The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1915. THE WAR.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 319, 16 October 1915, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1915. THE WAR.

(With which is incorporated The Taihapo Post and Waimarino News.)

The war has assumed complexities that render an intelligent reasoning forecast quite out of tjhe question. The eneniy has commenced operations in force against a small State that must inevitably succumb unless adequate assistance is not forthcoming from the Allied nations. Want of knowledge about what is being done in that respect and what forces the enemy is able to maintain in an effort to force a way across Servia, to join Turkey in raising the siege at Gallipoli and to save Constantinople from capture makes any opinion nothing more than guesswork. Even the London Times is so erratic in its expression of views on the new situation as to be obviously unreliable and ridiculous. We shall probably find that the Allies were not at all unaware of how matters in the Balkans were drifting, and it is not unr3iJoaable to assume that the 'Jrxii Luke Nicholas was relieved of his command I on the Russian front to assinie dl-.ee-I tion of hostilities that it was then known were coming in the Balkans. He has been no farther away than Bessarabia, adjoining the Balkan States, where he could well keep in touch with all important movements and so be able to correctly estimate the Allied requirements. He, above all other men, \ would <have an influence amongst his brother Slavs in Roumania, Bulgaria, and Servia, and if any one man can exercise a deterring influence against ingratitude to Russia from the Balkan Slavs it is probably the Grand Duke. However, it seems fairly clear that he is to direct operations on behalf of the Allies and it is believed that he was engaged in the new situation for several weeks before such a rupture as the present became apparent. The world i s not permitted to know win at forces the Allies have already landed or what they intend to land for optration in the new seat of war anything more than mere conjecture is possible it is therefore waste of time to pursue the subject. It does seem very apparent, however, that Russia is going to take: matters very seriously and that she; will strain every effort to break down Bulgarian opposition and establish a road for munitions to Russia through the Balkans, even if the Dardanelles. project is held up pro tern. Nothing ! but extreme admiration can he felt for ' plucky little Servia. She was the sub- = ject of the Austro-German catspaw that, precipitated their horrible entourage; of carnage: she was subjected twice to definite endeavour to render her incapable cf being anything but a negligible factor, but en both occasions she j triumphed, driving l^ r enemies be-! her borders, and the spirit she is now dispirit), vvsur* well, with flg-ynfo aP ~ f '--\vic(\ fr.r the rvrcbability - --»*- We

may rest assured that no Austro- German, tangent will alter the detennmation to break through Hun lines in the West. This great objective is now absorbing the supreme attention of France, and the work has so far progressed that turning back, or delay through weakening of forces would mean little short of disaster. There can be no doubt about plans for Western operation being in a forward condition, and despite the Balkan "dance," something ct a satisfactory nature is certain to eventuate in the near future. With the Prussian hammer effectively at work all along a seven hundred mile front, and its crushing blows in Bukowina, near the Roumanian frontier, Germany, it will most likely be found, has taken a. larger bite in the Balkans than s'he can masticate. We can only wait events during the next week for something to happen that will enable us to j intelligently view the new situation. I