THE Pukekohe and Waiuku Times PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS. FRIDAY, AUGUST 4, 1916 TWO YEARS OF WAR.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 197, 4 August 1916, Page 2

THE Pukekohe and Waiuku Times PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 4, 1916 TWO YEARS OF WAR.

" We nothing extenuate, nor let down auaht in malice."

To-day is the Becond anniversary of the entrafica of the British Empire into the great struggle that is rocking tha fabric of civilisation to its foundations. On Aagust the 4th, 1914, the Home Government took the decision pointed out to it by every dictate of honour and humanity, acd ranged itself fejde outraged Belgium and threatened France. And in a single moment the Nation found its soul, and flung in the face ot its slanderers tbe lie that we had tecome a decadent, degenerate people, plunged in eloth, wedded only to our sports and pastimes, and heedless as to aught that might befall so long as we might enjoy our riches it! pampered ea?e. Thsre was not an instant's hesitation or warning. Alike from the furthest-flung outpests of the Empire as from the great Dominions came the proffer of cur all to assist the Motherland in her struggle against the mighty forces that bade fair to enthrone Prussian militarism and "kultur" upon the ruins of Western civilisation.

Through the two years we have never faltered. There been times, perhaps, when tha unprcparedness caused by our refusal to believe that Germany could be wicked enough to make an unprovoked attack upon a peaceful neighbour made us fear we might be too late to help our friends, but# it never slackened our determination to light to the last man aod tbe last (hilling-. But new the black clouds cf uncertainly are lifting, arji the Star of' Victcrv is rising in the Epet while the German, sun is sinki'g in theWcst.

'ihe (lay that Germany, reeognis ing uo law of Gjd or man save her unlettered lust for woild-power and dominion, tore up the "scrap of paper" by which she guaranteed the inviolability of Belgian scil, she sowed the dragon's teeth from which the armies that will work her ruin sprang into life acd being. Two short years have witnessed the miracle of unarmed, unprepared England transformed into a military power of the first rank, perhaps the greatest land power of all, lor thanks to our dominion over sea we can transport our soldiers where we will, a feat impossible to any othsr nation save with our arsistaree acd good-will. So now to-day Germany is u beleaguered fortress—no more and no I 2sp. No outside help can break the cordon that surrounds her, and her gigantic failure at Verdun shows that r.o effort of her own can force a way throughout it. Whether it lingers long »ir whether it comes eviflly her fate is certain,—the fate of every lortress that cannot be relieved either from without or from within. And rot the least of her woes must come from the knowledge that the brutality and disregard of humanity with which she has conducted the war has put her beyond the pale, sj that she cannot except the ruth and consideration whicn is usually ix-

tended by a chivalrous victor to the vanquished. f or she haß sown the cpeu ssa with floating uiines, endangering foes and neutrals alike. She has used her submarines in discriminatingly upon warship or passenger vessel, heedless whether they were enemy er neutral. She has used poisonous gases and liquid fire as li' they were legitimate weapons ot war. She has sent her ZeppeliHf, 111 e :i in I In'* nlf'ill, I'i iiiiiiili r \x• >llll n :tll.l ' !111>I ren m their buls. Ami. -fiwiiH

thu3 the wind, she shall reap tbe whirlwind. The Alli£9 are pledged, and we can see no signs of wavering in their determination, not to lay down their arms until th 3 wrones inflicted upon Belgium and Servia are repaired, and German power so lettered that never again will she be able to plunge Europe into war to gratify her own insensate ambition. They should go further still, and for a generation to come make every German a Cain and an outlaw in all Allied countries. And at the end will come the crowning work or retribution and justice. If we have to put Germany through a sieve to find them we must hunt out the baby-killirs and the sinkers of passenger and merchant ships—those responsible for the starvation and ill-treatment of prisoners the cold-blooded murderers ot Nurse Cavill and Captain Fryatt, and exterminate them as we would so many noxious vermin. "Vengeance is Mine," saith the Lord, but we will be His humble instruments here on earth.