The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1917. A GLIMPSE OF PEACE.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 10 February 1917, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1917. A GLIMPSE OF PEACE.

(With which is incorporated The Taihape Post and Waimarino Xews).

The three most interesting war cables to arrive during the past week came on the same day. The Russians in Corn-land are compelling the Germans to make their greatest possible effort to stem a victory that is going to open up a road to East Prussia and force back the whole enemy line in this northern sector. The battle at Riga is raging with unabated severity; I to hold off defeat Germany has had toj rush huge reinforcements, entirely j without winter equipment, into a zone,! where a man may rapidly be frozen to death, and it is emphasised that the, frosts are particularly severe just now. Therefore, German soldiers must be fighting at a terrible disadvantage. To become wounded means almost certain death. The artillery work is so violent that it is said to resemble that of Mackensen's on the Donajec, only that the Russians are no longer without' munitions, but are giving mere severely than receiving. Russia drove the Germans out of their well-prepared winter quarters and although efforts amounting to desperation have been exerted they cannot be regained. The Russians have fought the enemy to a standstill, and are now within two miles of the railway by which the German army receives its chief supplies. This great battle is on the German

road tc Petrograd, but it is al.so on the road to Berlin, and of this fact the Germans are becoming nervouslv aware. The second item of news is" that which reports the uniform succors of British operations in France. Continuous pressure on the Ancro, in the Sonime sectcr, is compelling the enemy to fall back, and to evacuate most important defensive works. Raiding, such as would in the early stages of the war be called battles, is continuous along the whole line from Belgium to Switzerland, and the success of the Allies never varies only in do. gree, but in no case during the past week have the Germans been able to recover lost territory by counter-at-tacks, undeniably indicating that the Allies have the superiority in men

morale and munitions. Continuous success on the West front has put our men in high spirits, and filled them with confidence amounting to optimism. They are eager, and straining at the leash to be let loose to deliver the knock-out blow. Mr. J. Hodge, the British Minister of Labour, has been good enough to tell us something of what took place at the Conference recently held by Allied chiefs, which is both elucidatory and helpful in understanding the unprecedented demand for women munition workers. Mr. Hodge thought he was not giving away secrets when he said the conference determined, if possible, to short-

en the war. In order to terminate it next summer, he appealed for women volunteers, adding: "Unless we combat this submarine menace we shall be threatened with a food shortage." Wc are distinctly told that the recent Allied conference seriously decided that the war could be finished by the end •of the coming European summer, that would be about .September next. In this we have some authoritative data on which to build hopeful estimates of when peace will come and the German menace will become an item in past history. Mr. Hodge also said that it would not be long before every Allied merchantman would be armed, and he reminded us that Germany dreads nothing more than armed liners and tramps. It meant more and more shells, but German submarines have the utmost regard and respect for the armed merchantman. He mentioned

that out of seventy-six of such properly armed ships only six had been submarined. The news given by Mr. Hodge of what took place at the Conference af Allied chiefs is the first glimpse Ave get of the coming peace; we may reasonably expect the clouds to soon commence to disperse, leaving a view so clear that we may almost fix when the Allied "Der Tag" is to make that of our enemies for ever impossible. The determination of the Allied Conference to end the war at 1 the end of next summer fully explains the urgency for having as many men in reserve as possible, indicated by the frequent ballots for men in this. Dominion, and the multiplicity of appeal boards and medical boards to expedite the commencement of training. Men going into camps now will, with the recently adopted system of training, be in France within three months. It seems that the present activity in assembling men here is to prevent a possible shortage in case of any emergency. It is difficult to see how America can avoid entering the war, but she is such a long-suffering nation that one cannot speculate on what she will i do with any degree of certainty. ,