ships appears in the experience of two French steamers mentioned in an official report today as having successfully resisted attack by largo, enemy submarines, which they encountered near tho Spanish coast, but outside the declared blockade- zones. Tho messago is interesting on two grounds. Ono is that unless the merchant ships were very lightly armed the submarines must havo been of exceptional size and gun-power to maintain an "artillery duel." This apart, the messago carries a distinct suggestion that enemy submarines are still obtaining supplies on tho Spanish coast, and using it as a base at operations. Various explanations are given of the current disorders in Spain, but they are described by common consent as acute, and it is more than likely that onemy agents in the country are profiting by existing conditions to redouble their activities on behalf of tho submarines. . . t Since about two-thirds of the coal-bearing areas of Franco and a considerable extent of her lron-nclcls are in German occupation it may seem extraordinary that she is able -to keep her armies supplied with suns and munitions. Britain supplies France with a large amount of raw material, and with some manufactured munitions, and America supplies her with great quantities of steel, but France works up an immenso amount of material in her own factories, and at intervals her Ministry of Munitions is able to announce a doubling, trebling, oi still further multiplication of hoi output of munitions. This is accomplished, according to a recent writer, very largely by t-ho use of what is called in France "white coal " Tho great provinces which border the Alps arc dotted with factories working at high pressure foi war, and hero and there for peace also, and the power for all of them is supplied by this "white coal ; it is water-power. Alpine Franco is a country of glaciers, icy streams, and little mountain villages, and its hundreds of waterfalls have all been harnessed. They drive machines that draw steel out for ar-imour-plating, that forgo it into

heavy guns and bars from which are cut tho lengths that are afterwards made into shells, that manufacture all the parts of motor wagons and armoured cars, and that turns acids and gases and cotton in to-high explosives. Some of these waterfalls are said to ho among the most powerful, though not of course among the. largest, in tho world. The fore* of tho fails is turned into electric power. Great electrodes supply the heat for the blast-furnaces, and dynamos work tho great hammers and saws and cutting knives, and as a result all this work, which if done with coal fuel would havo fouled the air and blackened the countryside, can be done, and as a, matter of fact is done, alongsido health resorts and hospitals.