FINANCIAL MATTERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 October 1915, Page 5

FINANCIAL MATTERS.

GOVERNMENT CRITICISED. Received Oct. 14, 10.15 pan. London, Oct, 14. In the House of Commons the Finance Bill was read a second time. Hon. 'B. S. Montague, replying to criticisms, said the Government did not intend to raise more taxation than to pay the interest, which, on the new debt, will amount to TS'/o millions in March next. The Government designedly raised the in-conie-itax abatement on children from £2O to £2H in order to relieve the deserving class. Every citizen ought to be prepared to place at least half of his income at the disposal of the State, either bv loan or tax. We could only finance the war for ourselves and our allies by evefy class severely •stinting itself, jet the consumption of luxuries and alcohol had increased. Mr. J. A. Bryce said the Government was the worst offender. There was immense extravagance and wicked corruption in connection with Government and no effort was made to check the expenditure in great departments. RUSSIA. RUSSIAN SUCCESES. GERMAN ONSLAUGHT FAILING. PROGRESS AT ALL QUARTERS. Received Oct. 14, 5.5 p.m. London, Oct. 13. All reports'emphasise the importance of Russian successes. The Daily Telegraph's Petrograd correspondent says it is estimated that three enemy divisions were shattered at the Strypa river. The success will compel the Austro-Germans to rearrange their forces. 1 The situation at Dvinsk has improved. The enemy have reached within six miles of the town. The fury of' the German onslaught has weakened, and is failing in frontal assaults. On the Novoe Alexanrovsk road the Germans have moved to Illukst, where they are barred by dense forests in a watery district. South-east of Dvinsk the Russians are advancing steadily. Reuter'3 Petrograd correspondent states the muncipality of Dvinsk, which had been transfefred to Vfiteask, is returning. Military critics are of opinion that the retreat of the Germans along the Sventen is a menace. .Mr. Williams, the Daily Chronicle's correspondent at the front, Says that at Dvinsk the enemy, despite frontal attacks, was , held at bay for twentyseven day?, and the hope of forcing the Bvina is no brighter than it was a month ago. On the southern flank in Galicia the Russian success is even more marked than in the west. THE VICTORIES IN GALICIA. WINTER OVERTAKING THE ENEMY. Received Oct. 14, 9.10 p.m. / London, Oct. 13. The Russians' striking success in Galicia, writes Mr. Harold Williams, the Daily Chronicle's Petrograd correspondent, are being followed up. They not only give a considerable strategical advantage on the southern front, but will undermine any possible moral effect there may in Roumania, as a result of the recent concentration of AustroGermans in Galicia and Bukowina, near the Roufnanian frontier. As i result of a five months' campaign, the Germans have not reached a secure line where they may entrench for the winter. When the Germans forced Russia to the defensive the enemy counted on establishing a strong line on the Vilna-Berezina-Dnieper base, but the calculation has been falsified, !, ON A VAST SCALE. RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE LIKELY. Received Oct. 14, 9 p.m. Paris, Oct. 14. M. Nandean, a correspondent with the Russians, says that the worrying attacks at Dvinsk are .an indication ■that the Russian organisation permits of taking the initiative on a vast scale. The German effectives are so thin at some points that they have been ordered not to take prisoners and to avoid weakening the firing-line, THE WHEREWITHAL MATERIAL FROM JAPAN.; Received Oct. 14, 8.5 p.m. New York, Oct. il3. According to advices received by the New York press, Russia is receiving twenty carloads of guns and ammunition daily, ex Japan. The entire resources of the trans-Siberian railway are given up to the transportation of war material. THE RUSSIAN RESISTANCE. GERMANY IN DIFFICULTIES. (Times and Sydney Sun Services.) Received Oct. 14, 5,5 p.m. London, Oct. 13. The Daily News' correspondent with General von Hindeivberg's army says that the new plans of the Germans on the Eastern front are kept in the greatest secrecy, but he does not believe the reports that the Germans are planning to go into winter quarters. They know, he says, from personal experience, what a German offensive means —the moving, feeding, and supplying millions of troops on the Eastern front, and not only fighting the Russians, but the roads and the weather. Motor-cars cannot travel, only horses, yet transports are almost more important to the soldiers fighting a retreating foe tlian one that is stationary. Apparently General Rusqky is lighting harder than the Grand Duke. < " RUSS AND JAP. AN ALLIANCE SOUGHT. Received Oct. 15, 1.20 a.m. Petrograd, Oct. 14. A high official of the Foreign Office is shortly going on a special mission to Japan. It is reported that Japan wishes to negotiate for » Russo-Japanese alliance,