GENERAL WAR NEWS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 348, 9 December 1915, Page 3

GENERAL WAR NEWS.

TO BOMBARD RENI AUSTRIAN MONITORS LEAVE RUSTCHUK. ATHENS, December 7. Four Austrian monitors have loft Rustchuk on an attempt to bombard Reni. (Austriana monitors can only proceed to Reni by traversing over a hundred miles of the Roumanian Danube. < If the same right were not extended to Russia this would be a breach of neutrality.) GERMANS* OLD GAME. TALKING PEACE WHILE FIGHTING HARDEST. LONDON, December 7. The German press is deliberately promoting the belief that a movement for eaee is taking popular shape in England. Lord Haldane is reported, wehn speaking at MastertOn, to have declared that there is an increasing desire for a definite understanding as to the intentions of the Asquith Ministry and as to what the war is for. Tehy are disposed to enter into peace negotiations. Meanwhile Germany is frantically warned against waste, the people eevn being told not to burn candles at Christmas. The Daily Mail says Germany trier' peace talk in IS7O, finding it cheaper than expending lives and shells. The army fought the most vigorously while the Government talked the loudest and succeeded in deluding and slackening the French efforts, while bringing up German reinforcements. The Empire, says the Daily Mail, should keep its eyes on the map. They will find that the Germans, while trying to fool their enemies with talk. arc getting on with the war. THE BAGDAD BE TREAT. NO ROUT OR DISASTER. AN ORDERLY AND SUCCESSFUL RETREAT. BRITAIN'S PARAMOUNT DUTY. "GUARD THE CANAL." LONDON. December 7.. Mr. Lovat Eraser, in the Daily Mail, writes: —There is no question of rout and disaster about the Bagdad retreat. General Townshend not only removed his wounded by steamer, but was able to march with 1,600 prisoners. The Turkish pursuit was most persistent for eight days after the battle of Stesiphon. Enemy guns disabled two armed river steamers which had to be abandoned. The casualties indicate that 2.000 of our dead, were lef< on the field. We must assume that the intelligence officers on the Tigris were not aware of the opposing strength. This is not surprising since, the were compelled to rely upon reports of Orientals, who are most

vague in their ideas regarding numbers. The most anxious factor of the situation is that news will soon reach, Ramadan, which is the centre oft Freebooters, Austro-German agents,and corrupt members of the Persian* Parliament, who have Itching palms.' 1 Tribal desperadoes are lured with rifles and gold. The German Minister is apparently head of this motley crew. Hamadan is a place worth,* watching. The solution of the Near East anxieties is summed up in these words: Guard Egypt first. Our prestige throughout the East will stand or fall not by the failure or success at the Dardanelles, the adventure in the Balkans, or the minor thrust ai Bagdad, but, more than anything, by our ability to held the Sue/. Canal. It is the jugular vein, and we must hold it or be undone. Failure to make it impregnable aganst attack will mean instant trouble in India, dismay in Australsia.a nd collapse in the Far Est.

SPANISH GOVERNMENT RESIGN. MADRID, Dec. 7 The Government iias resigned.