Untitled

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 195, 22 September 1914, Page 8

Army Corps had been constantly fighting since the beginning of the campaign. Almost all the horses had been tolled. The Germans had been fighting daily from 5 in the morning until 8 in the evening, without eating or ingSo far the Germans have had the advantage in heavy artillery, but the British have captured and destroyed three 11-inch guns mounted in concrete emplacements. French guns of heavy calibre are being hurried to the front. The bulk of the fighting along the front of Sir John French's command has been done in. enclosed country, consequently for the most part it has been an artillery battle. The gun-fire on both aides has been appalling. . The Germans ' attempt to ,break the Allies' front where it stretches east and west along the Aisne has failed. The ■enemy's ioss has been enormous—--it is at five to one. "STREWN WITH THE DEAD. ■GERMAN NIGHT, ATTACK FAILS. ■THBIE POSITION EXTREMELY ; STRONG. 5 ; LONDON, September 21. T?-he ground in front of the British •trenches is strewn *with dead. Each attack strengthens the lesson of the folly of attempting to rush entrenched British infantry. : The enemy's night effort to pierce the'line covering Soissons was made in •a. tremendous rain-storm. It was impos-

sibie to see riiore than even a yard or ' -two. The British troops were asleep, outputs gave timely warning, and ! a hot fire thinned the advancing line. The bayonet put the issue beyond

•doubt. The declare they can hold, the Aisne position for. three months. There is a natural fortress of hills and "Woods and quarries, and they have had ■time to strengthen it. About Soissons "the;enemy's position is practically un- ' assailable from the front, but their ■ -communications areby no means se- ■ «>ure. PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. ■GERMAN TACTICS REVEALED. SERIES Or MISCALCULATIONS. PARIS, September 21. . A newspaper has obtained possession Of a document revealing • plan of campaign. It was found in a railway carriage five months ago by a Trench officer, who .handed it to the authorities. ' It shows that Germany recognised that she might have to fight France,, and England, without placing Teliance, on effective aid from Austria. .-It was doubted whether England's fear of invasion would allow her to place an active army .at the Allies' disposal. The plan regarded France as the principal adversary, and the' opinion was expressed that Russia's slow concentration would enable Germany to smash Prance in three or four weeks. It was anticipated that Germany could achieve such a victory in the second week as to ensure Italy's co-operation with the Triple Alliance, and then finish up with Russia on the Breslau-Danzig line, or on the Oder. f t " The document hints at violation of " treaties, but asks who is to enforce respect for neutrals' rights, for all great Powers would be involved. It is reported that three Germans <arept close to certain British gun posi- ' Hons in the battlefield. A sergeant -i" 'shot two, 1 and the third surrendered. f PHft-TT4aii xTPira in the act of telephoning over a length of wire which had been paid out, to give the enemy the range.

A SKELETON REGIMENT.

PRUSSIAN GUARDS DECIMATED. SHRAPNEL TERRIFIC." LONDON, September 20. An officer of the Prussian Guards, yrho is a prisoner, says:—"My regiment is a skeleton. The French shrapjiel was terrific. We couldn't locate the guns: We were fighting for long Stretches without food, and I was so tired I couldn't sit on my horse. I lave 'come to the conclusion that modern warfare is the greatest madness of nations.''

German prisoners have been gathered into a camp on a 48-acre pSttteau They live in tents, and are given bread and meat. They draw water and chop wood for themselves, beyond which they are not made to do anything.

Prince Adalbert, the Kaiser's third son, collected £240,000 from Rheims, and subsequently bombarded the place for three days.

The Prince of Wales applied to go to the front. Lord Kitchener advised the King that as the Prince had not completed his military training, it was undesirable that he should go at present.

THE FIERCEST FIGHTERS.

TTTRCOS AND SENEGALESE. THE DEADLY BAYONET & BUTT. LONDON, September 20. Mr Eichard Harding Davis, the American war correspondent, describes the Turcos and the Senegalese as the fiercest fighters of all. , In the trenches taken from the German Guards and the "Death's Head" Hussars, the German cIUM showed no bullet wounds, their assailants using only the butts of rifles and their bayonets. Man for man, no white man, drugged for years with

meat and alcohol, is a physical match for these Turcos, fed on dates and water. They are as lean as starved wolves, and move like panthers, all muscle and nerves. French commanders almost invariably use these black troops to lead the charges.

Mr Davis found in the trenches at Soissons German bayonets with saw edges, though these are forbidden by the laws of war. They bore the Government stamp and the word "Erfurt."

SHOOTING THE WOUNDED.

YOUNG GERMANS HEARTLESS. "NO VENGEANCE TOO HARSH FOR THEM." LONDON, September 20. A Frenchman states that as he was lying wounded on the battlefield a German sergeant pointed a revolver at him. He shielded his eyes with his hands, but the German. fired through his fingers and put out his eyes. A Frenchman, who was attending three wounded comrades, says that a German held one of the Frenchmen's hands in front of his rifle and blew it off.

It/is stated that the young Germans display the greatest he&rtlessness, but the older men are sympathetic.

. Signor Gabriele d 'Annunzio, the wellknown Italian author, who has visited the battlefields of the Marne and Aisne, says that the things he has . seen are so terrible that no vengeance on the Germans would be too harsh.

During the Germans' twenty days' occupation of Luneville, twenty townsmen were killed and over a hundred houses destroyed. A contribution of 650,000 francs was levied. A party of German Engineers, in an automobile laden with bombs, intended for the destruction of railways, were captured on the outskirts of Rouen.

TRENCHES FILLED WITH DEAD.

SUCCESSFUL RUSSIAN TACTICS. HEAVY CASUALTIES ON EACH SIDE. LONDON, September 20. The '' Daily Chronicle V'. Petrograd correspondent describes General Rennenkampf's tactics in rushing a brigade forward by a night march and spoiling the German preparations to -envelop his left flank. The Russians, under a tremendous artillery and rifle fire, repeatedly drove the Germans back arid eventually carried the trenches, which were filled with corpses; They next captured a town. Stone houses •had been converted into miniature fortresses, surrounded by deep trenches and wire entanglements. Each had to be taken separately. The Russians found a collection of handsome coffins, made for the use of officers. The Germans did riot suspect the inferiority in numbers of the Russians, whose success 'enabled General Rennenkampf to carry out the defensive movement which was recently concluded.

It is estimated that the total of Austrian casualties in Galicia is 35 per cent, of the million men engaged. The Russian casualties are 25,000. The great disparity is attributed to the Russian superiority in gunnery. Eighty per cent, of the Russians are wounded in the legs and arms. The dangerously wounded average one per cent.

THE JAPANESE ATTACK.

FORTIFIED POSITION TAKEN. ENEMY LEAVES AT NIGHTFALL. TOKIO, September 20. The Japanese on Thursday attacked a fortified position near Thimo. The enemy used machine guns, but abandoned the position at nightfall, leaving supplies and equipment.

BR POCKLEY'S DEATH. IN THE CAUSE OF HUMANITY. SHOT BY GERMAN OFFICER. SYDNEY, September 21. Details of Dr Pockley's death at Herbertshohe disclose that he sacrificed his life to a wounded companion. As a member of the Medical Corps he accompanied the landing party, and when the first encounter occurred he attended to a wounded sailor. Finding it necessary to send the man to the rear, he called a sailor and ordered him to carry his mate to a safer position. To protect this man he took off his own Red Cross coat and wrapped it round him. Dr Pockley was attending other wounded when he sustained a fatal revolver shot in the chest, allegedly fired by a German officer.

THE PEACE OVERTURES.

"A HALF-CHASTISED BULLY." "THE TIMES'' SPEAKS OUT. LONDON, September 20. ( ' The Times, " in a leader on the peace overtures in New York, says:— "The Ambassador in Washington turns with the whine of a half-chastised bully, and declares that the 'live-and-let-live' policy is the policy of' Germany, and wishes the enemy to observe this, but their irrevocable resolve is

not to stay their hands until German militarism, its causes and effects, have been destroyed once for all." -

IN THE COMMONWEALTH.

BRIGHTER FINANCIAL TONE.

A MARKED RECOVERY. SYDNEY, September 21. The Sydney and Adelaide Stock Exchanges have re-opened. Business is light. Though the prices of investment stocks are about 10 per cent, and milling 15 per cent, below the rates ruling when the Stock Exchange closed oa August 1, they are decidedly firmer than was anticipated, and showed a marked recovery from the lowest unofficial figures reached during the suspension.

MELBOURNE, September 21

Owing to public opposition the Victoria Racing Club has abandoned the proposal to charge extra prices for the Spring Meeting in aid of the Patriotic Fund.

FOOD SUPPLIES COMMISSION.

SHIPPING MATTERS DISCUSSED

MELBOURNE, September 22.

The Food Supplies Commission recommends legislation for the suspension of the enemy's patents. The Minister of Agriculture has conferred with shipping representatives, seeking an explanation of the increased freight charges, altered routes, and the control the Admiralty exercised over vessels. Cabinet considered the matter and decided to postpone action pending further information from New Zealand.

THE LOST SUBMARINE.

MESSAGES OF SYMPATHY.

(Received September 22, 11.40 a.m.) SYDNEY, September 22. The Australian Navy Office; has received messages of sympathy from all quarters concerning the loss of the submarine.

AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE.

THE KING CHEERED BY 10,000 PEOPLE. HUGE STREET CROWDS. The King and Queen stood on the balcony of Buckingham Palace three times last night to acknowledge the cheering of a crowd of 10,000 people, says the "Daily Mail" on August 4. The crowd had come to the palace from Parliament Square as .soon as the Government's policy was made known. They came trooping up to show their loyalty, and for over an hour the throng around the Victoria Memorial grew more and more dense, until at last, at; 8.15, their Majesties appeared, with the Prince of Wales and Princess Mary.

Immediately there was such ail outburst of cheering as has very rarely been heard before in this country —a token of affection and unswerving loyalty to the Throne at this time of trial. When their Majesties retired a large number of the people still remained, talking quietly and looking up at the windows of the palace. Cries were heard of "Down with Germany!" Yery many accompanied a body of Frenchmen and Englishmen, who marched up Victoria Street with the Tricolour and the Union Jack waving side by side. Shortly afterwards the crowd outside began to swell again, and about 10 o'clock their Majesties made two further appearances in evening dress. Loud cries were raised for a speech, and the National Anthem was repeatedly sung. The cheering continued long after their Majesties* withdrawal. Princess Mary watched the scene from her bedroom window, the blind of which was slightly raised. LONG HOURS OF WAITING.

Never was there such a .bank holiday in London. Crowds who might have gone into the country or to the seaside preferred to spend the day in the heart of London, where

"silent, bare, Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie." In hundreds and thousands they thronged to the world's centre to wait for the latest news, and to hearten with their cheers the men who are at the helm in the crisis to the ship of State. At 11 o'clock in the morning it was estimated that there were 20,000 people in the vicinity of Buckingham Palace. There they stood, hour by hour, watching and waiting —watching for the King and his Ministers, but chiefly, for the King. Underground trains and omnibuses brought their hundreds to swell the multitude, which filled Whitehall and spread round Westminster. The heart of London throbbed with loyal passion. CROWD OF 60,000.

In tlie afternoon fully 60,000 people were assembled in the stately domain of official London. Tliey were of every grade of society. Here were men of fashion and of business, in silk hats and morning coats; beautifully dressed women accompanying them, or in groups. Side by side were working folk —men wearing their trade union badges, men with the badge of the National Reserve, accompanied by their wives and children. Ilere and there was the bronze button of the Ulater Volunteers. But the largest mass was from the suburbs, representing the conteuted, fairly prosperous bulk of taxpayers.

"There is the King," someone shouted and everyone looked towards the centre wiudow of the balcony, through which his Majesty and the .Queen appeared the previous night. Great cheers were given, but the King did not appear. It was twenty minutes past four when the King and Queen left the palace in an open carriage. The suspense of hours of waiting found relief. A rush was made for the gates, cheer after cheer was given, and their Majesties bowed as they passed. There was another ovation later when they returned. The Prince of Wales, who arrived at the palace walking, was surrounded by a cheering crowd, and it was with difficulty that a way was made for him.

NOT A "MAFFICKING" CROWD. Raucous street hawkers pressed the sale of little Union Jacks, but few

people bought them. It was not a "mafficking" crowd. "We must stand by our friends," people said to one another, repeating the. phrases of statesmen and of the newspapers. Calmly the situation was discussed as the evening papers brought news hour by hour, and the verdict remained the same. "We must stand by our friends." One swift blaze of anger there was when a courageous person appeared distributing peace-at-any-price literature. He was severely hustled, but the police rescued him and took him away. Outside the Houses of Parliament mounted police were required to hold the vast crowd in check. Mr Bonar Law and Sir Edward Carson, following each other closely to hear Sir Edward Grey's momentous statement, were the subjects of mighty demonstrations. Mr Winston Churchill, now walking, received such an ovation that the police had to force their way and make a lane through the multitude for him. A party of Territorials, marching past Parliament Square, evoked another outburst. Handkerchiefs were waved to them. The Prime Minister, accompanied by Mrs Asquith and daughters, left the House shortly before six o 'clock in a closed motor car. They received volleys of cheers all the way to Downing Street/ And so the day passed in the heart of London. Everyone concerned with the destiny of the Empire Isle was encouraged to do—his duty.* Lord Roberts was cheered as he crossed from the House of Lords to the House of Commons.

Elsewhere little groups, spending their holidays as so many Londoners do by wandering along streets in the heart of their capital which they so seldom see, were startled by sights which brought home to them the stern realities of the situation. A group of Frenchmen arriving at. Charing Cross Station to join their Army were surrounded and cheered. They sang the "Marseillaise" as the train carried them away. At Waterloo Station crowds watched the arrival of a battery of guns in the evening. A crowd marched through the main thoroughfares of the West End last night cheering and singing. About 200 people paraded before the French Embassy, and sang the National Anthem and the "Marseillaise." There were demonstrations in the music halls.

RUSH FOR HOME.

HOLIDAY-MAKERS LEAVE CONTINENT. ON THE EVE OF HOSTILITIES. From the Special Correspondent of the "Daily News." August 2. I am sending this message by boat this afternoon. Telegraphing is impossible. The soldiery have commandeered the wires; there are sentinels with fixed bayonets outside the telegraph office; and since dawn this morning the mobilisation fever has been rife through the town. Soldiers everywhere —soldiers and sailors, hurrying to the grim business of war —all cheerful, all loaded up incongruously with all manner of things —brown paper parcels swinging from their bayonets, bulging cabbages under their arms, bunches of carrots, loaves of bread, bundles of clothes, here a pair of boots slung around a sturdy brown neck, there a pair of stockings flapping in the gale—and so on. The French soldier is careless of appearances when commissariat is the matter in hand. Off he goes, clattering along, loaded up like the White Knight in Alice in Wonderland. The destroyers, too, are very busy in the blustering harbour, filling up with provisions, with steam up, the crews at full complement, all in their blue workaday blouses, and all supremely busy. A curious crowd throngs on the quay, watching them. What is -the news? Everybody is clamouring for it. But nobody knows what is going on except that tremendous things are afoot. The Nord Station is all humming with excitement and bustle; The big refreshment room is stacked with food, steaming with gallons of coffee and quarts of tea. We are waiting fol" the afternoon train from Paris —the last train out, so they say. < 'BY THE SKIN OF THEIR TEETH.''

Early this morning 1200 tired, worn travellers, who had squeezed out of the capital "by the skin of their teeth, were awaiting the dawn with grey faces and anxious eyes, hungry for England. They were whisked off at sunrise, warmed and fed in the English boats; and now this afternoon the longawaited express steams in packed witn anxious voyagers. They swarm across the quay, hundreds and hundreds of them, tired out with their adventures — the men unwashed and unshaven, the women in a sorry pickle, and all of them with their heavy luggage left behind in Paris.

They clamour for coffee and tea and bock in the refreshment buffet, gulp it down as the gong rings, and scramble on to the steamer all in a huddling disarray. Among them are scores of Americans who have been checkmated in the midst of the grand tour. All the clothes they have got with them are the"clothes they are wearing—the luggage they have managed to salve, handbags, and small valises. One with whom I spoke—a rich young New Yorker—had an alpenstock, an ice-pick, and a brown-paper parcel.

'' There's a party of five-and-twenty of us,'' he said, '' and the last we saw of our belongings was a pile of twentyfive* suit cases in the road outside the Gare du Nord. We've come through—somehow —from Zermatt. Switzerland was in a ferment of mobilisation —soldiers everywhere.

NO FOOD, NO CHANGE

Paris was strangely quiet this morning, and the only demonstration I saw was a party of young students singing the 1 ' Marseillaise.'' They were stopped promptly by the soldiers. The difficulties in Paris were getting food and money and taxicabs. You could get no change anywhere, you couldn't send a telegram, and you eouldn't even hire a private automobile, as they had all been commandeered by the Government. Neither could you buy a railway ticket for anywhere. We had got ours, fortunately, two days ago, so we were all right, though getting through the station was a terrible difficulty. Our passports. and our tickets were examined four times by armed men before we finally boarded the train. An English lady who had come through from Aix had a desperate time. All the luggage she had been able to rescue was a square green box, a gripsack tied to her shoulders with a long green silk scarf, and a brown paper parcel. She was half-starved, ashenfaced with fatigue, but very plucky, j "I came away in the middle of my ['cure,' " she said. "My trunks have

vanished; they're somewhere in Switzerland —where I don't know, and I don't care. I only want to get Home!" Among the other American travellers who had managed to win through were a lady and her daughter (also minus most of their baggage) who had travelled night and day. from Russia. They had had exciting experiences in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Warsaw. This morning they were dead beat in Paris, and it was only by great luck that they had managed to get away. Their tickets ended at Paris, where they had intended to stay. CITY OP WEEPING WOMEN. "But one sight of the city," said the elder lady, "was sufficient to convince me that the sooner we were out of it the better. Paris, when we left it this morning, was a city of" weeping women. Otherwise it was quiet enough j but the sight of those tears was What it all means, God knows. I was never so moved in all my life —and I've seen a lot. "What to do to get out of it? We had no tickets—we could get hone for love or money. I would have given dollars and dollars for one of those little yellow slips. In sheer desperation, I bought at a kiosk two packets of Maryland cigarettes, tore off the yellow paper, gave one half to my daughter, and together we ran through the barriers, waving those pious frauds in the faces of the gendarmes—and here, thank the lord, we are! " The significance of the situation came home to one vividly at Dover this morning. Dover was very quiet, but very alert. The booms were ready to be flung across the harbour, and when we left, in the teeth of a howling gale, we were told that by the evening that highway would be closed to,sea-going traffic, and that only Folkestone would be available.

ON GUARD. Troops' with fixed bayonets were guarding the railway, and there was a little camp of soldiery under Shakespeare's Cliff, with rifles stacked outside the tents and khaki-clad Tommies lying on the sahds watching the sea through binoculars. Ready —aye, ready! The harbour tugs, too, had abandoned their pacific duties, and were busy cruising round to hold up and examine any craft they had a mind to suspect. Armed men were aboard.

I cannot say, of course, how far it is true in all this welter of rumours and alarms, but many of the passengers on the afternoon express out of Paris today for Calais assured me that this would be the last train out. One of them.said: '/An official at the Gare du Nord told me this afternoon that there would be no more trains running after this evening, as they had all been commandeered by the military authorities for the transport of troops." He added: "There will be no more, news out of Paris after to-night, and no more passengers, save those on official business./' TSAR BEFORE HIS PEOPLE "WAR HAS BEEN FORCED ON ME." SCENES OUTSIDE WINTER PALACE Counfr Pourtales, the German Ambassador, who till the last moment could not realise that Russia would fight, broke down and wept as he left M. Sazanoff, the Russian Foreign Minister, after three times demanding demobilisation, three times firmly refused, wrote the special correspondent of the "Daily Mail" from Petrograd on August 3.

Indescribable scenes followed as news spread. Parties of Reservists went cheerfully to barracks, where they remained •leaning out of the windows talking to their womenfolk, who sat disconsolately in the road outside :until, a. late hour. Yesterday I met a young wife just arrived from the country to meet her husband and . watch the soldiers leaving for the war. To-day I saw her crying at a street corner, her husband, with a bundle on his back, marching off with a batch of Reservists. ■

But patriotism does not wane. Enthusiasm strengthens, as -the magnitude of the task and the sacrifice are realised. To-day soldiers are everywhere soldiers' in new uniforms.. Many have obviously" grown fat during the time of peace. To-day also there has been a great meeting of the Tsar and his people. With all the pomp and ceremony beloved of the Slav the Tsar arrived ,at the Winter Palace to meet his people as head of the nation and tell them of his intentions.

THE TSAR'S SPEECH. A military reception was held at the palace, after which the Emperor made a speech. He said war had been forced upon him. Russia would not cease fighting while the enemy remained in Russian territory. Then he spoke a few words to his officers, fishing them good luck and expressing entire confidence in the Army. In a soldierly speech the Grand Duke Nicolas Nicolaievitch, who is to be Commander-in-Chief, replied. Then the Tsar came out on the balcany with the Empress to see his people, collected to the number of 3000 in the vast square facing the Winter Palace. There were no police. Yet never have I seen such order and discipline. Narrow roads had been formed through tlio crowd running the full breadth of the square. There was no pushing or crowding. Every class was represented. This huge demonstration waited for four hours under a broiling sun. Never a moment passed without anthem or hymn being sung from one part of the crowd or.another. A burst of cheering from the front ranks announced that something extraordinary was occurring. Their Majesties came out on the balcony. There was a moment of absolute stillness. Then, as the Emperor advanced smiling, there was heard a roar such as one may only hoar once —a roar of welcome and loyalty 'that shook the huge buildings surrounding the square —a roar, as one of the crowd told me, "that will be heard in Germany.''

Again there was silence, as like one man the crowd sank on its knees. Unfortunately the balcony of the Winter Palace was too far away to admit of hearing the Tsar's voice. Obviously his Majesty was moved and wished to speak. Talcing the Empress's hand, he led her to the front. Up sprang the crowd and gave her Majesty a welcome. The crowd, after more deafening cheers, dispersed. Some simple, heartfelt comments of the crowd are worth quoting.

"How sweet she looks," said one. ".How white suits her," said auother. "Now they know how we feel," said a third.

DASH FROM PARIS.

FIGHT FOR TRAINS IN FRENCH CAPITAL. MOBILISATION IN FRANCE. My journey here from Paris has been a nightmare. The rush from the French capital last night was terrifying, wrote a "Daily News" special correspondent from Brussels on Sunday, August 2.

News of the mobilisation had been circulated, and it was known that the State, in order to pour its millions of men on to the frontier, would require all the rolling stock of every railway for some days. The great, gates of the Gare du Nord were closed, and an army of police and officials made certain that only travellers should join the thousands besieging the ticket offices inside. It seemed, when you took up your place in the queue leading to your booking guichet, that you could never reach it. WOMEN AND CHILDREN.

More than half the crowd were women and children, sent to fight their way to some quiet country, place while their husbands and fathers were under arms; there were thousands of young men joining their regiments, chafing at the delay in the issue of their military tickets; there were foreigners of every nation falling over each other in their anxiety to get away from the city on which the shadow of war had fallen.

A pathetic scene was that of a mother taking her blind child away. The youngster could not see:'what"'was going on. The struggle and the babel of disputing voices frightened it, and. its terrorised, piercing cries brought tears to the eyes of many who wanted no better excuse to weep. A VAIN APPEAL.

When, as the time for the departure of the trains they hoped to catch drew near, and they seemed far from the ticket windows with the announcement staring them in" the face that the issue of tickets would cease a quarter of an hour before the train was timed to leave, women made .agonising appeals to be allowed to get in front of the crowd.

Dragging their little ones with them they rushed out of the line to endeavour to invade the platforms. It was useless. But it was small consolatipn to look behind and see that the waiting, struggling crowd in the rear of them was increasing instead of diminishing. It was no more consolation- to them either to be told that the fight to leave Paris was even more terrible at the Gare de l'Est. And these scenes were to be perpetuated into the night and on the morrow.

There" was no attempt to check tickets on the platform. The train backed in and was taken by assault while on the move. Women literally threw children into it to secure the prescriptive right of a place themselves as their guardians. Although this was an international train de luxe, people packed it without thought of class or seats. And still many were left on the platform unable to fight their way into the .crowded carriages. ; A COSMOPOLITAN TRAIN.

When I got on board I found French people making the best of a bad journey with Germans who had delayed their departure too long and had to go round by Holland to join the army that was - expected to fight the people of the country whose hospitality they had been enjoying. I found Belgians called to the colours, and many French reservists making for frontier towns. It reminded me strongly of my journey to South Africa with two of President Kruger's nephews and others who were to fight us in the Transvaal and the Orange Free State after we shook hands at Cape Town. And the way these prospective fighters of three nations ; - fraternised reminded me, too, that we were good friends with our Boer fellow travellers on the way out to the Cape. "I do my duty,'' says the German apologetically in his unmistakable accent. 1 ' And Ido mine, "/retorts the Frenchman, as they fall to talking of the horrors of war, of ■the terrible sacrifices they are making in having to give up good employment. There is not one word of bitterness on either side, and I feel more than ever that if this be war it is a war of armaments and not of enraged men. WHEN THE NEWS CAME.

There was no panic in Paris on the announcement of mobilisation. We stayed up on the boulevards half Friday night expecting the news, but the appeal to all Frenchmen to join the colours within 48 hours did not come until yesterday, at the end of a hot sunny afternoon. Notices were just affixed to the post office windows:"— "The mobilisation takes place August 2."

There was something cynically bald in the announcement, which may mean life or death to nations as well as, alas! to tens of thousands of men. No newspaper ever distributed bad news quicker than did the faces of the population of Paris. The tears of women and the pale, determined visages of the men told the story.

Everybody knew the announcement was coming. In fact, the first newspaper I saw did not : print the dread word '' mobilisation'' across its front page. It printed "Yive la France," and hit the popular cry.

WHAT CONSCRIPTION MEANS. I turned into my hotel to see that things were ready for my departure. The proprietor stood in the back room with his wife, her eyes red with tears. "It's hard at 40 to have to leave her," he-muttered with quivering lips, "and those two little ones," and he pointed to his two children playing on the floor with wooden soldiers and a fort! . . . . The telephone bell rang. The half of the conversation I heard was, "Yes, old man. I leave in the morning—Mon dieu, we couldn't expect anything else —let 's all shout Vive la France! " Outside I happened to pass the Printemps, one of the great Paris stores. Three or four hundred men who had been working overtime behind the doors of the place, which had been closed for half-holiday, trooped out into the street, leaving parcels half-packed and the huge motor delivery vans, which have now been commandeered by the State, half-laden. They shook hands in silence, some kissed their companions on both cheeks, and then hurried off to their homes to do some packing before Paris street traffic was quite paralysed. A DISORGANISED CITY.

England can hardly realise what mobilisation means in a count ry -where, under conscription, practically every man has a place under the colours in an emergency like this. One after another the trams were stopped; there was nobody to work them. The motor buses went straight to their garages to be handed over to the military authorities; taxi

drivers left their cabs standing in the yards to take up duty. In the caf£s and restaurants waiters took- off their aprons and hurried out. Shops will have to close by the thousand, because no workers will be left, the home distribution of bread, milk, and necessaries of life will perforce suddenly cease. The whole force behind the everyday life oi the capital was by th« stroke of a, pen.

"A BERLIN!"

PARIS PATRIOTS WITH WAR FEVER. ''Hou! Hou k Berlin! Hou! Houf & Berlin!" The night is full of threatening noise, wrote the Paris special correspondent of the "Express" on August 3. Dowi the boulevards comes the human torrent, tossing the flags on high. Is front of the stream of hot humanity there is a self-made advance guard of cyclists with coloured lanterns keeping back , the crowd that pressies towards the demonstrators.

They march splendidly four abreast as if they were even now going Straight to the frontier. These men are not hooligans or loafers. Every one of them has his call to his regiment in his pocket, and is to leave within the next few days. But their temper is fierce now. Germany has become the aggressor and the insulter in their eyes.

A window opens on the fifth floor of a house at the corner of the Rue Louis le- Grand. A .man comes out on the balcony and Iqoks over the boulevard as that surging, menacing crowd advances with quick steps, crying "Hou! Hou! a Berlin!" He sees them stop and swarm round a shop opposite him. The name of the facia is Klein. A FAMOUS SHOP.

It is quite a well-known shop, famous for its objects d'art, its marble and bronze replicas of Louvre and Luxemburg statues —but the name on the facia is Klein, and that is enough for the crowd. The sound of smashing glass splinters the night into fragments of rattling noises. In a few seconds the contents ,of the window are smashed. The aggressors are not hooligans, but they have no more patience since they have learnt of the German invasion of their territory before war has been declared.

"Hou! Hou! a Berlin!" Now the man on that balcony raises his arms and shakes his firsts. The crowd sees him gesticulating, and all eyes look upwards. 4 ' Sauhe shouts. "A bas l'armee.", It is his shop that they have smashed, 'and from his fifth-floor window he can : only look on impotently. But that cry of "A bas 1 'armee!'' has reached the ears of the multitude outside.

The vast crowd surges across the rojad, and all hands are raised and fingers pointing up at the, window. , "Yes. He's up there-" "What is it?" " A German pig!"''' "Where?" "Up there, shouting 'A baa l'armee." - ' ■' : }

They can scarcely believe it. The man on the balcony, high above them, cries once more, " Sauvages!'' and the crowd sways and surges |'belo-W| yelping and cursing him. g Somebody says, Lft ',b fir| a shot at liim!" - The m&tL his fclosed window,' and the waits as a hungry bear iriight wait at the foot of a tall tree for the man that has climbed it.

Presently a posse of cyclist policemen arrive. The crowd flings itself on the policemen, and implores them to arrest the man that lives on the fifth; floor, They are very excited now. They tell the policemen all about it over and over again, and the policemen listen patiently. The policemen are very sympathetic, and one of them—a big, heavy .sergeant —by a stroke of genius circumvents tie - passions of the crowd. "One musifnot take those people seriously, "he says,! "and besides, we'll be revenged tof morrow.''

That word revenge lias a magic effect. The demonstrators cheered for the policemen; they become suddenly goodnatured. They laugh and shout, 4 ' Ah, yesj to-morrow we 'll be revenged,and then, forming up again, they march away and disappear with their shout: of "Hou! Hou! a Berlin!"

PRISONERS OF WAR. Press Association. WELLINGTON, September 21. The total number of Germans at present held as prisoners of . war -on Somes Island is 112. Another six are to be sent over this week. The first batch which went over numbered 115, and although a fairly large number have been released on parole and report themselves once every 24 hours, to the police, their places have been taken by other Germans sent in from different parts of the Dominion. Affairs at tho camp go on smoothly, no complaints-as to treatment being made.

A PLAINTIVE LETTER.

GERMAN MERCHANT'S VIEW,

An interesting letter, showing that at least some German merchants deplore the war, has been received by a Christchnrch firm from a German merchant who was at Colombo when war broke out. It runs as follows: —

"On my way. to New Zealand I have been stopped here by this unfortunate war, but I shall resume my trip immediately hostilities are over. I do not know for the moment whether the goods you kindly ordered from me could be shipped before the war broke out. If so I beg to appeal to your sense of fairness and justice to ask you for the favour of taking delivery and meeting the bill. I need hardly assure you that the German -merchants have neither part nor guilt in this unhappy conflict, and I feel confident that you will not let us suffer for the deeds of others. In common with most other business people, we deeply deplore this terrible war, and should give everything to see it ended quickly. TOBACCO FOR TROOPS.

The British Empire Trading Company, Wellington (Messrs Neil and Co., agents), have donated one case of tobacco, value £2O, for the use of the troops on the voyage. Messrs Barlow Bros, have donated one case of tobacco for the same purpose. Messrs W. F. Tait and Co. have donated 1000 cigars These goods have now been put aboard the transports.

(Continued on page 10.)