Official communiques issuing from various sources yesterday convey the following intelligence as to the progress of the war:
With regard to the western theatre of war, last night the Press Bureau issued the statement that General Joffre's plans are being steadily carried out, that the Allied Forces are actively on the offensive, and that they have been successful in checking and forcing back in a northeasterly direction the German force opposed to them.
From Paris it is announced that a general action has been engaged all along the Allies' line, from a point north-east of Paris as far as Verdun. The line indicated is south of Marne.
Thanks to the vigorous action of the French troops, powerfully assisted by the British, the Germans, who, had on Saturday and Sunday advanced as far as Coulommiere and La Ferté Gaucher, were compelled on Sunday evening "to mark a movement of retreat."
A fourth list of names in connection with the casualties of the Expeditionary Force was issued yesterday. It relates to 10 officers killed, 29 wounded, and 46 missing.
The King and Queen yesterday visited the wounded in St. Thomas's Hospital.
Messages of congratulation on the valour of the British troops have been received at the War Office from the Government and people of Western Australia and from " all ranks of the Commonwealth Defence Forces."
The Admiralty has issued a list of casualties among the crew of the Pathfinder, which was sunk by a mine on the 5th inst. It includes the names of four men dead, of 18 wounded, and of 242 missing.
With regard to the situation in Belgium, it is reported that the dykes have been broken in the south-east section of Antwerp, and that all the environs of Termonde are flooded at high tide. The Germans operating in that quarter lost a number of men by drowning as well as several guns.
Fierce fighting occurred to the west of Malines on Saturday.
It is officially announced at Antwerp that in the recent fighting to the south of Termonde the Germans lost 1,000 killed, and retreated in disorder, their attempted movement being completely checked.
Violent fighting has taken place between Belgian Volunteers and a superior force of Germans, who have occupied Malle and are marching on Ghent.
In the course of the blockade of Kiao-Chau a Japanese destroyer has run on a rock. The crew has been saved.
The German Legation at Peking has protested against the Japanese landing at Lungkow.
Two Japanese seaplanes on Saturday reconnoitred Kiao-Chau and dropped bombs on the railway station and barracks.
The planters of Mauritius have presented 1,000,000 pounds of sugar both to the Army and the Navy.
The Government of New Brunswick has offered 100,000 bushels of potatoes for distribution here, and the offer has been gratefully accepted.
The Commonwealth Government has forbidden the export of cereals and meat to any place outside the United Kingdom.
Our Washington Correspondent reports that the German Ambassador in Washington is endeavouring to secure money for war purposes through German banking houses in New York.
The Board of Trade announce that in the insured trades the growth of unemployment has stopped, and that in some trades there is a decline of unemployment. In the uninsured trades there is a decline in the numbers on the registers of the Labour Exchanges.
The Private Secretary of the Duke of Westminster has been requested to state that the stories which have recently appeared in the Press about the Duke are wholly unauthorised and inaccurate.
The Government have appointed a Special Committee to act as a connecting link between the War Office and the Territorial Association. Viscount Middleton is the chairman of the Committee.
The Prince of Wale's National relief Fund yesterday reached the total of £2,295,000.