CURRENT WAR TOPICS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXX, Issue 57, 10 June 1916, Page 5

CURRENT WAR TOPICS.

Greece is at last in balk! Events have moved quickly since yesterday, when we learned that the Admiralty was contemplating .taking severe measures against Greek shipping. Consternation was cause- in the Hellenic Parliament by the announcement that all commercial navigation with Greece was to be stopped by the Allies. But matters have progressed further than that. The export of coal from Cardiff has been stopped, and, getting nearer to Greek waters, French warships held up four boats that were due at Piraeus, the port of Athens, the same day. Still putting on the screw, the Allies demanded the demobilisation of the Greek Army, and now it is stated that King Constantine has had a great fall, and- no longer stands on his dig! The truth is, he has been forced to sign an order for the demobilisation of twelve classes of the Army, thus releasing 150,000 soldiers. But unless the sympathy of the masses is almost wholly with the Allies, it would appear, that the situation is only temporarily relieved, for there is nothing to prevent the; exploitation of the Allied troops by thousands of spies that are sure to crowd into the country. Of course, with the removal of the troops • from Macedonia; and the frontier, held by General Sartailks sdldiefs, there is less danger front *the Bulgars arid Germans than otherwise would .be the case. The Salonika campaign has, always been more or less of a mystery; but now!the plot thickens. M Avast!. Exit the villain, Tine!. . i' , '

“Two petty-office rs ami ten of the crew of the Hampshire were saved!” Thus reads an Admiralty message concerning the calamity which befel the Nation last Monday; when the greatest military Organiser the wouu'has' seen passed suddenly into the Shadow. Now will the truth of the Hampshire affair shortly be given out to the world. Whether the end came by torpedo or mine, let us know it even as we learned the fate of thousands ol brave sailors and stout ships in the battle off Jutland a fen days before. The Nation got a shock, it. is.; true, -inhearing the ■wop»t.Ui“all- of, a. heap, ’ hut then, the Admiralty never can please everybody. The press clamored for the truth,, .the, whole truth, anti nothing but the. truth, and when they were given a helping, of their homemade sauce, they spilt it all over themselves like wee children! Now that the main facts are disclosed, it is seen that quite unnecessary alarm and pessimism tilled the air, and now even the tardy admissions of the German Admiralty come in to brighten a story of pluck and heroisrii of the sea such as was unequalled in me annals ol the Navy. Hie mystery of the Hampshire will he cleared up in plenty of time, and me lucky dozen are deserving of all congratulations for their escape from'a watery grave. Those who go down to the sea in warships specially take their lives in their hands, and without a shadow the Hampshire’s company faced their death true to the best traditions of the British Navy. Kitchener might have been one of the saved, it is true, but Fate willed otherwise. The memorial service in the Town Hall to-morrow will afford the rauv y admirers of the -departed soldier an opportunity to pay their last respects.

Farewell the tranquil mind! farewell content! Farewell the plumed troop and the big wars That make ambition virtue! Oh, farewell ! Farewell the neighing steed and the shrill trump, The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-pier-cing life, The royal banner and all quality, Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war! The Kaiser said the other day in addressing the sailors who had return- ( cd from the battle, of Jutland that Verdun was already collapsing. What ho meant was that the German troops

had succeeded in getting into Vaux Fort. But lie' did not .say so. Ho merely uttered a generalization, and allowed.'the effect to sink into the minds of his simple people and of the unthinking among the Xeutrals, and’ as well (be it said to their shame) of many of the pessimistically-inclined in the countries of the Allies. But not much notice need he taken 1 at any time of Wilhelm’s talk, as he has a loud voice, and when the noise .Tas subsided there is usually nothing to be seen of the great events of which lie has been boasting. Many readers nearly “gave up the ghost,’’ as the saying goes, when they read tnat particular part of the Kaiser’s speech. “Verdun’s gone! I thought it wouldnot he long!’’ And sd on, ad nansenm. Xotwithstandiiie the great song that was made of Vaux by the enemy, when it is all summed up, there is nothing for their losses hut an empty shell, which was held at great risk and heroism by a gallant French Major and his men till the last. What is the position now P Well, five miles west of Vaux there is a place called Charny, A description of it will prove interesting. , , ,i-

Charny Ridge is an important position, hi the’ defence of Vordurt Well behind the French linefe. It runs’from • the village of Charny in a general south-westerly direction, so as to cover Verdun from attacks on the western .side of the river, even if they should..be no longer ’blocked by ‘the present line of defences running through Mort Homme. But it has a greater impbrtance still, in that it links up, through the village of Charny and across the river, with the flattened semi-circle formed by Poivre Hill, Douaumont; and Vaux. . First on the' right and, then on the left the Germans have done their best to turn the Mort Homme line, but if they did, this and took possession of Hill 304, they would then find themslevcs brought ■up short a little further southward by the Charny Ridge. The importance of this height lias been summed up concisely by ,no less an authority than Mr' Hillaire Belloc, who says: “(1) The Charny Ridge is ‘the continuation of the main position on the othbr side of the "river. Though lower (it is only 300 ft. above the rivOr), it exactly prolongs the hill of Poivre. (2) It is the last main position on this side covering Verdun. It is supplied by a failway running parallel behind it, and is close to every form of accumulated supply. It was the line of advanced works in the days when Verdun was a fortress. Two dismantled and abandoned forts stand on it to this day.- (3) It is a united open and continuous height from a wood on the south-wast to trie rrver at the village of Charny, with a long bare natural glacis sloping down north,, ward gently, without an inch of dead ground anywhere, and enfilaued from the spur in front so long as this is held.” ■

The news of the passing of the Military Service Bill in the New Zealand Parliament opens a new era in the history of the Dominion. Few will regret the occasion, for there will now bo Joss dissatisfaction anid back-biiing regarding the. sacrifices that Tom, Dick, and Harry are making, or not making, for their own broad acres or palatial homes. Writer has no fault to find with the manner in which the people of the Dominion as a whole rose to the call of Empire,and,regardloss of five-bob a day or any old excuse, left home and dear ones and did rot rest content until tbo enemy was being faced in the trenches of Gallipoli, Egypt, France, or “somewhere!” A» the Hon. Mr Allen remarked in bis speech in the early hours of this morning, the Bill does not approach equality of sacrifice for all, but the endeavors of the framers of the Bill were devoted to that end us far as possible lay in their power. Notwithstanding all claims to the contrary, the voluntary system had reached the end /if its tether, and though now the power .given to the authorities to bring in Compulsion may not need to be put into operation for a time it w 11 allay the anxiety in connection with reinforcements. Delay in having sink a law was only putting off the evil day. In some quarters the opposition of some sections of Labor is unsatisfactory and unfathomable, and there is an uneasy feeling that some sinister motive underlies the objection to

Conscription, and which may bo very troublesome later on. There is one place only for anti-conscriptioni:ts i Some(s) Island !