THE RUSSIAN PROGRESS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XL, Issue 12536, 6 May 1915, Page 5

THE RUSSIAN PROGRESS.

(Pee Press Association.)

AFSTRO-GERMAN SUCCESSES J DENIED. Petrograd, May 5. ! Official. —The.. Russian fire prevented the enemy, after reaching the right bank of the Dunajecs, advancing further. Fighting in Tunesow was desperate, and the Russians took hundreds of prisoners.' One hill near Golovetzko changed hands three times, but it remains in our hands. "We captured 1200 men, including five officers. Copenhagen. May 5. Latest German-Austrian advices from Galicia deny the Russian retreat. They declare that the Austro-Geimans broke the foremost lines on the southern front, but only succeeded in. one locality on the northern front in reaching the other side of the Dunajecs. Petrograd. May 5. The Russians on Sunday occupied, at the south of "Wyskow, several points of the greatest strategical importance. Fifty thousand Austro-Germans violently attacked the Russians between Koztova and "Wyskow, but the Russians diverted passing trooos and placed 80,000 in the battle-line, and almost surrounded the Germans, who retreated, leaving 25,000 prisoners. Berlin. May 5. Official. —There arc reports of the Germans destroying the railways and cutting off Lilian, on the Baltic. Thev expect to capture Riga without much resistance.

THE AUSTRALASIANS* WORK. QUESTION IN THE COMMONS. Received May 5.-at S;3O p.m. London. May 5. In the House of Commons Mr Roland M'Neil asked Mr Harcourt whether the Australasians' achievements had been published "in Australasia, and if he would give the- British public an opportunity of appreciating their gallantry. •Mr Harcourt asked that the question be repeated to-morrow. London, May 5. The wounded say that- the Red Cross worked magnificently, the ambulance men being under fire continually, -for tlie Turks make a- dead set against them and shoot them down mercilessly. it has been established that the Turks used dum-dums'."

-The Turks' losses were enormous: the bayonet rushes doing great slaughter.

STRENGTH OF THE TURKS. £OO,OOO MEN. Received May 5, 10.30 p.m. * London, May 4. The Chronicle's Constantinople correspondent snvs it is 'estimated that 800,000 Turks are under arms, excluding 200,000 Christians, who are digging trenches and constructing roads and bridges. Marshal von dor Goltz commands 100,000 men around the AdrianopleChattaldj lines and Constantinople. Diemal Pasha has 160,000 threatening Egypt: nO.OCIO are at Bagdad, .180,000 in tile Caucasus under General von Sanders. 70,000 at the Dardanelles, and 25,000 in Smyrna, and picked drafts with the headquarters in Gallipoli.

The Turks believe that unless the Allies land 300.000 it will be impossible to force the Dardanelles. The chief nervousness is the fear that Bulgariawill co-operate with the Allies. Germans man the fort at Hamidian, but the other forts are garrisoned by Turks, with a sprinkling of Germans. THE BLOCKADE. Received May C, at- 8.4-3 a.m. London, May -5. A survivor from an Aberdeen trawler states that a submarine disguised as a British destroyer came up belching smoke from dummy funnels. A Grimsby trawler struck a German mine with its net. The mine exploded and the vessel sank. The crew were saved. Received May 5, at 11.10 p.m. London, May 5. Survivors of one trawler landed at Aberdeen had been forty hours adrift without food or water. They did not receive a minute's grace.- The vessel was showered with shrapnel until .she sank. The .second wounded the captain and .another killed him while he was crawling o:i the deck. The cook was killed during the lowering of a beat. All the .•>«;". >.ors were wounded with one except). ■. . The submarine'.'; crew laughed at i.e efforts, to escape. Rec-en-ed May 0, at 10.25 a.m. London. May 5. Another submarine sank two Grimsby trawlers. Received May 6. at 9 a.m. London, May 5. Submarines of the new type continue their systematic attacks- on the trawlers in the North Sea. One sank seven Hull trawlers. One of the trawlers, the Bob "White, was sunk by sliellfire while attempting to pick up the crew of another" trawler, which had been Torpedoed. In some cases the victims are turned adrift in boats provided with black brf ad. SWISS NEUTRALITY THREATENED GERMANY WILL GUARD HER . INTERESTS. Paris, May 5. La Liberte states that as soon as Italv declares war Germany will invade Switzerland . with two army cores, occupying Zurich and the country" around. Under the German plan it* that the Kaiser will inform Switzerland that he no longer feels under an obligation to respect her neutrality, alleging that Italy has viothat neutrality by flying over that country, and he feels bound toprotect his interests in .the St. Gothard Tunnel railway, which is under Ger-man-Ital'ati control. The paper declares that one corps will enter Basleand the other at Constance, effecting a iunction at Zurich. AERIAL EXPLOITS. TWO TURKISH AEROPLANES WRECKED. Received May 6. at 8.45 a.m. London, May 5. Two Turkish aeroplanes dropped bombs on warships off Sedd ul Bahr without doing harm. The warships brought down both and made the German aviators prisoners. Received May 5, at 11.10 p.m. Amsterdam, May 5. The German Admiralty claims that an airship engaged several British submarines in the North Sea; bombed and sank one. The submarines bombarded an airship, which returned unharmed.

FREE RECRUITINC. PREMIER AN OPTIMIST. London, May 4. the Right Hon. H. H. Asquith, addressing the wholesale and retail traders, said 260.000 out of 480,000 shop assistants of military age-had enlisted, also 170,000 ship clerks and travellers ■ out 'of ' 310.000. Personally, he dissented from, the view that the gravity of the issues was not fully recognised by our countrymen. Britishers did not need to lie flogged or goaded by rhetoric before they could be induced to obey the call of duty. Never in the history of Britain had recognition of duty been clearer or obedience more prompt and ;im.selfish. "I should say to the nation," he continued: "You have made a magnificent ■beginning and stemmed the tide of aggression. Proceed in the same temper. There are still unused and, to the enemy, unsuspected resources, which you must mobilise and organise to the full." '.-.'•'

Mr Asquith added: "I am not ashamed to call myself an optimist. Not that 1 underrate the prowess of the enemy or the gravity of the struggle, but -.because I believe first and foremost'in the righteousness of our cause; and next because I am confident we will leave- nothing untried or- undone to bring our cause to a decisive and .glorious issue. There must not he a man or woman who. at the end of the. struggle, will not be, able to say: 'I was not idle in the greatest task in the storied annals of our country which ! has ever fallen to the lot of Britain to achieve.' " CANTEENS FOR WAR WORKERS. Received May 6, at 8.45 a.m. London, May 5. Lady Lawrence is organising canteens in the" warworkers' yards throughout the country.;-' , , THE WAR BUDGET. THE CHANCELLOR'S PLANS. London, May 4. Mr Lloyd George- declared that he had no doubt as to the ultimate issue of the war. Only its duration was in question. It was riot now the time to base the financial policy of the whole- year. Very much depended on the development of the next two or three months'. The operations during the summer alone would enable Britain to form a dependable opinion of the duration of the war. To the end of the financial voar the war had cost £301,000,000. "The- income tax last year realised £'50,279,000, and the super-tax exceeded the estimate hv £'8.000,000. The national debt was nmv .■0,165,825,000.

It was estimated that the total revenue had increased hv £43,638 000 making- £27.0,322,000, or which spirits provided £23,400,000,' beer £32,000,000 wine £2,350,000, tea, £9,000,000.

MEAT FOR THE TROOPS, SUPPLIES FROM. AUSTRALASIA. REPORT BY COMMITTEE OP EXPERTS. Received May 5, at 8.30 p.m. London, May 4. 111. the House of Commons Mr Eiracimah, replying to Mr Thorne, said the prices of New Zealand and New South Wales meat ivas fixed by the local Governments. The Imperial Government had' requisitioned the whole of the Australian and New Zealandmeat supplies, and it was proposed to place the surplus over the. army's requirement upon the market for civilians. He had asked the Hon. T. Mackenzie (High Commissioner .for New Zealand). Sir T. B. Robinson (AgentGeneral for Queensland), and Sir Montague Nelson to report upon the method of placing upon the market and the conditions of sale, in order to prevent an undue increase in price, such as might arise through shortage of supplies. The Government was now considering their report, and their expert knowledge would be of much advantage to the national interests.

CERMAN FINANGE. FATAL METHODS. x ' London, May o. Mr • Lloyd George, in his Budget speech, declared that Germany's methods for financing the war by issuing paper and selling securities would be fatal in the long run. The Evening Standard states that the German note circulation is only lialf covered by coin and bullion. The value of the hundred marls bill has fallen to 85 and has touched as low as 78 in Holland, many Danish banks refusing the bill altogether. STORIES OF SUCCESS FOR ITALIAN CONSUMPTION. London, May 5. The military critics opine that the German assertion' of success in the east and west is intended to influence Italy at a critical moment. DASH OF THE AUSTRALASIANS. NOTHING STOPPED THEM. MANY ONLY SLIGHTLY * WOUNDED. London, May 5. Reutf-r's Cairo correspondent reports that the Dardanelles fighting reveals many stories of dash and courage. The Australians and New Zealanders jumped from the boats and waded to the shore, neck deep in the water. They then took three .ridges in succession in a running fight extending over three miles.

One soldier said: "Nothing stopped us; our big lads lifted the Turks on the ends of their bayonets and hurled them over their heads until the Turks ran screaming and howling in fear after the first rush. Others came up and helped us to storm the ridges and consolidate our new positions. The enemy's fire of shrapnel' machine guns and rifles was terrific throughout, but our men never wavered. . Our casualties are heavy, but very many of the wounds are slight l , and the men will reappear in the fighting line in a few weeks."