THE WAR

Levin Daily Chronicle, 17 February 1917, Page 3

THE WAR

(AustraLa-New Sealant Cable Servicel (Received This Day,' 8.45 a.m.) AN APPEAL. London, February 10. The secretary of the Boilermakers' and Shipbuilding Society has appealed to members to do their best work in the output and repairing of ships. He ••■mys that the grand attack on our vital artery has begun; it does not frighten us, but it is serious enough to stimulate us to pool our assets in the service of. the national interest. GIBBS WHITES'. Phillip Gibbs writes: A thaw lias set in; the first signs of spring. British raids are ever preceeding, with gunlinmmering all along the line. The Germans do not where the attack is coming. Wire is being cut and the trenches battered in many sectors. PARIS NEWSPAPERS. Paris; February 16. In accordance with the Government decision, morning newspapers will consist of but two pages twice weekly. A CALL FOR FISHER. ("Times" Service.) London, February 16. In the House of Commons, Mr Lambert urged that additional safeguards be given to cope with the dangers on the Mediterranean routes. He urged the recall to active service of Lord i Fisher, who overcame the 1915 su'bma- J rine campaign. I

Mr McNamara, in reply to a suggestion that the 'Government should announce the number of submarines destroyed, said 1 that /the Government declined to enlighten Germany as to her losses. SIGN OF IMPENDING ACTIVITY. The proposed tour of New Zealand Rugbyites from the trenches to Great Britain has been abandoned temporarily, and 1 the permission withdrawn.

(Timen Service). IMPERIAL PREFERENCE. 'A political correspondent says tihat if the Government accepts Imperial preference it will carry the bulk of the Liberal opposition and public opinion, and the pressure of events will have settled th© issue in advance. PREVENTIVE MEDICINES Colonel 'Oopeman, at a meeting of the Institute ioif Health, said that preventive medicine had achieved! triumph since the outbreak of the war. Prophylactic inoculation had given marvellous results in saving life and preventing typhoid ; there had been no case of typhus in either the British or French armies. Surgeon-General Sir Alfred Keogh declared 1 that we had progressed marvellously in. medical science, and immense knowledge had been collected.

GENERAL SMUTS. (Australia-New Zealand Cable Service) Capetown, February 16. General Smuts had' a great official reception in the Town Hall. ! He said the action of the Union during the war had given it a- permanent voice in the disposal of South Africa, while nobody could say what would be the ultimate fate of German East Africa. The Union Ih'ad the right to be consulted 1 on matters affecting its interests in Boutli Africa. Even more intimate and undeniable was the connection of German South-west Africa. General Smuts paid a tribute to the British-Indian co-operation in the East AfricaiL campaign and to the courage and enduranoe of the Indian trotops.

RAIDER REPORTED SUNK. New York, Feb., 16. _ Unofficial reports from Brazil state that a British cruiser •chased 1 three raiders and sank one. CHIN FIGHTERS. The States Department lhas no received confirmation of the report as to the confirmation of the reports as to the release of the Yarrowdale prisoners and the granting of permission for American relief workers to remain in Belgium, but press reports 6how that there is a relief of tension in the immediate present.

THE NAVALi ENGAGEMENT. New York, Feb. 16. Earlier reports as to a naval engagement having occurred off Brazil are supportedby a message from Rio Janiero stating the newspaper Riua says the officer of a British cruiser confirms the report of a battle off Fernando Noronha. He stated that the commander of a Brtiish cruiser xeoeived a report of tlhe battle by wireless from another cruiser which alone had fought the raiders. The cruiser sigjhted

three raiders at six o'clock in the evening and ordered them to approach. As they did not do so, and he saw them clearing for action, and manoeuvring for position, 'he almost /immediately opened fire. It was then nightfall. The cruiser returned the fire and the raiders fled, the cruiser pursuing. When near Fernando do Noronlia, it was seen that one raider was sinking hut the ether escaped under cover cf darkness. One raider is believed 1 to have been beached in a 'battered condition. The cruiser suffered slight damage, and one man was killed and a few wounded.

ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. Paris, February 16. Le Journal has published the American Committee's report on the Armenian atrocities. It states that 60,000 victims of exhausting ill-treatment were buried at Meskene, where the deportees from Slyria and Mesopotamia are encamped'. Three hundred bodies of women, old men and children were thrown into on grave. Five thousand Armenians encamped on the bank of the Euphrates are mere skeletons. Six hundred orphans are crowded into one great shed, dying of- hunger. People in othe rcamps are fighting for food.

Yeki Bey, Turkey's representative, has instituted terrible tortures.