IN THE WEST

Taranaki Daily News, 24 August 1915, Page 5

IN THE WEST

NEWS FROM PARIS. A BISHOP'S VIEWS. TRIBUTE TO BRimiN'S WORK. FRENCH WAR MNISTKY. Paris, August 22. The Government has agreed to hold jecret meetings of the Chamber to discuss all defence questions, any vote to be taken afterwards at public .sittings. .The Bishop of Nice will shortly pub. lish a manifesto- entitled "France and Germany, in the light of Christian door trine." He says he speaks as a representative of Christianity who wishes to enlighten Roman Catholic neutral couuwl*?». who are the dupes of Germany's exploitation. ""Their religion brings against pan-Germanism the -charge of idolatry, and he argues that the Catholics are. placing themselves in the tow of pan-Germanism, having totally forgotten the Gospel and the Church's teaching. FHthce is respectful of the r;jshts of individuals and of smaller nations. Senator Charles Humbert, in an article in the Journal, pays a tribute to Britain'* immense wort in the present war. He\ points out that the abundance of collieries, workshops, arsenals, and manufactures has made her a great purveyor to all the Allied armies, and a common arsenal,'; both inexhaustible and inviolable. Prince Ruprecht of Bavaria sacrificed two thousand men to recapture ' the tranches near the Ablam-Angres road. Four hours' bombardment with asphyxiating shells preceded the attaofc. M. Millerand, in the Chamber, admitted that since October he had been forced to change two-thirds of thse high personnel of the Ministry of War to secure efficiency. He had carried out the changes quietly and rigorously. A communique states' that a feeble German attack north of Souchez was easily and rapidly checked. There was a continuous combat with bombs in the labyrinth. The Germans were completely repulsed, leaving 100' dead after the attack on our positions on the crest of gondernach;

OUR ARTILLERY BETTER. KBUHP'S v. BIBJUXGHAM. Received August 23, 11.40 p.m. Paris, August 23. A communique states: There is marked roemy artillery activity in tlie Artois region, but all is quiet elsewhere. Mr. o"Grady, M.P., has returned after B viait to the front. He sayg Sir John French told him that our guns are better than the Germans 13-inch, and our shells we equal to the. German 17-inchcrs. •When you get home,", said General Trench, ''tell the people that the issue i» now in a struggle between Krupp's and Birmingham." An officer informed Mr. O'Grady that since the Munitions Act the supply of fliell* had improved 00 per cent., but still tney are insufficient. ' THE PLY PEST. . London, August 22, Heater's correspondent with the Brii.'sh headquarters, replying to allegations that insufficient measures wen ■•.doptwi to deal with the fly pest, said that the danger was exaggerated, but its]seriousness was recognised by medical men. Explaining preventive method*, he said that the War Office in April had appointed an entomological commission of three experts, who visited tie trenches, field ambulance clearing stations and billets, including Ypres, giving practic.il demonstrations. The blue-bottle was more common in the trencher than the house-fly, because so many of the corpses were lying on the surface and buned in shallow graves.. The trouble would have been minimised if the Germans bad been as careful as the British in disposing of their dead.