FRENCH ARMY CONFIDENT.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 60, 11 March 1915, Page 5

FRENCH ARMY CONFIDENT.

NO GROWLS IN THE TRENCHES. WELL CLOTHES AND PED. • (Times and Sydney Sun Services.) LONDON, March 4. , A correspondent of the "Times," who I has toured through a district covering 60 miles of the French trenches occupied Iby General de Castclnau's army, writes:— ! " "Twenty miles from the n-earest trench is a room with enormous maps, with apparently meaningless remarks on them in blue and red pencil, covering a range of tables and overflowing into a eecohd j room. "An elaborate collection of wires forms a,.nctwork beneath the ceiling, the terminals lying in the furrows of ploughed fields, or ..fixed to trees or half hidden in the growing crops. I "A small tabic, serving as a writing desk, is littered with lettere, memoranda, and compasses. '"De Castelnan is an intensely practical and husiness-likc little man, and he concisely describes the confidence and cheerfulness of his men. "These men are in tine condition. They, look dirty and ragged, but they have their clothing renewed in regular- rotation. They get two hot-meals a day with wine and coffee, and very few of them regret the life. There is no grumbling anywhere. They are content to fight until the war is finished—it does not matter whether it lasts six months or three , yeans."