NOT STARVED YET.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 249, 9 February 1917, Page 2 (Supplement)

NOT STARVED YET.

A third delusion it is necessary to sweep away from the minds of the people in this country is that Austria. i.s on the verge of starvation. No such tiling. In the cities, where they are used to meat, they fee! the pinch and are resentful, but in the country the peasant, who is largely a vegetarian, has bread, and that at least satisfies his needs. He has a sufficiency of bread, too, for wiii!o lie is required to yield up all the grain lie reaps beyond a certain quantity for the immediate requirements of his' family, he manages to keep lack enough to give him and his (In pendents a sufficiency of brepd'. A real source of the trouble is that the soldier, who requires meat, find* himself with one or two meatless days, and he does not like it at all. Still his discontent is not yet serious enough to !>o counted as an important factor. Again, the economic situation of Austria is bad, but not so bad as is depicted. A pretty good idea of the financial situation can Ite got from the value of tliw kroner, which has depreciated 47 per cent, as against 3 per cent, on the part of the German mark . But neither the financial nor the food situation of Austria seems to me to have advanced far enough to cause a collapse. And you cannot get away from the fact tha Austria has at least three million men capable of carrying out military duties left. Three million men officered by Germans arc a strong mass, however deficient in military steadfastness they may be.

If the war ends without the Ber'iuBaghdad dream of Empire being shattered by the cutting of the Berlin-Stam-bo.nl line, Germany wKI have every i raise for satisfaction, for not only will she have seen the Balkans brought under Germanic domination, but Austria made an annexe of Germany to an extent as almost to be indistinguishable. Now that Germany has Austria absolutely in her power she will not let go if only for the reason that if Austria were smashed she would be isolated and doomed.

If I were to sum up the position of Austria in a sentence, I would say that she iy still strong in men, but is hard pressed as regards food and finance. Her munition output does not yet appejir to be overtaxed, and the great Skoda factory provides her artillery necessities, and the nfle output of the great Steyer factory in Lower Austria gives her all the lines she needs. The Skoda works, as is well known,' turn out better guns than Krupps. "THE WEAKEST JOINT." Nevertheless, Austria is the weakest joint in the German armory, and a fierce thrust at Austria might have incalculable consequences. There was a time when this thrust seemed to b© promised by tho intervention of Rumania, but for the present that hope must be put aside.

The chief danger to Austria at the moment appears to lie in the Italian offensive in the Carso. The Italians hare still a good distance to go before they reach Trieste, and the_Austrian defences are admittedly strong; "out the fall of Trieste, if it could' be achieved, would have; a tremendous moral effect, in the Empire; it would suggest to the Austrian population that the Empire was indeed crumbling. A fourth delusion under which the British public labour is that the peoplft of Austria-Hungary do not Share Germany's hatred far this country. The Bohemians, the Serbs, the Croats, and the Rumanians, struggling for their freedom, have no animosity towards Great Britain, but the Austro-Germans and the Magyars are violent enough in their dislike of the British.

The Hungarian paper ViLig, on the occasion of the tragic loss of Lord Kitchener, wound up an abusive article with the following: lu reality Kitchener was not an Englishman, eitder by blood or his physical appearance. In the blood <•'• an Irish renegade flowed the enthusiasm of the apostate. His face was tho colour of brick; lie squinted with one oye (the other was violently put cut by an Indian rebel), and with his flattened ncse he had the appearance of a Colonial. This distinguished butcher had no human value.

Az Ujsag, tlie organ of the Hungarian Prime Minister, Count Tisza, wrote: The plan of the war was conceived in the head of Grey, whose mouth vomits fiery lies; Grey is the incarnation of Britain's perfidy. Though a gentleman in his outward appearance, Grey is the greatest hangman of mankind, who only deserves to lie put into the darkest prison.

The Magyars know they are the tools of the Germans, but they say they prefer German to Russian domination. Count Tiza, their Premier, is a rough, Prussian-like sort of man, quite willing to obey Berlin's behests. Baron Bu'rian, tho Austrian Foreign Minister, who has been voileutl yattackcd, is a weak man of no particular gifts, and the agitation of both Count Andiessy and Count Karolji is merely to serve personal aims; neither counts.

Too much importance should not be attached to the murder of Count Sturgkh; it is merely a, symptom of a certain amount of war excitement in Vienna and resentment on the part of no very numerous elements at the absolutist character of the control of the Empire. The Austrian Parliament has not been convoked since March, 1914. It had nothing to do with the declaration of war. Since then the military, under tho aegis of the Emperor, have exercised control, an dtheir control now i= subject to that of Germany. The chief wealth of Austria is contained in the Bohemian eountrits of Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia, where the main industries are concentrated, and with the break-up of Austria these countries, by claiming their independence, would leave a surviving Austria financially and economically prostrate. Hungary without Transylvania would be shorn of tha natural protection of the Carpathians and rendered impotent for further harm, particularly as the Banat of Temesvar would bo included in Rumania's and Serbia's compensations. The national dent has increased from W millards of kronen to 45 millards (520 million pounds to ISOO millions), but there is still money in tho country to help to carry on the wart . Food is short, but there is still enough to prevent actual starvation.

Finally, there are still three million men with whom to continue the war, and three million men are not easily put out of action. For all Austria's misery and sufferings we cannot ye£ reckon on her col. laps-e, and tho events on the Rumanian front arf a warning of tlio dangers of »plf-de!usion.