CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 168, 22 December 1914, Page 6

CURRENT TOPICS.

ITALY'S CAMK If the Italians elect for safety and security, tlipy cannot expect at the same time to play the part of a Great Power in tlio remaking of the map of Europe. It stands to reason that they will be unable in that case to make any claim to influence- the settlement. To bo con. cvetc, it will be the voice of the Serbians, who have fought and risked everything, that must be listened to in regard to the settlement of the coast of the Adriatic, and not the voice of Italy. Some people imagine that the Italians, by standing to arms and by retaining an unused and unshuttered army, will be able to exercise very great influence at tinend of the war: That is a mistake. If the Allies win, they will still have live or six million men under arms in Central I, Europe, and though their armies will no idoubt be to some extent exhausted and \war-wcary, it is ridiculous to suppose that Italy, with even three-quarters of a million of troops under arms will be ' able to control events, even in her own , neighborhood. Suppose, for argument's '/sake, that at such a moment the Italians were to occupy Trieste, though^the Alylii>s had decided that Serbia had a better claim to the city. The fact that there was an Italian army in being would have Ivory little effect on the position. If ; j-Itaiy wants to have a great say in the of Europe, she must purchase 'her right by sacrifice. That it is worth her while to make that sacrifice we are far from saying. It is very doubtful whether nations really benefit by extrusions of territory. and whether Italy might not do better for the happiness of ,her inhabitants, or even for her own strength, if she refrained from any ad- , venture. The occupation of Tripoli has | certainly not strengthened but weakened her, and just now a policy of concen. tration rather than extension might be the higher wisdom. Therefore, we can conceive friends of Italy urging that she would be unwise and not acting in her [ highest interests, if she claimed the right to play the part of a Great Power.-. , Spectator. TV-V. U'CTEK TO EGYPT. The failure of the development of the thr-i'tcnnl Turkish attack on Egypt, may be taken to indicate that the British military auihovities have the matter well in hand. Although tlu seizure of the Sue'/, Canal lias been a favorite project with German writer.", it i-i one wiiieli cxneris have acknowledged to be attended by very comdderable difficulties, and against these, tiio 'lurks s»oin in no hurry to incisure their stivmrth. New Zralanders believe the military position in Egypt to lie in good keeping, and a very important additional .-.e'riiriry is afforded bv the s'-' power of Britain. A glance at the r.::';> will show that any army ad vaiieir.g from the east to threaten 'he - canal is open to attack from the Mediterranean from the north and fiom the Gulf of Akabah on the souLli. 3 > There lias becfi considerable British naval activity on both of these coasts, and it nay be taken for granted that they are not erratic demonstration?, but are part if a considered plan. Turkey has normally an army corps in I'al-e.-tiu", :'.':d (rnops n;i"ht also be drawn from Mesopotamia for an attack. A possible ri:n(e is via. the railway which runs from Aleppo in the north of Syria, to Mecca, and touches Akabah, at' the head of the gulf of that name, about 1(10 miles from Sue-. This point "is easily accessible to a British force by s»a, and soon after the declaration of war, was the scene of a Br'tish attack. Another possible line of inva-iiai is along the caravan route which has been in use for thousands of years by travellers between Asia and Africa. It runs from Palestine, near the Mediterranean coast. The desert tract is a difficult one for an army to use, but it !ias been the scene of the passage of amies in ancient days. Napoleon crossed it when he set out from Egypt to attack the Turks in Palestine. In a word, the task that confronts the Turks is to reach Egypt over a barren country with the danger of flank attack growing more acute the nearer they keep to the sea on either side. When this prelim.'nary dilliculty is overcome, the conquest of Egypt has still to be begun.—Auckland Herald. ORIGINS OF THE WAR. ■ In the ''Origins of the Present War," an article' in the Quarterly by Sir Valentine Cliirol —who held the position of foreign editor of the Loudon Times for years—is given a full and very clear exposition of the causes of the war causes which go back «, long way further than the Serajevo murder. It is, Sir Valentine Cliirol says, the whole evolution of German policy since the accession of William 11. which has led, and was fatally bound to lead, to the present catastrophe, by concentrating the whole material and intellectual energies of the German nation on the pursuit of a world-dominion, based upon force alone. The. writes sketches how ; the young Emperor, who succeeded to the throne in 1888, gradually developed inu> the mad War Lord who now challenges the whole world to Arniageddon."Worldpower or downfall" is to-day not only William IT.'s motto, nor is it the only motto also of the vast majority of the German military and aristocratic caste, it is the motto also of the vast majority of the German people, reared as they have been on the teachings of Trietschke and the whole school of historians and philosophers, artists, and professors, of whom Trietschke is the foremost and most sinister representative. As for the German press, k may be regarded, as far as foreign affairs at least are concerned, as a Stale aided, and a State-controlled institution; and the German Press Bureau might have borrowed for its motto tV words which Frederick the llivat once wrote to Voltaire: "The world is governed only by .skill and trickery." BEAUTY IS ONLY SKIN DEEP. "Beauty is only skin deep," so runs the old saying, and it behoves us to make that skin, the. outward manifestation of beauty and of health, as pure and healthy as only soap and water and, right living can make it. A skin which' glows with liealth is a beautiful feature to any man or woman, and a soap which creates absolte sldn purity is beauty's greatest asset. Such a soap is now available to the general public. Rcxona soap stands for Purity, Cleanliness, Health, Beauty. By its' use the hild-like bloom is preserved to an old age, the texture of the skin is at once efincd, and all disease-laden germs are i washed away. A clean body repels di- ■ sense, and invites admiration. The re- , freshing glow of the skin and the secur- , ity from germ-contamination, which a ] daily bath with Eexona Soap ensure to the user, are a revelation to skin comfort. The resulting beauty is evidence t of the intrinsic truth of the old saying , "Beauty is only skin deep." ' " i