WAR NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 262, 15 April 1915, Page 7

WAR NOTES.

«s» i t SOLDIERS IN COLOMBO, ) MAORIS GREATLY ADMIRED. The transports conveying the third reinforcement contingent and the Maori contingent called at Colombo, and a resident in that city., writing to a friend < in Auckland, expresses great admiration : for the New Zealand troops. "During, the last four days Colombo has been full of New 'Zealand soldiers," he writes, I and, judging from their appearance and j from what they say of their country, it must he the finest on earth. They had not been ashore since they called at Albany, and we expected a' little noise, but their conduct was excellent. Every man I have met has been so thankful for any information or help, and everyone has noticed how well-informed arid well-read they are. The Maori portion of the contingent interested us greatly. It seemed so strange to us to meet dark people who are our equals in every re-1 spect, for we look down on and usually rightly despise the natives. The Maoris played two Rugby matches, and everyone was struck by their size and development, for there was not a weak man j among them, and our natives looked like . children among them." !

GERMAN HATE. An appalling crime has apparently been committed by an unnamed Hamburg professor. Ho has dared to suggest that after the war Germany's position in Europe can probably best he confirmed by an alliance with England. The Hamburg branch of the Pan-German League leaps into the breach to prevent the further circulation of such treasonable suggestions. "This branch," says the circular issued by the League, "notes with grave uneasiness that at the pre- j sent time there are agencies at work in , Germany, and even in -Hamburg who | seek to rob the people of their clear i View of the objects of this war. We are in duty bound to reject with indignation the attempt of some Hamburg professors at this moment to diminish England's responsibility for this war and to suggest publicly a future alliance with England. Anyone who now emphasises the factors which England and j Germany have in common in order to pave the way for a reconciliation is I guilty of irresponsible weakening of the j national energy. We await from the sound sense of the German people that they will not be persuaded :bv anyone ; to deviate from the conviction that Eng-. land is and remains the arch-enemy of! Germany.' Vigorous efforts are being j made by German agents to spread the gospel of hate in Austria, where Ger- I . mans. consider that there is too much ' tolerance shown. The methods adopted are quaint. Tims the Neues Wiener J Journal reports: "The present German ! parole, 'God punish England,' has made • its way into Vienna in an original fash-1 ion. A large number of little yellow I cards have been prepared 'bearing the' words mentioned in big black letters, j These are now set up above the glass doors of many shops in the leading I streets of Vienna. They serve as topical j door charms." j

GERMAN WAR. PLANS. The well-known naval writer, Mr, F.' T. .lime, holds that it was over the arm-, ed liners that Germany's plans came to j grief. "About a year .before the war," | he writes, "most of those wlio, like mv- • self, are engaged in writing on naval] matters, were .bombarded with letters , from certam people in England, who in j the name of peace and goodwill to Ger-1 | many explained to us that no German t liners carried guns and that the "leu of using a merchant ship as a commerce destroyer had never occurred to the German Admiralty. Had they been content to leave things at that all might have been more or loss well. But they were not so content. If we replied expressing a certain amount of sceptics ti, thov then wrote to editors or publishers pointing out that we were purveyors of false information, deliberate malingers of Gcrmanv, and what not. Now, what--ever editors and publishers may be, they arc not fools; and they repose a certain amount of confidence in those who wr u e for them. Consequently a certain amount of suspicion was aroused, and the Intelligence Department was communicated with. An investigation of the antecedents of the correspondents roves led or suggested connection wkh the German Admiralty, and the subsequent deductions were simple, especially as in sonic ships gun positions were clearly detected. This, I think* is the true story of how we first got an inkling that Germany seriously contemplated war at no very distant date." • OFF TO THIO DARDANELLES. In a letter to his mother, dated Fcbniary 21, Lieutenant-Commander B. 0. I'revborg, the well-known swimmer, now (vith the Naval Division, writes:—"We ,'ic on our wav again and are oh* on ■in expedition 'into the Mediterranean, pirhaps to Constantinople. We are to be a landing partv to the fleet, and are trying to i'orce the Dardanelles for a passage of Russian wheat. That is, as IV.- as we are able to guess. Wo are likely to bi> awav for a few months, and then'wo aiv going to laud in France and go up to ihe'big show in Germany. . ■ 1 am promoted and am third in com- ■ imtnd of the battalion, and hope to get n battalion before the w,\r linishes. Tomorrow the King reviews us and then t we are off." It will be remembered ' Unit Lieutenant J'reyberg was with the ; Nival Division at the fall of Antwerp 1 and was wounded. I

CONDITIONS OF PEACE. . M. Yves Guyot, the celebrated French publicist and politician, at the National Liberal Club, said:—"Peace must be prepared for even as the Germans prepar-. id for war. And it is not 100 early to j examine the principles which must govern the Allies. They must refuse t* treat with any member of the Hohenr.ollorn family, and the dominion of Prussia over the German Empire must be destroyed. Beyond the restitution of Alsace and Lorraine, Franco must ask for nothing in Europe. The Kiel Canal will have to be neutralism: and placed beneath some analogous regime to that v.hieh exiris for the riiiei: Canal. The r-.-rom-til'.ifioii of nißnmmious I'-diml should include To.-, n and a portion of, Silesia. It would establish a buffer I Mate between iiussia and Prussia. Am--| , tria-irnngary must he dismembered: it; is merely a Government, and an Army; the Government is warned, the. armv is d-sivoved. The Hungarians will form a distinct nation, and tin' Germans of Au.tria another, m-.1.--- th•.-■-.• join Tavavia. There must be a la i-.; : er Serwa. a larger b'oiimiiliia, ami ihe C/eehs of Iloh.emia and the Slavs of "Moravia he com.tiliti.d into an indepc-mlent nation. T'ue di-im "iberment. of Turkey is a forced couseip-iuee of the Germ.-ino-Turkish Alliance. The occuiki! inn of Con-I.inti-miiilo bv Russia no'longer presents tlm .■■••me obi. ; -t ions as foruierlv.' Tin- K-'.i- ---:■•;■■■ has declared thai his colonial policy was one id ihe factor; < :' ihe pres.mt war; the German colonics must; be divid-

od up between Great Britain, France, Belgium and Japan. The Allies must elaim a Avar indemnity which may be guaranteed in great part by the State railroads; the economies in military expenditure which will result from peace will compensate for another considerable part. Tho» Turkish Empire will bo divid-d as follows:—The Valley of the Jarphvates and Arabia to (Ireat Britain; Syria and the Holy Land to France; Armr-iia and ibe rivers of the Black Sea to Russia, with the Straits; the islands of the Aegian Sea to Greece. If Italy wishes to ensure a return of Trcntino she must enter the struggle."