The Daily News. THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 1912. THE WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 209, 23 January 1913, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 1912. THE WAR.

I'r<'>uma 1 )1 \- in the fullness of linn; we shall have some definite information as to tin' ultimate altitude of the Peace Conference. ami (>f what the Powers are prepared to do with the object of a permanent cessation of hostilities in the East. Meantime there has been a resumption of hostilities on a mild scale ir. the Jlnlkaii-. though there is still time for tin' Turks to yield to the demands of the Allies and the advice of the Great Powers. Some fighting on a small scale at Ohat;ildja is already re-

ported, and the Turkish licet, which has not played a very heroic part in the war so far, has made a sally from the Dardanelles, only to be driven back by the Greeks. But these encounters will pale into insignificance if the armies are pitted against one another again, and no doubt the rival Governments realise the gravity of the decision which they are making. The recent cablegrams contain several statements of a disquieting character bearing upon the sit- | nation. Russian steamers are said to be engaged in carrying arms and provisions tc the Bulgarian and Servian forces, presumably with the sanction of the authorities at St, Petersburg, while Austrian opinion is being inllamed against Servia by the stories of horrible barbarities which probably have very little basis in fact. The Servian soldiery are not likely to have been guilty of deeds of the kind that have been made familiar to Europe, generally by the Turks themselves, during the last five cen-turies.-and, on the other hand, the Austrian Government, which maintains an active press bureau, has spared no effort since the outbreak of the war to create a sentiment of hostility towards the Allies among its own people. It is to be feared that the relations between Russia and Austria will be strained severely if the Bulgarians resume the attack on the defences of Constantinople, which would almost inevitably foil into Russia's hands in the event of the ejection of the Turks'. An argument for peace is to be found in. the appalling list of casualties which has i been published in Sofia. The Bulgarians, it appears, have lost some 60,000 men, j r.carlv half of them by the ravages of t cholera, since the outbreak of hostilities, while about 30,000 men have suffered wounds of a non-fatal character. The tot.ai population of Bulgaria is little more than 0,000,000, and there can scarcely be a home in the Country which l'as not paid its share of the terrible 1 toll of war, But the possession of Adri anople is evidently regarded as an essential condition of peace, and if the Turks will not yield the point the Allies will appeal to arms again. Probably they feel that in justice to their dead they must complete the task which they took in hand some months ago.