GENERAL ITEMS.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 February 1916, Page 5

GENERAL ITEMS.

NOTES FROM THE TIMES. GERMANY'S STRENGTH. Times and feydney Sun. Services, deceived Feb. 11, 5.5 p.m. ■ London, Feb. 10. Colonel Repington's figures have aroused a controversy. The military correspondent of the Evening Standard claims that Colonel Repington underestimated Germany's losses by a million, and he quotes Mr. Ililaire Belloe, the Swiss Colonel Feyler and others. The principal attack is directed at Colonel Repington's statement that the losses in January were 36,000, the critics pointing out that the Germans were engaged in three theatres in bad weather, the French alone capturing 1300 unwounded men in Alsace. The critics admit that the whole policy of the Allies depends on the extent of the German manhood, since the Allies, when capable of defining plans, deliberately embarked o» a war of attrition. " DURATION OF THE WAS. A sensational scheme for the confiscation of textile goods has greatly impressed German opinion and has aroused the suspicions of the Government. Confidence in the probable duration of the war is remarkable. In a leader the Cologne Gazette discreetly refers to the matter and says that doubts must not remain unanswered. It is a mistake to regard the new economic restrictions as proof that the war is bound to last a long time. Even military authorities do not see the end, but the army and people are in complete agreement, and by the will of God they will lead us to the goal which all expect. We lack neither resources, men, nor economic armaments, And the motto for us is to keep cool and bold out.

PRINCE OSCAR'S WOUNDS. It is reported that Prince Oscar's founds are not serious, but it is improbable that he will again participate in the war owing to heart weakness. His morganatic wife is at his bedside at General Hindenburg's headquarters. THE FOOD PROBLEM. The Vorwaerts gives interesting details of the harvest of 1915, which is unsatisfactory. The cultivated area showed decreasing crops, which suffer i by the inexperienced labor substituted for the agricultural laborers taken away. The military strain on the railways caused a shortage of seed and artificial (manure, and many manufacturing firms preferred the more profitable machineguns, instead of agricultural machinery. The tone of the article suggests that the food problem k becoming more complicated. SESSION OF THE DUMA. Times and Sydney Sun Services. London, Feb. 10. A Petrograd official message says the . ukase convoking the Duma for February 22 has greatly relieved the situation and is clearing the highly charged political atmosphere. The Ukase does not restrict the period or programme of the Duma. Commentators generally voice the opinion that the patriotic spirit of the Duma and the nation deserves greater confidence from the authorities, the absence of which inevitably reacts with injurious effect on the solution of war problems. 11. Kharitonoff, champion of the Duma in the Cabinet, has resigned, and liis nominee, M. Pokrovsky, has been appointed in his stead. AMERICA AND GERMANY. The New York Tribune says that when the public understands that President Wilson has betrayed them by the acceptance of German "scraps of paper" permitting Americans to live on the high seas subject to German pleasure, their indignation will be destructive, COAL FOR ROUMANIA, Bucharest reports that the Russians arc sending enormous quantities of coal to Roumaauu TRENCH WARFARE BEGINNING. M, Patris learns from a semi-official | German source that the German headquarters staff has decided to abandon tie attack on Salonika, and instead are resorting to trench warfare. German ' engineers have been sent to Macedonia for that jjurjjose.