A DEFINITE STATEMENT.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVII, Issue 100, 30 April 1915, Page 4

A DEFINITE STATEMENT.

Sir John French does not make definite statements regarding the situation at tlio Western Front without being absolutely certain of what he is saying. Therefore wo may feel very reasonable relief—and even some elation—at his report cabled yesterday that the German attack on Ypres had definitely stopped. The Germans have been callously prodigal in sacrificing men in their supreme effort to break through the Allies’ walls of steel, but the limit has, apparently been reached so lar as the endurance of the troops at this juncture is concerned. How much further Germany can go in the matter of bringing up fresh reserves is by no means certain, but there are signs that exhaustion is setting in. That clever writer on (military matters in connection with this war, Air Hilaire .Belloc, has estimated that exclusive of her then existing armies (including reserves) avadI able for service, Germany when the | war began liAd an available reserve of j untrained men numbering, approxi--1 mutely, ‘2,100,000. Basing Ids tentative conclusions upon the host availiahlc evidence, Air Belloc is of opinion 1 that these men were trained in three j hatches of 800,000. Of these he considers that the first group of 800,000 took lhi> Held in the late autumn of I last year, and the second group in tho late winter, leaving the third to he brought into action at the end of this month or the beginning of the next, ; w hich commences to-morrow. Kxeept youths ol tender years and old men, ; (here are, if Mr Belloc is correct, no i more men to call upon, when this third ! hatch is used up.

THE WORK OF KULTUR. A London journal thus refers to the unspeakable conduct of the Kaiser s bandit troops:—“A gentleman formerly residing at Lille and now staying in tins country, most graphically described to the writer the filthy excesses which the Huns committed there during their occupation. His own house, a particularly handsome residence, corresponding to some of our old country mansions, was occupied by a number of officers of the general staff, men who in civilised communities might he expected to possess a' certain amount of refinement duo to! their education and position, but they were Germans, and to such refinement and decency are things unknown. 1 When they departed they left the place in a state which fairly beggars description. This case can be multiplied by hundreds, and yet when these scum of the earth fall into our hands, they are treated as persons worthy of every consideration; they must have a country mansion set apart for their accommodation, and not only that, but the said mansion must he lavishly decorated, and fitted up with every appliance to afford the poor prisoners a pleasant time, while our. own poor fellows in Germany are treated worse than animals, and forced to all kinds of ignominious tasks. People are getting exceedingly tired of this Don-, ningtou Hall business, and ask on whose authority all this money was spent on the enemies of our country, I who, judged by their general conduct, I would he far more suitably housed in I a pig-stye. Certainly the whole business demands a strict inquiry, and j w hen the party responsible has been | discovered, steps must be taken to eu-j I sure that in future he shall exploit his pro-German tendencies at his own | cost, and not at the expense of the 'already over-burdened taxpayer.' j Thieves on land, and pirates by wa-| I ter, these people can have no preten-' sions to treatment preferential to that commonly meted out to their brother-' hood in private life, and we are glad to see that a step in the right direction has been taken with the officers and crew of the UK. This is a fight with the gloves off, and it is useless discussing the principles of humanity with an enemy wilfully ignorant of the very rudiments thereof.” These critiisms are called forth by the fact that the British Government has spent £20,000 in adapting Donnington Hall| Bark, in Leicestershire, and one oil

the finest, residences in that country, as a place of detention for Gorman officers. The Government has gone even further than this in its kindly consideration of the captured enemy, for a number of captured German waiters have been transferred front

one of the concentration camps to act as valets for the officers. How much this specially kind, and even foolishly tender treatment of swinish ingrates who ought to be put to work on the roads, is appreciated is evidenced by the sneering of certain German newspapers. who regard this tenderness as an attempt to “curry favour” with Germany* One German newspaper, after declaring that “Germany doesn’t want mansions for her officers,” advises the British Government to “look after their own wretched soldiers hotter.”