GENERAL ITEMS.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 December 1915, Page 5

GENERAL ITEMS.

I THE INDIAN ARMY. KING GEORGE'S GREAT TRIBUTE. Received Dec. 27, 5.5 p.m. London, December 27. The Prince of Wales, addressing a parade of an Indian army corps before their departure for the front in France, conveyed the King's message as follows: "Over a year ago I summoned you to fight for the safety of the Empire. You have honored my pledged word and my confidence in yoiir sense of duty. Your courage and chivalry have since been nobly justified. I now require your services in another field bf action,"and wish to express my satisfaction with your conduct on the battlefields of Belgium and France. The toils, hardships, courage and endurance (often against great odds) aud noble deeds will ever be memorable. In this warfare the new conditions have been peculiarly trying to you, but despite these adverse circumstances you have worthily upheld the honor of the Empire and the great traditions of the Indian army. I will ever hold your gallant sacrifices In grateful remembrance."

NOTES FROM THE TIMES. CRITICAL POLITICAL SITUATION. Times and Sydney Sun Services. Received Dec. 28, 5.5 p.m. > London, December 27. The political situation is rapidly assuming a crisis. A section of the Ministers are demandng a fortnight's extension of Lord Derby's scheme, hoping that the unenlisted unmarried men will then ge -a negligible quantity. It is believed that the discontents include Sir Edward Grey, Lord Grewe, Mr. Runciman, Lord Buckmaster, Mr. McKenna, Sir John Simon, Mr. Birrell, Mr. McKinnon Wood, Mr. Hareourt, and Mr. Henderson. The conseriptionists are Messrs Bonar Law, Lloyd George, Lord Curzon, and Lord Selborne and the position Is undecided. Mr. Balfour and Mr. Bonar Law declared that general elections at present are unthinkable, but a large section is definitely working for an appeal to the country arguing that it would educate the public to the war situation, and bring in sufficient new men to break down the corrupt party system. '

THE RECRUITING QUESTION. Colonel Repington says that when Mr. Asquith announces the results of Lord Derby's scheme he will define the Government's policy, by which we shall know whether the Cabinet proposes to win or lose the war. Lord Derby's pledge to the married men and a long list of reserved trades occupations makes it doubtful whether even compulsion will give us the needed men. GERMANS JUBILANT. The German press is jubilantly commenting upon the withdrawal from the Dardanelles, and is adopting the Turkish version that the troops were driven into the sea. The North German Gazette congratulates the Turks, and says that the TurKish Empire is now rebuilt on a secure moral and material foundation.

' Count Reventlow, however, points out •that Gallrpoli wa« not really evacuated, and he hopes by strengthening the TurKish artillery to make the British retention of Sedd el Bahr impossible. The most important work remains before us at Gallipoli and the sooner that the Dardanelles is cleared of the enemy the more valuable will be the result. " THE POSITION AT SALONIKA. Military writers" insist on the necessity of prompt action at Salonika. Colonel Moraht says that it is a strategic necessity to cut off and attack the An-glo-French base, otherwise there will be no permanent safety 0 f the German communications between Belgrade and Constantinople. He argues that the AngloFrench position cannot be held, and that the fortifications of Salonika will not resist modem gnus.