RAPIDITY OF ADVANCE

Taranaki Daily News, 8 October 1917, Page 5

RAPIDITY OF ADVANCE

NEW ZEALANOERS GREATLY PRAISED

THEY CARRY ALL BEFORE THEM GERMANS' LAVISH SACRIFICES BRITISH GAINS CONSOLIDATED

By" C*Me.—Press Association.—Copyright

ttOTHEB COUNTRY. THE WAR SITUATION. GENERAL SMUTS' HEVIEW. GERMANS KNOTC THEY ARE BEATEN, Aua and N.Z. Cable Assoc, aod Reuter. Received Oct. 7, 5.10 p.m. i London, 6ct. 6. ueneral Smuts, speaking at a luncheon tendered to 'liim by the presidents of Bbamßera of commerce, reviewed the war situation. <" He said the Germans were already beaten, and their rulers knew it. The Germans had challenged the world on military grounds and had calculated on certain success, but they had made the greatest mistake in history. This war wag far more than a military war, for its decision depends upon political, economic, and other non-military factors. Oar military predominance on the jfestern'front was no longer in question. .GERMANY'S FATAL BLUNDER. Referring to* Russia, General Smuts said her, was not sure that from the point, or view of a far-sighted "policy. Germany's attack on Russia was not the most fital of German blunders. She was striking at a nation which, like heran autocracy, but who had received new consciousness from the terrible Bufferings arising out of the war. Bussia, like a woman, was laboring in rhildbifth. Germany was choosing this tnomenfi to strike her down, and the gpirit;of history would never forgive her. Liberty,' which was being painfully bom In Russia, will arise and vindicate her in the coming generations, and will became the most implacable enemy of the future Germany.

i ELECTORAL REDISTRIBUTION GALN OF THIRTY-ONE SEATS, Reuter Service. Received Oct. 6, 5,5 p.m. London. Oct, -5. The Redistribution Bill adds thirtyone seats to the House of Commons, including twenty-nine in England, one in Scotland, and one in Wales. SOME INTERESTING STATISTICS. London, Oct. 5. A high military authority states that from the end of July to the end of September the troops participating in the recent offensive were 70 per cent. British, 1Q per cent. Colonial, 6 per cent. Scottish, and S per cent. Irish. The percentages of casualties were: English 7<\ Colonial 8, Scottish 10, Irish 6. We captured during the past nine months, on the West front, 51,435 Germans, 342 field and heavy guns. We lost in the same pdriod 15,065 prisoners and no guns. In all the theatres of ,war, innin months, we captureu ,i,oit prisoners and 470 guns, and lost 16,850 prisoners and no guns. During the September air raids on London 51 persons were killed and 247 wounded. The Germans dropped 4J tons of bomb? on London, and during the same period we dropped 215 tons of bombs behind the German lines. The enemy has copied our methods. We taught them how to bomb from aeroplanes but they have not yet succeeded as much as we have done. Now the hot weather has passed we should begin to hear something from Me'sopotamia. The capture of Ramadie is most important. If enemy ) got it it would havu left our flank against. Bagdad open. In East Africa, Germany is now corali led within an area of 200 miles by 50.

CENTRAL POWERS EXHAUSTED AND ■'.. DEMORALISED

- The Central Powers, he said, are everyMitre beaten, and are retiring everj■white but in Russia. Add. to this the fut that the Central Powers are exhausted and demoralised internally, and faced with the spectre of bankruptcy, and we see the end is no longer uncertain. The Germans' hopes of the subtoariite campaign have' proved illusory, and it has now ceased to be a decisive fatter. "Take that from me as a bedfoek fact," said General Smuts. . ■•■ ; AIR REPRISALS. He. predicted that Germany's aerial, *radiar^ , will not only fail, but will prove % terrible boomerang to the enemy. We ■re dealing with an enemy whose culture had "not carried him beyond the rudiMktp of the Mosaic law. He can only «{Wy tile maxim of an eye for an eye, fc tooth for a tooth. Consequently, we Jure most reluctantly compelled to retaliate. ' We have no longer any choice In the. batter. We shall endeavor to avoid serm*n abominations, sparing as far ai.lg humanly possible the innocent and defenceless in our air offensive, but it is inevitable they must suffer to some txtea* . SR&IORTION OF POTATOES IS BREAD. \ui. e£d NX Cable Assoc, and Reuter. Received Oct. 7, 5.30 p.m. " London, Oct. 6. He Press Bureau announces that Lord tthondda has issued an order permitting bread to be made in the proportion of pne pound of potatoes to seven punds f «our. A' GENEROUS GIFT. London- Oct. 5. Sir 'Arthur Lee, MJ"., has donated pheqtttrs Court, a mansion and estate of 2200 acres at the Chiltern Hills, Buckinghamshire, to tile nation as an official fcount.ry residence for the British Prime (Dnirtera, Mr.' Lloyd George, on behalf of the country his accepted the generous gift, ftrhich includes an endowment to cover the cost of a permanent staff of BerVanti, topping up the gardens, and re-' fairs. The .park includes the ruins of the ancient stronghold belonging to Cymbe|ine, and the reputed birthplace of Caractacus.

IN THE AIR.

AIRMAN'S (GREAT EXPLOIT. i London, Oct. 5. The Press Bureau states that an Admiralty squadron commander in tile recent air raid attacked ten Gothas at twelve thousand feet over the sea and fired a hundred rounds at a hundred yards range. The commander followed and tired twenty-five more to make sure, and he saw one of. the enemy machines crash into the sea. Then he followed the eight remaining Gothas, one having been shot down in flames. He caught the Gothas at fourteen thousand feet and silenced one after two hundred rounds. Both German aviators must have been hit, as they did not fire. WTien the commander was within sixty feet he had to cease his attacks,'being without ammunition.

GERMANS PREPARING FOR BRITISH REPRISALS. " ,

Received Oct. 7, 5.5 p.m. Amsterdam, Oct/6. Zeppelins this week patrolled Rhen> ish towns. The people have been exercised in air raid drill and have been ordered to extinguish lights and go to refuge shelters on the appearance of zeppelins. CANADA. AN IMPORTANT CONFERENCE. FINANCE AND.SHIPBUILDING. Received Oct. 6, 3.5 p.m. Ottawa, Oct. 5. A conference was opened at which Lord Reading, Mr. Hardman, Mr. S. H. Lever, Lord 'Northcliffe. and representatives of the Canadjan Government were present. The object is to arrango for Canada extending larger credits to Britain and France for war purchases, also the regulation of. sterling exchange and the development of Canadian shipbuilding in view of the submarine menace.

fCnequers Court, a country house in Buckinghamshire, which date 3 from the tfosa of the 16th century, is of interest Sot only from the architectural standpoint, but from its beautiful situation high among the Ohirtern Hills, and from » remarkable collection of relics of Oliver Cromwell, preserved there as a consequence of the marriage, in 1664, of John Russell, a grandson of the Protector, into the family to which the house then belonged. It may be added that Chequers Court,during the war has been a centre of hdspitallty for convalescent colonial lowers. Some Hawera men have been entertained there, and not long ago Capt«ln<Sellar in a private letter sent out ft matt interesting account of the glories |f tMe'old Bta«li*a fcomeJ

It is understood that an expansion of the shipbuilding programmes in Canada and the United States is contemplated.