The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE. FRIDAY, MAY 21, 1915. PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 212, 21 May 1915, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE.

FRIDAY, MAY 21, 1915. PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

(With which is incorporated The Talh&pe Post and Walmarino News.)

One oannot help being impressed with the fact that for some weeks past the whole of the British people, here and elsewhere, have been obsessed with an idea that everything is not going as well with our armies as it might,' or should do. The whole of the Allies should by this time have overtaken their unpreparedness for war. As a matter of fact, the number of trained men, with the highest equipment for Avar it is possible to give, has increased out of all comparison to that AA r hich first opposed the enemy, and still ike -advance, the £ driving out of the thoroughly prepared Ger- , mans is not what the people of | the Umpire expected, Avhile the number falling in the fight daily becomes more appalling. The

when the decisive success is coming that will clear a view to the end of the horrible carnage and waste that still seems as thick as ever. We think it would be wrong to say, or assume, that those who are responsible for the conduct of the war did not anticipate that the Allied armies would be called upon to make almost terrifying sacrifices of life, because their huge preparations for sick and wounded at every suitable point renders such an assumption unwarrantable. The broadening of the war theatre by seeking to join Russia on the eastern front, through Turkey, has, perhaps, proved more costly in life than was expected at the outset. Indeed, the hurried appeal for more nurses and hospital equipment lends strong colour to this view; but most people will realise that in effecting a landing, under such intensely difficult circumstances, upon a limited area of ground that fairly bristles with forts of the most obstinate and destructive character, and over which there lurks swarms of the enemy in fortified places and prepared trenches, ready to contest every inch of the ground with an invader, the loss upon our troops must necessarily be great, Australians and New Zealanders did not underestimate either the magnitude or the extreme danger of the task, and they went to work in the only way, it appeared to them, through which success was certain. It has been described variously: one says it was magnificent achievement, a recordbreaking display of gallantry, bravery and fearlessness of death, while others, pronounce it to be a mad rush for victory. The terms are somewhat synonimous, but our men no doubt saw the course they took would prove the cheapest in life in the end. Many have fallen, but we cannot say the deaths are disproportionate to the emergency. If the full truth has reached us, as we are assured by Lord Liverpool it has, the percentage of deaths in the ranks of New Zealanders is not large, but there does seem to be a very large number wounded. However, the widespread feeling that war was not progressing as well as it might do, has culminated in members of the Home Government resigning and their places being taken by loading members of the Opposition, creating a National Government of as strong and perfect a character as it is possible to make it. It is not in the order of things that we should be permitted to know what changes in conduct will be made until they materialise, but if ever there was occasion to place absolute confidence in a body of men, that time has now arrived. It seems that the Admiralty is the chief cause of trouble and its First Lord been removed, but his successor has not yet been named. From the speeches of Mr. Asquith and Mr. Bonar Law, wo gather that the full strength of the Empire, to the last ounce, is to be marshalled and put forth. We, at this distance, can only hope for success, and assist in achieving it by sending what we can in men and equipment. If any are inclined to pessimism, we would remind them of the defeat of the sudden attack on Nancy, the defeat of the advance upon Paris at the Marne, the defeat of the attempts to envelop the left wing of the Allies early in August, the defeat of the enveloping movement repeated in November, the defeat of the attempt to break through the Allied centre in September, the defeat of the coastal attack on Dunkirk, and Calais, and the defeat of the attack on Ypres, The checking and driving back of the largest and most powerful army the world knows of, while our armies were only partially mobilised, trained, and fitted for war, go to make up a formidable list of enemy reverses, which fully justifies the French claim that military superiority has now passed from the Germans to the Allies, Without rapid success defeat is certain for Germany.