The Chronicle . PUBLISHED DAILY KEVIN. TUESDAY. APRIL 27, 1915. THE END OF THE WAR.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 27 April 1915, Page 2

The Chronicle . PUBLISHED DAILY KEVIN. TUESDAY. APRIL 27, 1915. THE END OF THE WAR.

Prom various soiweos. authoritative ami otherwise, come statements that a termination of the war with Germany and Austria is likely to he reached next autumn. it i.s r.ut ; in;:e!i on account of the great losses ol valuable lives that these statements are put forward : it is because thoughtful people are realising that a state approaching national bankruptcy is looming nearer and nearer for all participants in the fighting. Of tlie .justice of Fugland's eauise there are no two opinions ill these parts: and in regard to Franco's there is a like consensus of opinion': thought in regard to Russia's acts of early mobilisation on tlio Gorman frontier a degree of doubt exists as to whether she displayed a desire to avert the trouble that loomed so deeply after Austria's acts following ui)ou the deplorable mimlor of her Archduke in the Balkans. But these mattter are extraneous to the present problem ; the chief fact for present consideration is whether I iron t Britain and lier Allies can conclude peace with honour and still leave the German Confederacy united. There i.s so deepseated a conviction that the German C onfodoraey as it now exists is a standing menace to the peace of the world that we doubt if any .serious consideration will he given to peace proposals at present unless the conledcracy consents to be subdivided into the separate kingdoms and principalities that constituted Germany in tlio days a little anterior to the Franco-German AVar. But if this perspective become" a forefront. tlien we take it there will be

very serious consideration given to proposals for peace. Tn that event tiro piesent menace of German aggression will subside for years, and tlie buffer kingdom of Belgium will liave opportunity to rebuild herself and est.abli.sli lier people on tlie soil and mauufactor. ios from which tlie.v liave been driven. Frankly speaking. ,ve nave 110 belief m the widely-held idea that tlie Allies will ever beat Germany and Austria to their knees. Some coiupronii.se is inevitable. and in Great Britain's own interests at that, lor history teac'ie.i MS that to-da.v's eastern ally mav be in other disposition when new circumstances arise, and that Germany then may become a useful oufl'er .state.

According to London newspaper iunatcininiw that were cabled to New Zealand as "news,'" I lie. Austrian* were beaten completely by the Russians, during the first six weeks of tlie war. Vet they still are fighting. Germany, too, on the eastern frontier, was reported to be mi,staining reverse after reverse trom the. Russians; and those who took tlie "news" tor reality expected to hear every day of a Russian advance on Berlin. Instead we heard at last of the debacle of the Russians (Hi the East Prussian front, with the loss of at least one-fourth of a whole aimy corps (By German account the ■whole of the 10th Russian Army Corps was captured; but doubtless tiie German news disseminators lie as much as our own London news-gatherers do). Irately, the Russian arms seem to bo making real progress, and oil the western frontier the French, armies and our own appear to he doing well. Rut ; all the time goes on the gigantic ex- j penditure.s of money, money, money. | with holocausts of men. anil the great loss of even more real capital than money: we speak of interrupted industries. the hampered commerce, and the cessation o>f agricultural activities over vast areas of.rich lands throughout Europe. Viewed in the light of history, and judged on the plane of probability, the judgment seems justified that auguis for thn war a duration of many years before onr enemies can he beaten right down. And to do that, tho present stupendous expenditures would have to be duplicated from

ten to twenty times. These are views that will not he haihxl with satisfaction or approval by a proportion of our own people, but they express the truth as it appears to 11s, and ive doom it Letter that they should be expressed now. to the -end that a better understanding of the likelihood of eventualities may become disseminated.

The widespread anticipation of early and complete success for our arms in the present conflict is not justified by fact, so far, and tlie widely-held idea that permeate* Australasia and elsewhere is huilt up on the misleading "leaders" ami special articles purveyed by the metropolitan newspapers and the monthly magazines that mislead public opinion. When a broader and passionless survey of the situation is made, and the fact realised that we are contending against resolute nations whose resources in money and men and provisions are far from exhausted, the better will our people he prepared for eventualities. The titanic struggle to date seems likely to he dwarfed -by the magnitude of the operations d Hiring the European summer, and the toll of lives to be taken and wealth to he expended will astound the various peoples of the world. On the result of those operations will depend the national tempers of the combatants, and their directors in the Cabinets and Councils of the Nations. But much as we deplore war's necessities and its prices, we feel that the time for peace proposals is not yet. That the Allies may succeed in large degree must be the wish of all true lovers of liberty

whether kindred or alien -but t(i shut our eves to the fact tliat tile nine months of warFare to date have hail no effect other than defensive, so far as the Allies are concerned. would help us not at all. Tt should he recognised. fm'thor, tliaf -with an expenditure reckoned at tens of million pounds sterling evevv week, the load "I deht will become insufferable if the war drag on indefinitely. and it should become the settled policy of all tfio.se who lead public opinion in any way to prepare the peoples' minds for acceptation of any honourable peace that may fall short in .some measure of the public resolves expressed in the earlier stages of the war. The nation is laced with new conditions; and nice punctilios must give "wav when national bankruptcy is tlie only alternative.