Land & Water 
April 25, 1 91 8 
LAND & WATER 
5 CHANCERY LANE, LONDON, W.C.2 
Telephones HOLBORN 2828. 
THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 1918. 
Contents 
PAGE 
Lieutenant-General Sir DaVid Henderson. (Photograph) i 
The Outlook 2 
Battle of the Lys (continued). By Hilaire Belloc 3 
The Channel Straits. By Arthur "Pollen 9 
German Socialism. (Cartoon). By Raemaekers 10 and 11 
Climax of Two Great Wars. By Dr. J. Holland Rose 12 
Fay and the Bombs— II. By French Strother 14 
Rumania's National Shrine : By G. C. Williamson 16 
Leaves from a German Note Book 17 
Remnants. By J. C. Squire 18 
The Two Frances. (Review). By Winifred Stephens 19 
History of the Rural Labourer. By Jason 20 
Domestic Economy 26 
Notes on Kit xii 
Mr. Austen Chamberlain is a man of integrity in private and 
public life, and it was only reasonable for him to assume that 
when the Prime Minister offered him a seat in the War Cabinet 
it was because, in Mr. Lloyd George's opinion, Mr. Chamberlain 
could render service to the country at this crisis. It must, 
therefore, have been a surprise to Mr. Chamberlain that, no 
sooner had he received the offer, he should be made the sub- 
ject of virulent personal attacks in the very organs of the 
Press which have assured and reassured the country that 
the present Prime Minister is the one and only public man 
in England who can win the war. On the strength of it, 
these journals have at times almost claimed for Mr. Lloyd 
George the ancient divine right of kings, so this attack on 
Mr. Chamberlain for the fault of Mr. Lloyd George serves as a 
curious commentary on the prescience of those who are 
responsible for these opinions. 
In our opinion, neither the inclusion of Mr. Chamberlain 
in the War Cabinet nor the transference of Lord Derby to 
the British Embassy in Paris are to be commended, and it 
cannot be overlooked that both these gentlemen exercise 
considerable political influence in two important areas — 
Mr. Chamberlain in Birmingham, Lord Derby in Lancashire. 
But for this influence, would they have been chosen by the 
Prime Minister ? This question has been widely asked, not 
in a rancorous spirit, but because even firm supporters of 
Mr. Lloyd George find it impossible to justify either appoint- 
ment by outstanding abihty. 
The Outlook 
THE military situation during the second week of 
the battle of the Lys gave no appreciable new 
advantage to the enemy with the exception of 
putting him in possession of the summits of the 
Wytschaete Ridge. He obtained the ruins of 
Wytschaete as he had those of Messines — or, rather, their 
sites — and held them from the night of Tuesday, the i6th. 
This success naturally compelled a flattening of the Ypres 
salient, but it was effected in perfect order, and without the 
enemy's knowledge, or the Ifiss of any men or material. 
For the rest, on the northern front of the enemy's saUent 
he advanced his line by a few hundred yards through Meteren, 
in front of Bailleul and Neuve Eglise, points that put him 
at the foot of the hills, which it is his object to hold or turn, 
but do not seriously advance that object. 
Two more remarkable actions have marked the week; 
the first, which might have had very serious consequences, 
was an attempt a week yesterday to force the Belgian front 
just north of Ypres with four German divisions ; to advance 
towards Poperinghe, and so to turn the whole of the British 
positions on the Kemmel Hills. It completely failed, leaving 
in Belgian hands over 700 prisoners. The second was the 
very vigorous effort on Thursday, the i8th, to force the La 
Bassfee Canal just where it covers B6thune, at the place 
where it was formerly crossed by the Hinges Bridge, an 
action supported by stronsj pressure to the left and right at 
Robecq and Givenchy. 
* * * 
The rest of the military news of the week consists in that 
of a local French advance at the extreme apex of the new 
salient in front of Amiens, with the capture of about 800 
German prisoners. The Germans reacted here, and fighting 
was still in progress when the last dispatches of Sunday 
left the front. 
There has been noted, but without any official confirma- 
tion of it, the .concentration of considerable bodies between 
Albert and Arras, as though this sector were the next to be 
attacked. The minor features of the last few weeks have 
also taken their part ; the long-range guns bombarding 
Paris claimed a number of victims at a public nursery in 
Paris ; but interruption in the action of these pieces has 
lasted in the course of the week for as much as forty-eight 
hours. The Frencii divisions sent north in aid of the British 
upon the Lys, have arrived, and have taken part in the 
fighting upon the northern front of the new German salient. 
-vAn estimate has appeared under official French sanction 
of the enemy situation in the west in round figures. He is 
credited with some 200 total divisions, of which from 170 
to 175 are available for the strain of attack. Of these, from 
106 to no have already been put into the recent offensives; 
more than a third of them twice and about half a dozen 
three times. There remain, therefore, still some 60 to 70 
divisions which have not yet been in the fighting emd can 
replace tired units. In other words, the enemy has chosen 
to use in the intense action of the last month just on two- 
thirds of his available force. 
These pohtical movements have distracted the public 
mind from a far more serious change in personnel — we refer 
to the resignations of Sir Hugh Trenchard and Sir David 
Henderson from the Air Board. It may at the outset be 
said without fear of contradiction that if efficiency and 
proved abihty were the touchstone of office, the resignation 
of every one else on the Air Board would have been accepted 
before Sir Hugh Trenchard was permitted to retire. General 
Trenchard is perhaps the most outstanding figure the war 
has produced ; flying men regard him as the Nelson of the 
Air Service. He has that touch of genius both for command 
and brotherhood which made the British Fleet what it is 
to-day and bestowed immortahty on Nelson. We are aware 
that this is exceedingly high praise, but we have never yet 
met an active member of the Air Force whose praise and 
appreciation of General Trenchard was not higher. Sir 
David Henderson has also done splendid work for the Force, 
and his resignation is almost equally to be regretted. 
« « * 
Lord Rothermere is to be given , an opportunity m 
the House of Lords this afternoon to explain personally 
these resignations and also, it is hoped, the reasons which led 
to his letter to Colonel Faber, M.P., and its publication at 
that juncture. The implication, of course, is that the 
multiplicity of staff appointments at the Hotel Cecil is 
the root-cause of these resignations. This we believe is 
entirely eiToneous, and the Minister of the Air Force will 
no doubt welcome gladly this opportunity of setting facts 
straight. But the departure of Sir Hugh Trenchard is a 
serious matter, emphasised as it is by the going of Sir David 
Henderson. It will be felt through every branch of the Air 
Force ; the actual truth of it will soon be known by all 
ranks, because though easy to conceal from the public, when 
a man is beloved in his own service, no trouble is too great in 
order to obtain exact knowledge on a point of honour. 
But back of all this is the uncomfortable feeling that the 
best interests of the country are being jeopardised by the 
inexperience of a Minister. We have estabhshed a superiority 
in the air, for which General tienderson and General Trenchard 
are largely responsible, and this is the last moment when any- 
thing should be done that is calculated in the ieast degree to 
check or interfere with this superiority. 
• • • 
The whole of Great Britain is now rationed for meat and 
sugar. It has taken time to do this, but now the scheme is in 
force it works so well that already one hears of its extension 
to lard and possiblv to tea. 
We have bowed the knee for so many years to the fetish 
of German organisation and efficiency that we may well ask 
ourselves how it comes about that rationing work's so much 
more easily here than there. The German people, we know, 
are disciplined, yet the British nation, though far from 
being disciplined in the German manner, have shown greater 
readiness to conform to these irritating rules and restrictions 
than the subjects of the Kaiser. The tnith probably i^ that, 
being convinced that these restrictions are necessary, and 
knowing that they are applied to all equally, every subject 
of the King has taken a certain pride in conforming to them. 
