ON THE WESTERN FRONT.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 219, 4 January 1917, Page 5

ON THE WESTERN FRONT.

A DBCISIVE EFFORT. I --.—'—' - I 'ANGLO-FRENCH PREPARATION. ‘ LONDON Jan. 2. General Sir Douglas liaig is visiting‘ Paris. He conferred with General Ly—avtey (M;inister for War) and Genet?! :11 Ncvelle (the French Commander-in-. Chief). PARIS, Jan. 2. Writing in the “Echo de’ Paris,” M. Marcel Hutin states that the British and French are preparing for great decisive eiforts. . GERMAN RAIDERS REPULESED. LONDON, Jan 3. ' Sir Douglas Haig reports: We drove back patrols which were attempting to enter our trenches at Vermelles, and northward of Ypres. , AT VERDU N. LONDON, Jan 3. A French communique says: There was a lively artillery duel between Hardamont and Benzonvaux, with intermittent fire elsewhere. ' ' FOOD RIOTS IN VIENNA. i Received 10.20. \ ' ROME, Jan. :3. Reports from Bernc state that ‘food riots occurred at»‘Vienna on Xmas Day. The crowds raided the railway stations and pillaged warehouses. ‘ L AUSTRO-HUNGARY SHORT or l roon. i ) NOT SUFFICIENT FOR SIX I : MONTHS. I § LONDON, Jan. l The Morning Post’s Buda-Pesth cori respondent says the peace offer was pro- ! meted with the knowledge that Austro- | Hungary ’s food will not last six months. i The most critical period will be in‘ ‘ July, when statisticians assert. there will not be a grain of wheat or maize left. Austro-Hungarian soldiers behind the I front are already on half rations. ! N 0 FOOD FROM ROUMANIA. V —— I LONDON, Jan. 2. i The Austrian military authorities? have authorised the anouneement that; the Russian, Roumanian and English; Commissions destroyed Roumanian cereals. The Austrian population is f:uri— 3 ous at the announcement. -————~— I THE BALKAN CAMPAIGN. WHAT IS THE SALONIKA ARMY ‘ DOING? Received 9.10. LONDON, Jan 3. The Daily Mail asks what the Salonika. army is doing. German reports suggest that two hundred thousand Bulgarians are holding up 450,000 Allies. The Allied army might well have turned the scale in the West in 1916 Germany’s vulnerable point. The great Balkan railway is nowhere within reach. Between Salonika and The railway stretches an exnanse of roadless mountains, which no modern army is able to traverse. Germans have railways, which we lack. They have secure communications, and no fear of submarine. The Allied armies would be delighted if the Salonika mistake was undone. f "DAILY MAIL” URGES WITHI DRAVVAL. LONDON, Jan. ‘ The “Daily Mail” urges the partial or complete withdrawal of the Salonika expedition, which is 2*. burden, equalling Gallipoli, playing the cncmy’s game, ;\vé.aken,Eng ‘the Allies, achieving‘, 113) good, and using troops, warships and ‘shipping needed clsewhere,: while the nialarious climate is prejudicial to the ‘health of the troops. .