The Cambria Daily Leader

IN THE DOBRUDJA. I There is very little definite news regarding the position in the Dob- rudja. The "Rumanians have blown up the great bridge across the Danube, and apparently the Allied troops are retiring towards the hilly region of the north. According to the Bulgarian official report, the enemy on Tuesday had reached a line 17 miles north of the railway be- tween Conetanza and Cernavoda. How far the Russians and Ruman- ians will be pressed back no one can I venture to predict. Let us hope that the force of Mackensen's second thrust into this country has spent itself, or that it will spend it- self amid the swampy lowlands of the Northern Dobrudja, and that will find it as unprofitable as the first invasion. Why the Russo-Rumanian troops gave way before the enemy in this fashion was a mystery. Were they short of munitions? Were they taken by surprise ? It now appears that the rapid withdrawal of the Allied troops was necessitated by a sudden increase of the enemy's j force from six to ten divisions, which includes five Bulgarian, four ¡ Turkish, and one German division. On a front of 30 miles this gives an enemy strength of about one divi- sion to three miles, which is equiva- lent to the proportion on the French front. It is not clear whether the Rumanians managed to prevent the stores at Constauza from falling into l the hands of the enemy. On the one hand there is the claim of the Bulgarians that they captured the grain elevators intact, and many tanks almost full of oil—a very serious claim when we consider the report that the stores of oil in Con- stanza ten months ago totalled 180,000 tons. On the other hand, from Odessa comes the news that before the evacuation the Russian sailors worked bravely under the bombardment, burning the gram elevators and the stores of cereals, flour, naptha, kerosene, and ben- zine which there was no time to re- move. The flotilla, it is said, did not leave the bay until the port with everything useful to the enemy was in names. The military writer in the "West- minster Gazette," whose closely- argued articles are attracting a great deal of attention, declares that the proof of the fear felt in high quar- ters in Germany is not far to seek. The proof is this very onset against Rumania. For the character of the enemy campaign against Rumania may not unfairly be described as h Ut A 1 heroics at any cost. At a time when it might be thought the enemy would be careful of men, men are being employed as cannon-fodder, at:d wasted by forced marches, not merely in that campaign, but on the West and in Russia, almost more recklessly than they have ever been. Wha-t is the significance of it? That Germany has suddenly raised fresh hordes? Or. that Germany, by cutting down the size of divisions, has increased the efficiency of her armies? Both explanations have been suggested. But it is empha- sis id that. whatever fresh men Ger- many has been able to put into the fighting-line have been put there at the expense of her labour-power— that is, of her capacity to endure. And the revision of her forces, though it may have added to their flexibility, has added nothing to their weight. In the West, the Germans have sought in vain to deprive the French of their new gains at Ver- dun. The attacks were desperate, but they were without avail. Our Allies hold all the ground they took, and the net result of the counter- attack is an increase in the number of prisoners in the hands of the French. An attempt. by the enemy to retake Stuff trench also proved a failure. Sir Douglas Haig reported last night that the enemy was driven off with considerable loss, and that our artillery proved very effective. What are the tanks like? Those who know reply" Hush! Hush and we are left to make our own pictures of these mysterious adjuncts to our forces. The 'Times' special correspondent, however, gives to-day a few discreet details- very discreet. He says that if we must have some particular animal to compare them with. they per- haps resemble in general contour a toad more than anything else; a toad rather elongated towards its hinder end. In size the thing is— well, large. Not to be too exact, it is bigger than an ordinary motor- car and smaller than a labourer's cottage. In these circumstances, it can hardly be expected to move fast, and the deliberateness of its advance, coupled with the fact that it has no visible wheels or legs, gives to it a perfectly ridiculous sol- emnity. They are armour-clad, but the thickness of their armour is not to be stated, although the Germans doubtless know it. For their arma- ment, it may vary as you please, but is of the machine-gun type; and the guns, it is needless to say, can fire in all directions. Each carries -its commanding officer and a crew of driver and. gunners. Officially, the new craft call themselves his Majesty's land ships ("H.M.L-S. "), and every one carries its own name —Delphine, Daphne, Delsie, Cor- don Rouge, or Creme de Menthe— as proudly as any ship of the sea. No Tank has fallen into the., enemy's hands. The loss of the mine-sweeping vessel H.M. S. Genista reminds us that Swansea has contributed hun- dreds of men to this most dangerous war-vocation at sea. It is always perilous work, but it is an inspira- tion to* meet the mine-sweepers during their short leaves at home, so enthusiastic are they about their tasks, so devoted to their duty of clearing the great highways of the waters. H.M.S. Genista fought a good fight. When last seen, low in the sea, she was still engaging the enemy. That is the British way, the secret of our com- mand of the oceans. What Russia has been doing since Brussiloff's great dash into Galicia remains more or less a mystery, but a note from the Petrograd corres- pondsrri the "Morning Post" affords some Tig-ht upon the present position. The Germans have made enormous defences; in some places their wire entanglements have been I put down by the acre. The multi- plication of defences by the Ger- mans is one of the many signs which I are taken by the Russians to show that they have reached the penulti- mate stage of their conflict on alien soil. In those sections, each several hundred miles in extent, which are the cardinal points of the strategy I on Russia's European front, the position of the Germans is now frankly that of a nation strengthen- ing dykes against a threatening in- undation. Despite their utmost efforts, their dykes are leaking everywhere, but in the meantime they serve to bank up in ever- grea.ter force the rising waters of Russia's irresistible ok?cun of nght- i ing men. The tidal wave may burst the German dykes before the winter settles down upon the field of opera- tions, but it is beginning to be be- lieved that the process of nibbling will continue till next spring. At the British front, those in a position to know discount the talk prevalent in this country about the approaching exhaustion of Get- many. But there is a very wide- spread recomition of the fact that, if it cannot be said that the German Army as a whole is losing moral, it I is certain that there are a lot more poor fighters in it now than there were. Even the German machine- gunner is by no means now of the stalwart stuff that we found him in the early days of July. Even there some very dubious material is creep- ing in. It seems as if we had broken, as it were, through the hard crust of severely disciplined and trained men and were coming to softer interior. We ought to find it easier work ploughing through that interior next year than it was break- ing the crust this year. Exit the Vorwarts as a. means by which the Allied countries are able to obtain 'some knowledge of public opinion in Germany. On October 8th it was suppressed be- cause of an article From the Con- spiracy-Brewing Kitchen of the Fronde against the Chancellor," which the military classes declared to be a serious violation of the party truce. It has now made another of its re-appearances, and it assures its readers that it will continue to re- present the interests of the working classes. As a. matter of fact, there has been installed, in complete con- trol of the office, a tool of the 0"rivo ernment, who will see that the Vorwarts' brave editorial record is a thing of the past. An agricultural correspondent de- clares that fashion in superfine breadstuffs is one of the considerable causes of the big figures now being made by home-grown wheats and flours. The taste for dainty white brtad, made only after a laborious process of milling and baking, he tells us is a factor which has had a great deal to do with the mainten- ance of an expensive way of bread- making at a time when other measures might have been adopted to meet the needs of to-day's cir- cumstances. If more brown bread or a greater bulk of household breads were baked and eaten, some- thing materially patriotic would be done towards keeping down the price of wheats and flours. This is a hard doctrine for Swan- sea, where every baker will tell you the inhabitants are very particular to have the finer white grades "if bread. Over and over again, when comparative prices of the loaf have been given in this town and others, the invariable answer has been that Swansea insists upon having the best qualities. Therefore, in view of this decided opinion as to the effect the demand here, and else- where, is having upon prices, it might be useful to have a. campaign in favour of the more humble (and more nutritious) brown loaf.

ALFRED NOYES. I H :Mr. Noyes* reputation as a poet has been enhanced by the attractive way in which he read's his po-ems.Prt-ft report. The world ie ever full of noise. Which adds to or curtails our joys; What pleases on.e the next annoys— But all seem pleased with Alfred Noyes. TALNANT. I

LLANDOVERY'S LOYAL SONS. I Two sons of the late Rogimental-Quar- termasber-Sergt. Dd. Thomas, a son of the late Mr. Lewis Thomas, of the Bear Inn, are now in Llandovery. Those patriotic lads, Gunners Fredk. Thomas and David Thomas. travelled thousands of miles to serve the Mother Country. They were born in Malta, their parents dying when they were very young. One of them voy- aged from New Zealand. Another brother who had also settled down in a foreign land. Trumpeter William Thomas, also came home to join the colours and visited their father's native town some time ago. They stayed with their aunt, Mrs. Sarah Davies, la, Gorden-etreet. The three will shortly be leaving for the front. The older inhabitants will remember Quarter- master-Sergeant Dd. Thomas when it is recalled that as a printer he worked with the late Mr. Iago M. Ho wells before join- ing the Army. Whilst in Llandovery he was a frequent contributor to the local Press.

WELSH COMMISSIONS. From a special supplement to Thurs- day 's London Gazette ":— Hegular -Forces. Special appointment (graded for pur- poses of pay as staff capt. whilst com man- ding a company of squadron of officer cadet unit); Capt. T. A. Evans, Welsh Regiment (T.F.) (Oct. 1). Attached to Headquarter Units.—Bri- gade major: Major T. C. Greenway, D.S.O., South Wales Borderers, vice Capt. H. E. Weekes, 10th Gurkha Rifles, Indian Army (Sept. 20). Regular Forces. Cadets from the Royal Military College to be sec.-lieuts. (Oct. 27):— Foot Guards.—Welsh Guards: Alaricj Charles I-ttnry Borough. South Wales Borderers.—Arthur Leslie I Newman, Derrick Edmund Southey, Ed- win Patrick Moxey, Edwin Neville Cook. Welsh Regiment.—Trefor Wyn Thomas. Territorial Force.-R.G.A. Welc,li.-Lieiit. A. Rargie is granted the temp. rank ot capt. whilst holding the appointment of second in command of a battery (Aug. 26). volunteer Force. Glamorgan Volunteer Regiment. 4th Battalion.—To be temp. major: William Burrows Trick (Oct. 27). To be temp, eapts. (October 27): Leonard Russel Stone (late capt. 1st Glamorgan R.G.A. Volun- teers), Norman Hastings Medhurst. Geo. Brnoet Llewelyn: (late capt. 1st Monmouth Volunteer Artillery), Frederick George Waem, Alexander Webb Andrews. To be temp. lieuts. (Oct. 26): John Darolan, David Daviee, Lewis David Thomas, Eiron William Davies, Thomas Wiiliam Jenkins, Henry Alexander Clarke. God- frey' Li]>scomb. To bo temp. eec.-lieufes. (Oct. 27): William Roes, Thomas Daniel Morgan, Eli Pugh. Ogdey Lewis, David Thomas, William Herbert, George Wil- liam Farnie. To be tt'mp. li?ut. and ajt.: John Lloyd (Oct 27). To be hon. beut. and qr.-mr.: John Herbert Paasnaore 1 Waring (Oct. 27).

 SCROLL ?r FAFC I West Wales Officer's Serisus Accident at the Front. j Swansea Drummer Buried. I The casualty lists issued on 'I1mrsdav i, night contain the names of 110 ofhclcrs 4,552 N.C.O.s and men. Dstaiis are as follows:— Officers. Kileld, 26; died .of wounds, 7; died, 2; wounded, 57; missing, believed killed, 2; missing, 13; prisoners, 3. N.C.O.s and Men. Killed, 788; died of wounds, 236; died. I 69; wounded, 2,724; missing believed killed,, 5; missing, 471; prisoners, 256. FORMER SWANSEA FUEL WORKER. Official information has been received from the War Office that Pte. Dan Sulli- van, of the Welsh Regiment, and the son I of Mrs. Sullivan, of 31, Ebenezer-streat, Swan3ea, has been killed. Pte. Sullivan had been out in the Dardanelles and -aql reported missing. Previous to the out- break of hostilities lie was employed at the Atlantic Fuel Works, Swansea. A WELSH GUARDSMAN. I Intelligence has been received at Llan- elly that Ftp. T. E. Davies, of the Welsh Guards, has b?cn killed. Prior to the war Pte. Davies resided at Catherine-street, aud lie joined the Welsh Guards im- mediately the regiment wm-, formed. He was emidoyed at the Llanelly Steehvorks as a pit craneman. FOUR DAYS UNCONSCIOUS. Lieutenant G. R. Brian Harries. Dragoon Guards, eon of Mr. R. H Harries, J.P., and Mrs. Harries, The l Croft, St. Clears, has sustained a serious. accident at the front. He was kicked by a horse in the head, causing a fracture and he did not regain consciousness till the fourth day. LOST AN EYE. A welcome homo conceit was given at Bethel Baptist Chapel, Glyn-Neath, on Wednesday night, in honour of Pte. Wii, 'I Leac h 'Elie f-i.?a i r wa, Leach. The chair was taken hy Mr. vYm. Morgan, Ynysdeg, and an interesting pro- gramme was gone through. Addresses were given by Rev. T .C. Harries (pastor) and Mr. John Harrett. Pte. Leach lost an eye in Egypt by the cxplo«k>n oi a bomb dropped from an enemy aeroplane. BURIED AT TAVISTOCK. The iuneral of drummer C. H. Straw- bridge, eon of Mr. Arthur Strawbridgo, 33, Rhondda-street, Swansea, whote death occurred at Fovant Military Hospital, Salisbury, from sceptic poisoning, took place at Tavistock Parish Church. The funeral procession was a largo one, a band also being in attendance. IN A MALTA HOSPITAL. Pte. Ivor Clifford Jenkins, R.W.F., son I of Mr. Dd. Jenkins. Colliers Arms, fur- nace, Llanelly, is at a Malta hospital, suffering from malarim. fever. He has I been on active service for 14 months. KILLED IN SALONIKA. I Mr. and Mrs. Harris, f>5, Neath-road, I Hafod, Swansea, have been notified that! their son, Sergt. W. C. Harrifi, of !)>• Worcester Regiment, has been killed in action at Salonika. Sergt. Harris was only 34 years of age, and was a single man. Previous to the outbreak of hosti- lities he was employed in Monmouthshire. PRISONER OF THE TURKS, Among those mentioned in dispatches for distinguished service in the defence of Kut, is Capt. A. W. Gunn, son-in-law of Mr. T. G. Hancock, Chenton, Pembroke Dock. Capt. Gunn is now a prisoner in the hands of the Turks. Trooper Jack Evans, of the Pembroke- shire Yeomanry, ha* heen awarded a silver medal by tho King of Serbia for de I votion to duty in a campaign in the east- ern theatre of war. He is the second son of Mrs. Evans, Robert-street, Milfordi Haven. "LEADER" EMPLOYE'S WOUNDS. Pte. Cyril ihomas, oi the Welsh Guards who was wounded in the arm by shrap- nel in France, writes home to S'raneea from a Bristol hospital that he is pro- gressing slowly but favourably. Private Thomas, who was prior to the war a U Leader employe, luvs four brothers and a father with the colours serving abroad. Pte. Harry Price, of the Leader" staff, is in a Dundee hospital. He has had a quantity of shrapnel extracted from his leg, and is making good progress. TIDINGS WANTED. Pte. Herbert, Welsh Regiment, whose home it at Pentre Estyll. Swansea, is re- ported missing since September 8th, and his parents would he pleased to recei ve I any information respecting him. CASUALTIES. Officially reported on Thursday night: I -1 KTLTED. I Lyne, Capt. C. V., Welsh Regiment. Wilkie, Lieut.-col. C. J., Oxford unci Bucks Light Infantry, attached Welsh Regiment. WOUNDED. I Pritchard, Sec.-lieut. C. H., Gloucester- shire Regiment. Pryce, Lieut. E. 0., R.F .A. Rank and File. KILLED. Previously reported missing, now re- I ported killed:— Welsh Guards.-Evans. 1867, T., Glyn- corrwg; Williams, 671, J., Swansea. DIED OF WOUNDS. Devonshire Regiment.-Bowen, 14202, R.. S-v iL asea. WOUNDED. Royal Field Artillery.—Balfe, 13417, Dvr. P., Swansea; Rces, 95561, Uur. W. J.. Llanelly. Royal Engineers.—Price, 91867, Sgt. J. L.. Swansea. Welsh Guards.-Bcndall, 2272, G., Swan-I eea; Davidson, 1957, J. W., Ferryside, Car- marthen; Edward, 1.648, L.-sgt. J)., Haver- fordwest; Evans, 198, S., Swansea; Foster. 2335. F., Swansea; James, 270, A., Pem- broke; Jones, 2i92, E., Llanelly; Jones- 2178, W., Carmarthen; McCarthy, 228, J Swansea; Phillips, 1920, T., Pembroke: Philpin, 1798, L.-cpl. J. W., Haverford- west; Powell, 2107, M., Glyn-Neath; Rob- erts. 1485, T., Swansea; Shehan, 660, Sgt. T., Swansea; Williams, 2528, W., Glyn- corrwg. Cameroniane.—Graves, 18766, W., Swan- sea. PRISONERS OF WAR Previously reported nnssmg, now re- ported prisoner of war:— Welsh Regiment.—Williams, 20005, W. R., Ammanford.

MAIL BOAT NOT STIZED. Reuter's Agency is informed, regard- ing the reported stoppage by a German warship of the Bcrgen-Newcastle mail boat, that all the steamer6 have arrived according to schedule. A report that she had been take.n to a German port is disproved. I These boats have several times been stopped and searched by enemy war- [ shipfe, but they have always beexi allowed to proceed.

I While playing with some campanions in a South Staffordshire works a lad caught hold of an electic lamp pole; his clogs became fastened to the wires and he was electrocuted. Commenting on the Summer Time Act. the Westminster coroner said that from May 15 to October 1 he held only 2i; in. quests on persons killed in the street. I against 57 for tho same period last year.

4 THE NEW ALLEN RAINE AUTHOR OF THE "LEADER" SERIAL By A Welsh Student. ANEW BOOK dealing with Wales is now in the hands of the printers. from the pen of one who set the country aflame with indignation a year ago. Judging by the author's unrepen- tant attitude, it will be similar in char- acter to the first book; but one doubts whether he will succeed again in rousing the anger of Wales. For his pictures are overdrawn, his prej udices are too strong, his outlook too narrow. Welshmen and Welsh women are not all rogues and superstitious fools. They are not all under the thumb of the minister. (Some men with greater knowledge of Welsh religious life, may say that it is the ministers who are under the thumb of the laity; but that will be committing the fault we ascribe to the new castigator of our land, who is a sweeping assertionist and lacks the gift of making light and shade.) They do not speak the mongrel language ho puts into their mouths. They do not hunger after the lusts of the flesh; they have not the carnal appetites of rabbits. A SWEETER WALES. No, it will not do. With all its faults Wales is a sweet land and a good land. With all its aspirations after the religious it is not minister-ridden. With all the centuries of dark persecution behind it- the years when Wales and low craftiness were believed to be equal terms—with all its ignorance of outside culture, Walea has kept within itself a flame of purity burning steadily, it has kept its ideals untarnished, its language rich and beau- tiful. The shades of that language are too subtle for its detractors. It is of that nobler, sweeter Wales we want to hear. We do not want to be flat- tered, but we want the truth told. We do not want to be idealised, but we want the glas to be clear, and the reflection to be undistorted. We have no Scott in our midst, we have not a Barrie yet. Have we an Ian Maclaren "—not even a Maclaren. But a new Daniel Owen has appeared on the lir.-)-iaiiiviit-an improved Daniel Owen. The autobiography of Robert Roberts, now I believe being pre- pared for the press, will he the greatest event in Welsh literary life for fifty years. OUR NOVELISTS. I think over the novelist? who have tried to portray our life. Of some of them one cannot think without a smile. Of some of them one thinks gratefully, for they have done their best, and given us good value within their limitations. Of Miss Jeanette Marks, the American writer who loves Wales and has written tenderly of it—of Gwendolen Price, whose A IJong Shadow gave promise of better things— of Miles Lewis, whose Chapel was the1 strongest book in plot and style the modern generation has given us-of Mur-< gam Jones, whose Angels in Wales," al- though disfigured by eccentric exaggera- tions, contained many dHrnlÍng gages- 01., J. Evans Williams, whose Aberafan was quite a successful effort to deal with. the translation of language—of Misa Maeaulay's Valley Captives," a little spoiled by its supercilious attitude towards- the dissenter?—of all these authors and authoresses we have expected great things. Some indeed may yet bring them to pass. I have still room upon the shelves where I keep my Welsh fiction for a really hi,, Welsh book. "Ho oort. Roberts" will go there—how impatient are all who know of its rich pages to isee it in a hook cover f And some day, when Mr. Rowlands, the Waunarlwydd schoolmaster,, brings hia mugiius opus within printable dimensions, his book will be there, too. MIFANWY." Among that long row of Welsh novels, r have a tender regard for The Wooing of Mifanwy," by Miss Edith C. Kenyon. I read it, I remember, with delight, for all the imperfections it contained; and they were not few. With delight because she wrote with glowing sympathy, with in- tense understanding, with a great deaj of knowledge (although here and there shl) went astray). There was atmosphere in the book—Welsh atmosphere. And to con- vey that, a writer must have gifts of a) rare order. Since that day Miss Kenyon-I helieve she is one of the Keriyoiis-lias gone on, as we Welsh are so fond of saying, from strength to strength," and 1 am heartily glad that the Cambria Daily leader," recognising her talent and her promise, ia publishing her new novel, The Marriage of Mari You say quite truly that sinca the death of Allen Raine, Miss Kenyon* who also goes to "Wild Wales for hep inspiration, has been hailed as the legiti. mate successor of that charming writer.. And with my knowledge of her latest, novel, you are justly entitled to say that those who have found in Miss Kenyon's previous works a justification for that. claim, are not likely to revise their esti-c mate in face of this new delightful tale. The charm of the Welsh mountains and valleys does indeed permeate its chapters. The Leader is to be congratulated upon its enterprise in securing the tale- and its readers, evening by evening in Miss Kenyon's gifted hands, can look forward to enjoying The Marriage of Mari tw the full.

EXILED BELGIANS. Amsterdam, Thursday.—The German t-error contiues in Belgium. Five thou- sand persons have been deported from Ghent, and fresh deportations are awaited from Southern Flanders. A riot took place last, week at GheRt. where there are 15,000 Belgians working for the German Army.—Wireless Press. The Exchange correspondent at Amster- dam statcs that the Germans have issued lis+e ordering 100,000 persons to be do- ported.

Careful consideration is being given by the Government to the whole question of the treatment of alien enemies alter the war. During a case in a King's Bench Divi- sional Court Mr. Justice Ridley, who was tiltting with the Lord Chief Justice and Mr Justice Low. retired owin* to ivaiii, yositioA