The Chronicle. LEVIN. THURSDAY, JANUARY 4. 1917. FALSEHOOD AND THE WAR.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 4 January 1917, Page 2

The Chronicle. LEVIN. THURSDAY, JANUARY 4. 1917. FALSEHOOD AND THE WAR.

'J ho Bishop of Bathurst has protested publicly against the atmosphere uf lying that surrounds the great war. Whether lie attached the blame for lying to the big. daily newspapers of Great Britain, to people Slaving control ef the "War Office or those directing actual operations, was not made clear by Ihe cablegram we received; but that lie. "docs" attach blame is incontrovertible, and there is truth in his allegations. "Whether one reads the day-to-day allegations of the cablegrams or the twisted and distorted comments of the. city newspaper writers - to order, the idea conies uppermost that 011 the last two days' fighting the Allies have been beating the GermanAustrian enemp all along the line. Yet an openminded survey of the position in a.ny one month shows that our progress has been very slow in most places and that our few brilliant victories have been dearly bought. Mjaybe this truth hits the enemy's ease with even greater force, but the positiou to be faced is that we. of the British 'Empire are being fcpoon.-fed 011 dishes of liL'pes-aml-bittcrs prepared for us by igorant commentators in England and abroad whose sense of patriotism seems to consist solely in a desire to

lio about oiir achievements. That we have achieved some brilliant coups is cause for satisfaction; hut there is reason for regret in the willingness of

the average 'reader of cabled news iiiid the notes of the track-compell-ed local commentators to. accept as accurate the allegations of continued and practically uninterrupted success that drift along daily. The roal position, broadly put, is that our Allies and onrself have won ou two iinpoii'taiit .fields in France that constitute only a small portion of the great front, and that the enemy 4ia» triumphed in several other places.

Can any reasonable man or woman who follows the events of the war deny, that this is a l'air statement of the position? Yet nothing resembling it has been allowed to get newspaper publicity in these islands, so fan-. Why? We think the reason is to be found in a newspaper tradition that the road to success lies in '•giving tlhe people just what they want." But whether they really want wiiat the London and New Zealand city newspapers are serving up for them ad nauseum is another matter. I'Yankly we doubt it. Wo conclude with the Bishop of Bathurst's unflinching summary of the actual position. "Falsehood was associated with the war," he said, "in spite of the promises given last year we still i iid that the balance of the great achievements again had gone to the enemy. There was rebuilding of the man-power, industrial and moneypower, but we were approaching a margin where victory becomes impossible."