War Notes.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 109, 1 October 1914, Page 7

War Notes.

K. Lord KiMiencr has been appointed Minister for War. Lord Kitchener has taken hia seat in the House of Lords. Lord Kitchener has addressed the House. The Kitehencr haa reviewed the position. —Cable News. When an Empire faces trouble, it goes looking for a Man; If it cannot catch a Kaiser, it must look for whom it can; And tli9 sons of Greater Britain feel to-day That they ihave a man to lead them who haa placed the soldier's game, And written with an iron pen hig warranty to fame, Who's big enough to be above all passing praise or blame. Is any Little Englander agog to hear his namef K. If Britain's roll of victories be marred 'by one defeat, We know how fierce a lighting foe ourselves may have to meet, And we'll follow where our fathers diowed the way: We have built our British freedom on th." graves of Tiriton's dead; Our place of peace was given us by men who fought and bled; On all the winds of all the world our ensign proud is spread— And who's the man to keep it there—when everyUiiny io said? K. We mav have to face the music ere the fateful tune is dono, The tide of war is ha id to stem when once it has begun; We must answer when the bloody bugles bray: We may have to shoulder rifles—though [ wo feci our stomachs melt— As our brave Australian comrades did, in divert and on veldt, i We must feel the cause of duty that all I Britishers have felt. | Anl the man who bids un do it has a j name that's simply spelt— K. ! The doctrines of democracy have got to take a rest, For one must rule the roost to-day, and he must be Best; Let him issue his commands and we'll i obey; | Across a battered, braten land though | German armic3 sweep, ; And over ruined hearths and homes tile 1 woful women weep, And clasp to their embittered breasts the babes tihat n\av not sleep; There is one name that everyone in highest hope may keep— * j K, —Sydney Sun. AMAZING EXPLOITS. iiXCITING ATTEMPTS TO DESTROY FRENCH RAILWAYS. London, August 10. The German attempts at spying are simply amazingly daring in this district, writes the French Riviera correspondent of the Westminster Gazette. Attempt follows attempt, with an incredible indifference to the very sudden method of ] death which follows the various cap- i lures.

The secret of it all is; of course, that bere, in this »emi-circle of mountains, is ono of tho great fortified areas of Franco—stupendous forts, hidden with uncanny skill, lurk among the rocky heights. Many of these are utterly impossible of detection from the main roadways of the valleys, and hence neverceasing attempts of the German spies to aecure information.

A striking incident »cetirred near hare, this evening. Near here is a lonely little bay, with natural facilities for landing. Au abandoned and half-mads road leads down to this place from the main coast road, which 13 patrolled. One of the patrol thought he saw a movement down among tJie lines on the side of the deserted road, and, as we are under martial law here, and no one has any right to be out of doors before six in the morning end after six at night, without a special permit (I have a pocketful of passports myself) the soldier kiew that something was wrong, and immediately gave a nail. As there w#i3 no reply, hj« fired two f.liots among the vines. Someone gave a scream, and the BoMier run up, with his bayonet at the ready. Throe men jumped right out from among the vines, and one of them fired twice n,t him with a revolver or automatic pistol. He was not hit, and went right at them with his bayonet, firing again as lie ran. He killed one man. liore soldiers ran up, and they chased tho two men that were left down the deserted road to the little bay. There wa3 a small petrol launch, lying close is shore, and one of the men shouted something, in German, it was supposed, tut no one knew the language. Immediately afterwards the launch pui, her bows round and went right out to ssa. It was just getting dusk at the , ti»e. She went away out of Bight.; but I the aoldicrg caught the two men. And 'here comes the important point; these [ two mm actually had on them shorthand notefl anil sketch maps of one of the moft guarded positions inside the "'fortified area."

f don't know a!! the details of whi-.t foFowed; but they've been shot.

Est that'e not the most dramatic part of this evening's business. It was suspected ttat more men had come ashore from the launch than the three the soldier found. 'A general alarm wss sent •ut immediately, ami extra precautions were taken, especially in guarding the railroad. This precaution was well justified, for leas than an hour ago two men were found (caught in the very act) f.ryme to fclow up one of tho railway bridges, »o pj to destroy communication between fcer» and the frontier.

These tiro men were given exactly o«e minute to prepare themselves. They were shored against the pier of the bridge, and the firing party shot them from «o «losc a distance that oue man's clatlits eauglit /ire.

GERMAN SOIJilBlK? USXJ'KUS. WII KJIiL EVBRYONB BUT WOMKN." > la tie conrne of the successful Frcnrii rrationa in -Uwraine, a complete mail letters written by German soldiers | vras eaptuTod, wrote the I'aris cones ' jsondent of the 7/Ondon Daily Telcgrat.h on Attest 20. Most of them Badenweilcr. <ine states:—'HVe have I rhot tile in,hahit.auf rt of from U to (>0 yearn oM. There were 30 of them." , Ib tO other IctliTS the phrases recur: . "All were shot. We ki2l cvoryoue. We Bars 'eft »o one living except the \v<»- . ■»»/' From the letters it is learned «a 1 tie I eat lias caused many deaths A&bSMX tie German reservists, and that ttle Bavarian Reginnput ftfts suffered . WBTffllW fosse*

J • BRITAIN UNANIMOUS. ! Approval of the war in England, says | n London correspondent, writing oil ' August 10, has embraced practically i evcrv hliude of opinion, oven tlie Non- ; conformist section oi the people, regard- ! ing it as inevitable, Mr llamsay lSJ.ic- ! Donald J9 almost alone amount the [ mora enlightened representatives of J labor in condemning llie war, and he [ las resigned the chairmanship of the S Labor Party in Parliament in conseI quenee. of li'is views. Writing from t!u. office of the Dock Laboreis' Union. .Mr lien Tillet, usually an uncompromising opponent, of war, says: "1 believe thai the great majority of the German people I ere opposed to this war, especially that I it is directed against this country. | where, next to America, so many Geri mans have made their homes. The ! go we rail influence of the Times could not be used Willi greater dignity than it at least letting the tii.Tii.un people know that our qu.urel has been im- , x otit'd i k us by tlu Orman monarch | and the German Government." Mr. i llobert Matchford In the Clarion says: '■K:ii?.;rism must go; autocracy must go; t'aeJiriiui and lhsmarckism must go; the murderous desire for European domination must go. They must go at thu point of the bayonet." KI AO-CI LAU. Facing the Yellow Sea, about 350 miles in a direct line south-east of IVkin, and almost opposite the southern extremity of Korea, the bay of Kiao-Chau is less than two mi!o« wide at its entrance. Within it extends over an area of something like 150 square miles of ] deep Mater, affording at all times :i safe I anchorage for ships of any size. The I German naval base of Tsing-tao stands ; on the north-east shore, at the nutlet, of ! the buy, which is entirely surrounded by I hills from JOOft to -000 ft high, moist of j them offering admirable sites for fortifications.

If llie defensive works planned when the place wife seized have been carried out, and fully armed, the harbor must present formidable obstacles to a sea attack, while the. land approaches are guarded by a series of fortifications •across the head of the The garrison consi/sts of ,1000 German marines and a small force of Chinese soldiers, the remainder, of the white population being very inconsiderable. Described as tile hey to Northern Chin.i, Kiao Chan, its value as a harbor of refuge for war.ihi.pa, is of considerable commercial importance. The district inland under German autli--01 ity abounds in mineral and metal liferous wealth, an abundant supply of good coal -being not the least of its riches. The local native industries are childly connected with fruits and vegetables, silk culture, brewing, and soapniiiking. 'Two years ago the import-, amounted in value to ]]4,MB,(K)i) marks. *nd the exports to H0,2'J5,(100 marks. In the winter months the harbor is the natural outlet for the. trade of Northern China, a railway 272 mile# long, from 'i'ting-tao to Poshun, having much increased its value in this direction.

THE LEAVIMJ 01-' PAIKUK LLCJIXOWoKV. There wprt a number of distinguished calk-ra on the lierman Ambassador, l'rincu Lichnowtsky, before ho left i.ondon for Berlin (writes a London correspondent). The Ambassador himself •paid a few calls, and amongst those who <irovo up to tile Embassy to nay goodi bye was Mr e Asquith. Sh e remain> 1 in | her motor and n secretary chatted pleasantly with her for some minutest. , iiefoi'o they left Pi'iuceeu Liehnowsky I strolled in the park for about a quarter of an hour, while a fleet of fitI teen motor lorries and om,niibusen were ! being loaded with the luggage from the Embassy. The. nameplate and the syiw i;ol of the Herman eagle had a'readv Jieen removed and the name "American Embassy" put up in its place on a •beet of white paper. The Ambassador and his wife drove to Liverpool street ; iu their private car and there was no demonstration of any kind either •" i the embassy or at the station, 'iliis is i ti striking contrast to what is r.aid to ; have fceurred at Berlin and Kunsia in i the «iie of the respective embassii i. A 1 Russian Ambassador, yelling abuse ibe received with some receive, since | Germany has no access to the outside press, siati s that "an enormous crowd. ; composed to some extent of Urn ei'nj eated classes, followed the ce'\- ; I the 1 Kuflgiau Arnbasador, yelling abuse, throwing stones, spitting in Uio faces of the Embassy staff, and hiUir.g wil-i. sticks and umbrellas, not omv ;i<, the men, but also at the ladies of the The First Secretary of the JCmhai.'-'y »•«« struck st> severely on the head tint the Mood soaked two handkerchiefs,. I'.inI cess BelossH«ka ) .an AmcrNin sub'-"-'. I was struck oil tile head, back and shouiI d(T by a weil-dressej man v,'Ui ,i, i<> white beard. I'eoph; also (;iit her : face," And ea on.

, OH. RESOURCES OF THE ADVERSARIES. j NO FAMINE IN BRITAIN". In "The History and Romanes of the Petroleum Industry," by Mr. J. D. Henry, just published, there is incorporated . a section, entitled, "The rclaticnsliin of Continental Oil Resources to the War." : Generally speaking, Mr Henry is of opin--1 ion that both as regards sources of pimply and means of utilisation of oil fuel, the Powers of the Triple Entente are in .an exceedingly strong position. "IVu . own country, France and Russia, and i-i- ---; deed every country in which we arc allied in war, the. (he writes) in an in- ; finitely better position than (Vrnpnv ; in relation to the. world's chief oil fuel and petrol exporting centres." The (Ja-lk-ian oil fields are the. only home source of supply of any consequence upon which Germany and Austria can rely, and a Russian raid upon them might easily deprive our adversaries of these, tierman capital ha;; been largely supplied ill developing the oil resources of lio'imania, and a fleet of tank steamers has been established on the Danube, and should Austria fail to guard this source, or should. Roumania cut off the supply, the Germans will bo affected very seriously. Mr Henry regards it 3? inconceivable that the liritish oil sun')'i>s from America should lis; interrupted to a serious extent, and he is of opinion that with the co-operation of Holland, oil should be obtained in increasing quantities from the Dutch East Indies. There is no reason why oil prices should be high in this country. "There is no. famine in petrol. Large supplies are stored, and there is a greater quantity than usual avawible, owing to the fart that petrol, which under ordinnrv circumstances would have been exported to Germany, is now at the disposal of tlio Government, and ordinnrv consumers in this country. Fears of a famine have been practically dispe'le.d by the courageous action of the 'Anglo-Ameri-can Oil Company, who has announced that they have large stocks and see no reason for increasing the price at present, while the Shell company have ern- | phasisod the fact that there is no rnason whatever why retailers should increase the prico of petrol supplied to customers. The outstanding fact of the situation is that tins must be promntlv returned. Where th- ..il is bought it is cheap to-day; imlt ed, except in the case of Russia, the price of crude oil is low and is still falling. In America prices have decreased owing to the bringing in of great and numerous we'ls in California and the new Gushing field ill Oklahoma. Oil fuel for naval purposes drawn from the four chief sources on the east coast—Oklahoma, Texas, 1.0u.-i----ana. arid Mexico—was never so cheap and abundant as it is to-dav. Large quantities ar> being sold at 70 and HO cents, a barrel, or (i dollars (roughly, £1 ,V 1 per ton. In Oklahoma fuel oil prices have dropped within a year from 1 dollar to 4j cents a barrel. Til the Roumanian fields, the price is low owing to increased production and lack of refineries and storage. Russian prices have gone 110 because of serious strike troubles, which, it is not open to doubt, the war will bring to an end. Oil, then, (Mr Henry concludes) ought to be cheap."

STORMING DTNANT CITADEL. A GKAPTTIO DESCRIPTION. Brussels, August 1!). A graphic description is now to baud of the fighting on Saturday at. Dinant for possesion of the ancient citadel which overlooks the town. The citadel was captured by the Germans, who hoisted their flag on it at 1.30 in the afternoon. All the afternoon tlio Germans kept up a devastating fire with rifles and one machine gun on the French below. The French erti'lery silenced the German guns by 7 in the evening. the Germans retreating. Only the citadel continued to shower lead on th<> advancing French. The citadel is on a hill to the south of the town, and rises to a height, of about 300 ft. Ts is an ancient work and now of no nii'itarv value, but, it is diffWt to take by assault. The French, probably obeying an instinct,, jndg»d that the moment had come; the 1m"'"". sounded the eharpe, and the troops. w' f li fixed bayonets, began to swam m> th" meroiis steep ami rocky eaf.hs that lead to the summit, under a deadly (Ire from machine gun 3 and rifles. With their pv»s fixed on H'. H flag aloft, the French climbed steadily up disregarding their losses. U't.inint'dy a well-aimed French shell sih">- 1 n •»•>. •'dn« gun, and a few minutes later the French soldiers tore down the enemy's (It?, and Kcnlieg the quarry, fired down e:i the fleeing Germans.