Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star MONDAY, OCTOBER 8th, 1917. THE BELGIAN BATTLE.

Hokitika Guardian, 8 October 1917, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star MONDAY, OCTOBER Bth, 1917. THE BELGIAN BATTLE.

Tun great battle fought in Belgium last week is an extension of Ypres lIJ, that unyielding point where the. British put up their gallant stand In 1914. For three arduous years the war has gone on inoessahtly in that region. It began with Britain unprepared as regards men and munitions, in reference to quantity, hut the qualiy of men and munitions which withstood the. German onslaught under the personal direction of General Haig were surely unmatched. They were the-remnant of that contemptible little army, at. bay certainly, hut defeated never. Now, still retaining their quality and leavened with that remarkable chain of colonial dash and initiative, the quantity in men and munitions hn s been increased enormously; and still under the cool, calculating command of General Haig, they are performing wonders. The British Com- , mandor-in-Chief is now not in the firing line as lie was in 1914 and 1915, but from his chateau in a snug corner of France, he directs tho great masses of men with which ho has won and maintained the initiative, and holds the victory in his keeping. The present advance has been a giant effort. Each successive step since he felt 1 equal to the task of piercing the Hindenburg line has been greater than tho one before. Groat as has been the previous British efforts, the latest is described as the supreme of all. The British were able to win their objectives quickly with a minimum of losses to themselves and a maximum of loss- • os to the enemy. Tho latter lias lost . heavily in men and positions, and no ■ doubt in the morale of its troops and the prestige of its army’s standing. As - at Verdun, the Somme, the Anore, j Messines and elsewhere, the enemy have suffered defeat and discomfiture. The destruction of his forces, the dcvastntion of his line of defence, and the disruption of his plan of campaign, i

show where the flag of victory is flying .now. The season is far spent, and the' cold grey of winter will soon he spreading like a pall over Belgium. It is a question for how long General Haig can maintain tho present pressure. The season, and the conditions caused tho battle of tho Ancre to end on tho 18th October last year, and that contemporary date for this year is approaching. It would he a signal victory if the enemy force\on the western seaboard could bo pushed hack to give the Allies control of Ostend and Zeebrugge for tho winter season. This would be getting to the heart of the submarine bases to a considerable extent-, a triumph which would he farreaching in its* general consequences. Without this super-prize what has been accomplished these last few days is a dear indication of what is to come. England tho unready, is now the Britain prepared. In every phrase of the great attack all arms of the service did noble and wonderful work. The Gei* man forces and defences have no terror for our men. It was magnificent, truly, how they passed through tho enemy barrage live, and then dealt victoriously with the successive linos of German defences. Numbers were of no account to the enemy in that undeniable onslaught. It was a great victory nobly won, and all honor to those who participated in the splendid work which has put a certain seal on the inevitable fate of the war, for the battle lias rendered the final victory certain.

In tho course of the debate oil the amendments to the Licensing laws in the Legislative Council last week, one member, at least, hit out vigorously in protest at -,e unfair methods adopted in dealing with the question.—The Hon. (>. Samuel said he did not approve of tho Bill in any shape or form. Ho did not believe that the war would bo shortened by any such legislation. Early closing was going to affect detrimentally hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of income. It was not merely a matter of reduced income; the Bill meant that many businesses would cease to ho worth carrying on at all. Tt would close up dozens—probably hundreds—of hotels and lie believed it would reduce the demand for complete prohibition. He predicted that within eighteen months 400 hotels out of some 1200 ip New Zealand would he closed, and that 100 others would not he paying 2 per cent, on the amount of capital invested in them. Hundreds of people, would he ruined, and hotel property would he depreciated by not less than £2,000,000. Ho was sincere in his belief that these figures were sound, and lie felt, therefore, that if this enormous los s was going to he imposed on the hotel owners and licensees in the public interest, the public should pay compensation. The proposal that the Bill should come into operation on December Ist was an added injustice. The term of the existing license extended to June next, hut these licenses were being treated as “scraps of paper.” The expression was not t-oo strong from his point of view. Tho Bill as amended was finally adopted.

“When the Minister l'or Agriculture was in the South Island some time ago urging the farmers to grow wheat, he gave us to understand,” said Mr AY. J. Dickie M.P. for Selwyn, in Parliament the other day, “that the Military Service Boards would exempt the last man on the farm from going into cnriip.” Tile hoards, however, he added, had not carried that out, and lie had just had brought lo his notice a case which a man with 390 acres, who had put 150 acres in wheat, had been sent into camp, though he was the lastman on the farm. AYhat, he asked, was tho intention of the Department in connection with such cases? The Hon. W. D. S. MacDonald said that lie had been fully convinced that the Military Service Boards would adjourn such cases indefinitely. Mr. G. V. Pearce (Paten) ; “They won do it.” Mr. MacDonald said that the Minister i'or Defence had practically passed his word and the word of the Government that- wherever the last man necessary for carrying on the work of a farm was called up, liis case would he adjourned indefinitely. He. hoped that the Defence Minister and the Prime Minister would look into the matter and see that tho last, man was not taken off the farm. Mr. Massey said that the whole matter was now under consideration by Cabinet; hut he might state that it was not the intention of the GovornnAent to take the last man off the farm if the. man could not he replaced. Ho trusted that either the Defence Minister or himself would lie able to make a fuller statement in the course of a few days.