GENERAL WAR NEWS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 290, 10 September 1915, Page 3

GENERAL WAR NEWS.

BRITISH WAR PLANS. POLITICIANS DECIDE STRATEGY. I (Times and Sydney Sun Cables) ! LONDON Sept 8. Col. Rephijgtoit, th e "Times" military corrspondnt, in emphasising tfae need of restoring the General Staff's legitimate functions, writes: Sinc e the war began the General Staff has been practically ignored, and military policy decided over their heads, and strategy imposed by the loudest political talker. The war organisation has been so muddled that for a whole year we have fougiht With the aid of the old Haldane army and practically it alone, as far a$ the tJnited Kingdom is concerned. As ti-|ega|rds tfhe none can credit that the General Staff would have committed the country to the signal follies into which the late Cabinet light-heartedly rushed. With infinite pains we constructed during a : series of years an efficient instrument for the defence of the Empire, by the guidance of the King's Ministers. When the great day arrived we threw it aside. Judging from the record of the past yea,r Ave hav e not acted wisely, but tfae instrument still exists, and can still be used. A strong Prime * j ister wou'ld have insisted that the views of the General Staff be laid before the Cabinet before any fresh decision wa s arrivd at. I . I GERMANY'S GOD. ; LONDON. Sept S. The British Association has opened : its meetings at Manchester. I Prof. Arthur Schuster, in his presidential address,,discussed tjhe relations of science to practical life. Despit e a violent newspaper agitation owing to' his German birth. Professor Schuster had a great reception. In concluding his address ha stated that the origin of the conflict wa s to b e found in the worship of material success*, which maddened tihe German nation and had pdumged Europe into war. It is reported that, owing to a searcity of wheat, bakers in Holland are making "palatable and cheap" bread from a mixture of ground tulips anc" wheaten flour. This is certainly a nnv:l departure, the Pull Mall flkzette re narks, though in the seventeenth cen , tury tulips were cooked and eaten :v -egetables. €sir Kenelm Digby gives r recipe for the preparation of "the seedy buds of tulips":—"ln the spring (about the beginning of May) the flowering leaves of tulips do fall away. and there remains within them the end of the stalk, which in time will turn to seed. Take that seedy end (then very 'tender), and pick from it the little excrescences about, it, and cut it into short pieces, and boil them and dress them as you would peas; and rney wi.'l taste like peas and be very savoury. ,! To this day the natives of Siberia eat tulip bulbs, although these strike the unaccustomed palate as somewhat bitter '.'.nd acrid.