The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3, 1918. THE EMPIRE IN DANGER.

Taihape Daily Times, 3 April 1918, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3, 1918. THE EMPIRE IN DANGER.

(With which iR Incorporated The Taihapo Post and Waip*irm<« fsaws>.

"The end is not yet," are words used by three correspondents whose reports have been cabled to us from France. Now, we have the British Prime Minister'cabling to the people of New Zealand in much a similar refrain. We mav take this to mean that the full strength of the Central Powers will be incessantly used against the Allies in France to force a conclusion in their favour before the assistance America is capable of can be utilised. It means that, the armies now at Allied disposal, with what few can be despatched there during the decisive struggle, have either to win the war or lose it; that all reserves now available will have to be thrown into the struggle, necessitating the formation of new reserves. The view now is that Germany will exert the utmost power at command until a decision is reached; life and money will be poured 'out as water; an inexorable pressure will be kept up on the French, British, and the Americans who have reached the decisive zone. Germany has come to the conclusion that only one opportunity to achieve victory now remains and her War lords have determined to strain that opportunity to the last man and the last gun. The final act has undoubtedly commenced and it will be pressed by Germany with desperation, unyieldingly and unrelentingly. A battle with millions of men opposed to millions of men, and many thousands of guns opposed to many thousands of guns is not a struggle of a week, nor of a month, and, probably, not of a year. It is a contest of munitions as well as of men. It is very obvious that the armies kept fully equipped with munitions and every kind and description of

v;v.v implement, is going - to have a very decided advantage over those not no vvell furnished; it is to bo a race be-

hveen the opposing munition factories, between aeroplane builders,, tank and motor works; it is to be a trial of financial and manufacturing strength as well as the strength and endurance of armies. New Zealand is asked and is appealed to, fcr the utmost help in men and money to turn the tide of this awful battle in the Empire's favour. The British Prime Minister, in a message to New Zealand, states that the struggle is only in its opening stages, and, he says, "it is our business to see that our armies get the maximum measure of support that we can give them. Lei no one think that what even the remotest of the Dominions can do can be too late. Before the campaign is finished the last man may count/' Mr Lloyd George leaves us in no doubt about the struggle; lie states the situation with utmost clarity—the struggle is only in its opening stages and before it is finished the last man may count. The Gorman war party set out to dominate the world, to conquer and subdue all

the peoples of the earth, ami make them subservient to German will, they setout to accomplish all that was possible en earth and they will not relinquish their efforts so long- LIS they have the life of a man to throw into the bloody holocaust they have loosed. Ji is supremely essential that every citizen of the British Empire should fully realise what the Empire is now having to contend with. To-day its citizens may enjoy undisputed possession of all they have, six months hence those possessions may have been wrested away and the former owners may be nothing more than slaves working on the lands they previously owned. All this, and more, is possible, but if Britons maintain and act up to the traditions of the race it is extremely improbable. There is no doubt about the Allies emerging victoriously, no matter when the struggle ends, if every man does his duty, and neither in the time of Nelson, or at any other time, did England expect, every man to do his duty more loyally, patriotically, conscientiously and thoroughly than she does to-day. The destiny of the race, and the destiny of the world, is in the balance at this moment, and the Empire is appealed to by its leading administrative citizen—the British Prime Minister-to throw all it is capable of in men and money into the scale against the German menace. We have object lessons in what German domination means; can we for a moment think that any treatment different to that meted out to Belgium, Servia Poland, Russia and Roumania would be practiced on all peoples falling "nder the ban of the Kaiser? British people have fought and spent millions in freeing other peoples from \ slavery, is there one that would hesitate to fight or give his last shilling to-day to free himself and the Empire that is the champion of freedom,, from falling into servility? Yet the BVitish Empire is fighting for that very degree of freedom it has given to others through the expenditure, of its life and treasure, and we in New Zealand are

appealed to for more men to fight side by side with, those already sent; we are appealed to for money to equip the men and to provide for their upkeep during the time they may be facing the arch-enemy. The Head of the British Government urges the New Zealand Government to reinforce its heroic troops in the fullest possible manner and with the smallest possible delay. The struggle is only in its opening stages; before it is finished the last man may count. Turning to an appeal from New Zealand's Minister of Finance we learn that nine-and-a-half millions of money are now urgently requisite for war purposes. Men x and money are the essential sinews of war; New Zealand will do its duty in this great final struggle as it has done it in the past; but there is an urgent note in both appeals that must have immediate, imperative attention. The men and the money are wanted now. This is the time of crucial test for our Government and our people. The Prime Minister of Great Britain tells us the last man we can send may count in this struggle that is to decide whether our Empire is to continue free, or whether it is to be a mere appanage to German lust for power. The New Zealand Minister of Finance reminds us that he must have money to carry on that part in the war we have undertaken. The money and the men are wanted now; the bloody struggle is in its open- ( ing stage, and before it is finished the last, man and the last shilling may count.