War News.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 119, 13 October 1914, Page 7

War News.

THE MARSHALL ISLANDS. The port of Jaluit, which is reported to have been occupied by the Japanese as a "military measure," is the capital of the Marshall Islands, a group that has been in the possession of the Germans since" 1885. The total area of the group is about 150 square miles, but for the most part the isiaiids are mere atolls, rising but a few feet above tile sea and covered with sand. The population, consisting almost entirely of natives, is estimated at 15,000. Jaluit, which is situated on a deep lagoon, could be made into a good harbor by tiie deepening and widening of the entrances through the reef, l'ossibly the Japanese have occupied Jaluit merely in order to prevent the German cruisers obtaining coal and supplies there, but there will be some anxiety in Australia until an ollicial assurance is given that the change of control is not permanent. "it is understood,'' announced the Press Bureau at the time of Japan's declaration of war, "that the action of Japan will not extend to the Pacific Ocean beyond the China Seas, except in so far as it may be necessary to protect Japanese shipping lines in the J'acilie, nor in Asiatic waters westward of the China Seas, nor to foreign territories, except territory in German occupation on the continent of Eastern Asia." The Marshall islands, which are situated to tlie eastward of New Guinea, lie far outside the sphere of activity indicated in this statement. THE CONFIDENCE OF ENGLAND.

Discussing the possibility of the German Fleet coming out in the North Sea sooner or later to light, the Spectator says:—"We think it by no means improbable that when the dash comes it will oe found that the Germans have behind their naval lighting line a considerable force of men in transpdrts ready to emphasise any piece of luck that may come their way. But the Germans dream that this will create such a panic in this country as to throw lis all into hysterics. They are quite mistaken. A raid on the first day of the war would no doubt have '.seen a formidable matter. We are now, however, perfectly prepared for such an event, and if even a hundred thousand men were to be landed in a surprise attack—which is very unlikely —we should be perfectly well able to deal with them. What would be the fato of 1000 Germans without horses or other transport, and with their backs to the sea? The only result of a raid attempted, or even accomplished, would be to till Lord Kitchener's Second Arm*-, not in ten weeks, but in ten days."

SUBMARINES. THE FLEETS COMPARED. When the war began Great Britain had sixty-four submarines -in commission in Home waters,' in addition to six in the Mediterranean and three in Eastern waters. Twenty-two additional boats of the most modern types were under construction at Barrow, Elswiek, Chatham and Greenock. The French had seventy completed submarines of serviceable types and twenty-three under construction. The Germans had at the most thirty of these boats in commission, with about a dozen in the bauds of the builders. Britain alone could build two or three submarines to Germany's one without overtaxing the resources of the dockyards, and France could accelerate her programmes too, so that an effort by the Germans to secure supremacy under the waves would be doomed to failure from the outset. Some of the. enemy's underwater craft, it must be remembered, have to be retained in the Baltic to face the Russians, who have twenty-six completed boats and twelve more under construction.- Tbe latest German submarine is a boat/214 feet in length, with a surface displacement ot something like 850 tons and a surface speed of twenty knots. This vessel carries two light guns and is stated to : liave a radius of 2000 miles. Britain has some even bigger and more powerful submarines under construction, including two experimental boats oi special types, but strict secrecy has been observed regarding tile details of their design.

BISMARCK'S PREDICTION FALSIFIED. In these days wben the Kaiser is imitating Napoleon by his nocturnal visits on sentries, audi when the dream of a second ravishment of Paris by the Germans 'has vanished, apparently beyond all hope of recapture, it is not uninteresting io turn to 1871, when France wept tears of humiliation at the feet of tlho Iron Chancellor. "As long as we live," said Bismarck, "we filial! have no more wars." Yet four or fiveyears later be would have carried the plague of an unprovoked war again into Franco had then the Tsar, as tile result of a t finely warning from England, itot| lifted a threatening hand against the Prussian. This year of grace, 11)14, Kaiser AYJlttclni Id. lias discarded his mask and shown himself the tyrant that the world suspected him to be. The Emperor William, crowned with glorious victory "addressing the Reichsiiag on March 21, 1871, had these excellent words, amongst others, put into his month by the Federal Chancellor: "The spirit which animates the Carman people, and pervades its culture and morals, and in no less degree the constitution of its Empire and Ms .armies, guards Germany in the mid3t of its successes against every temptation to abuse the power gained by its unit. 'Germany willingly pays the respeot claimed for its own independence to the independence of all other States and peoples, t'he weak as well as the powerful. Out new (Jewuany, as it has gone forth from the ifiery ileal of the present war, will be a reliable guarantee of the peace of Europe, because. Germany is sufficiently powerful and sclf-u-liant to preserve the regulation of iU own affairs as an exclusive, but ait the same time sufficient and satisfactory heritage " The fine senti-

ment of 1871 has evaporated. A small, gentle and brave little nation lias been wracked with fire, and sword because she refused to facilitate the passage of an arrogant invasion through her fertile lands. The War Lord paid lip-service to the highest ideals while plotting with his staff a war of aggression that would involve millions. The brave, smooth words spoken in 1871 did not deceivo everybody. One historian of the day summed up the Prussian victory in Uie following terms:—"The world lias entered aipon a darker and more pitiless period from the date of the Franco-1 German war. The policy of Wood and iron has received the consecration of its first real triumph, and Europe sets her face sternly before the future she 'has been taught to dread." Doleful, indeed, but a remarkable prediction, which we see verified some 43 years .later. But the "blood and iron policy" i 3 to-day being tested as it was never tested before, and the signs indicate that when the stormy time is past, it will be found a laat resting-place on the scrap-heap of history,—Chriatchuxch gum.