The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1918. THE WAR SITUATION.

Taihape Daily Times, 2 November 1918, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1918. THE WAR SITUATION.

(With which is Incorporated The £*!• hape Post &°d Walnmn-uo News)..

It is scarcely believable at this stage of the war that that grandest of all naval spectacles that can be suggested, the British and Allied Fleet steaming through the Dardanelles into the <Bosphorus and Black Sea was possible. Yet that is what actually took place, commencing at'six o'clock in the morning on Friday. Again it may be said that Britain once more rules the waves; her proud position on the oceans of the world is again undisputed; the peoples of her far-away dominions are no longer in danger of foreign warships, or of alien merchantmen in any great commercial war. The passing of the Dardanelles signifies the return to Britain the supremacy at sea challenged by Germany four years ago, and New Zealand commerce will continue henceforth in the hands and under the control of New Zealad or British agencies. We shall, perhaps, never realise how much this means to the British Empire and its people, and even in these thankless days this accomplishment is a veritable cause for utmost thankfulness. British ships, a spectacular parade of British warships, have passed the Dardanelles and the whole British Empire is safe, not challenged in any of the oceans. The feelings that were uppermost in the men on those ships as they steamed along that historic water extends to the remotest part of the earth, wherever there is is a Briton domiciled, for It is realised by all that relationship and fullest communion with the Motherland cannot be interfered with; that the naval power of Britain is unbreakable. "On the various war fronts Britain and her allies are everywhere victorious; with the unconditional surrender of Turkey two of the four enemy powers have been conquered and subjugated, and the third is ion the point of surrender, compelled to do so by force of arms on land, and starvation from sea blockade. The war has by Turkey's surrender been narrowed down considerably, the only trouble in Asia now being with the Bolsheviks in Siberia and Russia: About one million of Allied forces have been set free; all Allied prisoners, including the gallant Townshend. are at liberty; in fact, the only theatre where war is seriously being wag : ed is on the Western,front. With one day's cables such a transformation has come over the. war scene that ; it is difficult to realise the immensely altered change in the war situation. Austria has taken the first step towards unconditional surrender; the Commander-in-Chief of the Austrian Army has. in appealing to the Italian Generalissimo for an armistice, signified that he is anxious to surrender his sword, the act of military capitulation. It is more than probable even that at this moment the conditions of the surrender of Austria are being decided, and it may be that surrender will be completed, and the news thereof may reach this Dominion at any moment, for the actual defeat of Aus-tro-Hungary is a matter, of the past. A very large section of the Austrian Empire is already at war with Germany; communications between Berlin and Vienna have been cut by the armies of Bohemia, and the southern frontier of Germany is threatened. The result is certain, Bavaria and other southern German States must look to their own safety, must, as far as possible, render invasion impracticable. The most unexpected has happened; when Bavaria entered the war invasion of herh territory was not in the range of possibilities, yet the Bavarian frontier is the first to be in serious danger. Germany is now threatened with immediate invasion from south as well as west and whether the High Command decides to fight or surrender unconditionally, the action must be quick; there must be very little delay in arriving at the decision. The war situation now reveals Austria completely defeated in combat, and the Empire crumbling irretrievably to pieces; against the Allies nothing more than a chaotic mob, to be driven like cattle from every theatre of war .helpless. The kingdoms of Bulgaria and Turkey are in Allied occupation, .both peoples having surrendered their ;,arms; Germany, who has lookeo? after her self-preservation at the expense of the lives of her allies, is ibeaten ;militarily f retreating everywhere before the Allies; her frontier menaced and all her communications with .the outer, world cut off. The Kaiser ris being dethroned, his military war [lords discredited, and the voice of the 'people-is paramount. The German

Empire, as it has been known for naif a century, i s undergoing rapid disintegration. The, control of armies by military chiefs cannot continue for long as the system of deception by which they are controlled is on the point of exploding. Germany has also been defeated economically; privation so extreme that it amounts to starvation is everywhere, and the sequential riot and revolution is rampant. View all the evidences for peace and war 'as one will it is not possible to make any mistake. Germany must unconditionally surrender in the very very near future or the 'Allies will victoriouslp march their armies militantly right into Berlin. The Allies have, undeniably, such a superiority of force that no doubt, even of the faintest, can cloud the issue. Ali evidences tend to show that Germany must unconditionally surrender, and must surrender very soon, if the country is to be saved from a bloody revolution. The Kaiser and his war lords fought to obtain domination of the world and they-rest, and they must seek that obscurity which is the penalty. Peace before Christmas now looks like a certainty. Germany is on her knees begging for an armistice, vanquished in the fight; she has only to be convinced that she cannot sit at the conference table on the aftermath as an equal of her conquerors, who must evolve and inflict the penalty of her unprecedented sin against humanity.