CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 September 1916, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

TRANSYLVANIA. Transylvania, which becomes an important area in view of the Roumanian I declaration of war against Austria is generally described as a plateau, but ■besides being surrounded by mountains it is itself mountainous and'has no very extensive plain" Its mean altitude is from 1000 to IGOO feet a'bove sea level. Towards Hungary it has a fairly easy slope, and traffic passes by low saddles, that scarcely impede it, but towards the east and south it presents real mountain barriers. Two mountain ranges protect it against invasion from the east, the outer one having peaks upto 0900 ft, while to the south stretches the long mountain fold of the Trans,vlvnnian Alps, rising to 8000 ft. From the Roumanian side the barrier is thus substantial, so much so that only against weak defence would tlie Roumanians v enture oil a serious invasion. INDULGENCE IN LUXURIES The high spending power of the country is obtained mostly at the expense of Britain, because of the war, and it ought not to be expressed in heavier consumption, more especially since the proportion of purchases from foreign countries—principally the United States of America—shows an abnormal rise. Unless there is some check in the rate at which imports have been growing during the last few months the year 1010 will show a total of something like £ - 2fi;000,000. Up to the end of July, that is in seven months, purchases from abroad had cost £14,310,000, or £1,300,000 more than in the corresponding months before the war, and we regret to say that most of the items accounting for the increase reveal indulgence in luxuries and non-essentials which cannot .be reconciled with the grave peril that overhangs the Empire. iPossibly the raising of the War Loan will have some effect in reducing' the 'heavy and growing volume of imports, At all events, the trading return! are nothing to be proud of at a tim when the financial strength of the ]J« pire ought to be available for winnin the war,—Lyttelton Times.