PEACE TALK.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 January 1917, Page 5

PEACE TALK.

COMMENTS ON ALLIES' REPLY GERMANY MUST ANSWER WITH ?HE SWORD FOOD SHORTAGE PROMPTED THE j OFFER. | deceived Jan. 3. 3.20 p.m. _. Berlin, Jan. 2. ~,. . """papers consitlci (],„t the Allies .Note leaves nc room for further negotiations, though Germany mav "in] (■ j tree 1 i> cty define ]ie, view in a furthei.Note to neutrals, flip newspaper* tlmt Germany must now msww with the sword. Ihp Berliner Tageblatt says the Entente s ,-eplv is a plain and blunt re'iicil. and it would be fruitless to seek therein a single passage that does not mean absolnutelv No. I Count Tisza, in the Hungarian .Parliament, said the refusal of the Entente I owcrs was expected, and does not find the Central Powers unprepared. Tile Morning Post s Budapest correspondent states that the peace offer uas promoted h\ tJie knowledge that Austro-Hungary's food will not last six months the most eritieal period arriving in July, when statisticians assert that not a grain 0 f wheat or maize jvill be left. Austto-Hungarian soldiers behind the front have already been placed on half rations. A SENSIBLE VIEW. The Amsterdam Telegraaf states that the Allies' reply is the only possible answer to German efforts to create a rupture among the Allies, which eflorts have failed absolutely. The reply affords proof of that ihnrmony which is only po*si_b]p on the basis of the holiest belief in the righteousness of the common cause. The great merit of the Allies' an>\\er is that it reduces the question of peace to the plainest form. President \\ ilson anil all the neutrals now know that the only possible peace is to bring Germany to confess her guilt, and to compel her to restore all she has stolen since tiie outbreak of the war. DISCUSSION IN U.S. SENATE. . ANfIER OF GERMAN PRESS. 9 Received Jan. 3, 0.40 p.m. Washington, Jan. 2. The Senate debated the question of the postponement of Senator Hitchcock's resolution endorsing President ilson s Note. Speakers emphasised tin 1 point that il was too important to pass without a full discussion. Senator Stone denied the charge that a leakage of information resulted in millions of dollars profits on Wall Street. He admitted that there had been some (leakage <>f information sent to foreign ; Governments. , A Berlin wire says that the German newspapers declare that the Allies' Note ts unworthy of any rejoinder. Germany should wage war to the last ounce. T ?t. Gpneral Hindenburg's armies simply the answerREPLY TO WILSON'S NOTE. Paris,- Jan. _. The Entente Governments are examining a draft of a reply to President Wilson's Note. Received Jan. 3, 5.30 p.m. London, Jan. .. Renter learns that, although the Allied reply to President Wilson has been drafted, it U improbable that it will be presented for a few days. It is not expected that the Netherlands will associate itself with the United States, while attempts to secure the co-opera-tior. of South America have not met with much success. Certainly, Brazil, Argentina, and several of tlu smaller State:, will not take action. AN UNLIKELY PROJECT. New York. Jan. 2. The newspapers comment on a London report that Mr. Balfour may be sent by the British Government on a special mission to Washington. They refer to the surprising influence Count'Bernstorff lias had and- declare that Mr. Balfour could do much to offset this influence and improve Anglo-American relations. From the newspapers' statMnents not even Count Bernstorff can expect a favorable Allied reply to President Wilson's Note, nor will either hranch of Congress endorse the President's policy. AN AMUSING COMMENT. Amsterdam, Jan. _. Tli; Cologne Gazette says the Allies rejected peace because they hope to swamp Germany wilh innumerable'sliells in the spring. Onr situation grows harder every hour, but the Entente's dangers increase also. Where Napoleon failed von Hindenburg may succeed. The Yolks Zeii.ung forecasts a liik-c Allied offensive in tin; spring,, after which the Allies will be forced to negotiate. A RABID GERMAN Received Jan. 4, 12.15 a.m. London, Jan. 3. The Rhenish Wcstphalian Gazette says, in plain German: The Entente demands mean the handing back of all we conquered, tlio payment of the enemies war expenses, the giving of guarantees, which mean the handing over of German frontier territory. This ruthless refusal of our offer ought, if the Americans really want peace, to cause a storm of indigation against the Entente. We fear the storm will not rise. WAR IS GERMANY'S SALVATION. The well-known German pastor, Pliillipp, composed the following New Year prayer:—"Praise God, the war came; Praise God, peace 'has not yet come, because only war .can achieve the salvation of the German people."