Sidelights on the War

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 62, 13 March 1915, Page 15

Sidelights on the War

I Imagtaxy Advertisement. — "General I waited, Immediately. Able to c »k—dispatches. Apply Austrian Headquai :ers." Eight hundred barristers liave •ellnduished their profession, and are now serving with the colours. We don't envy Wflieun his bill of costs. A doctor says that hard-boiled eggs are c most valuable diet for our men in the trenches. And in this instance they need ■~W)t "scorn the foreign yolk." The clercy, churchwardens, and congregation of St. Mark'e Church, Camberwell, : Jiave subscribed for an officer's sword for I the chnrch orsranist, tilr. Leonard Nicholas, "whovolunteered for the army as a "ranker," bnt has now been promoted to a commls- . don as a lieutenant. Sergeant Tom Crawford, of the 3ro .(King's Own) Hussars, who 'belongs to Oiester. has gone to the front for the third time. He was first wounded through the ' thigh at the beginning of Oetobnr, and on October 31 received another injury to the thigh. He was discharged from hospital J ( the tecood time on January 4. Work on 8,000 portable kitchen wagons for the French army has been begun at Louisville. Kentucky. U.S.A. The value ;of the order is placed at £250.000. Announcement of the contract was made by the president of a Louisville wagon ■manufacturing company. The French Government specified that the wagons be ready is three months. British Board of Trade "Labour states:—"By the end of the year employment generally had reached practl«dlj the si mc level as in December, 1913, § while in those industries affected by war contracts it was abnormally active. it the clese of the year the percentage of trade union members unemployed was actually lower than at the end of 1913." Corporal Oaies. of the Ist North Stat-' • tordshire Regiment, in a letter describing I toe Christmas truce with the Germans. : lays:—"They were a Saxon regiment, an« the? told us their regiments had been in Wei Harbour for three months waiting to g> to England before they were e?nt to the fighting line. They all seemed anxious for a-speedy termination to the war, and one fellow said. -Both sides ought to stand back to bacfe and advance."" . It is stated that one of the reasons why Bumania has been so long in taking "a hand in the war is because half of the lan consignment of German rifles, received just before the war broke out, was found to have been delivered without the "strikers " This was a characteristic piece of German cleverness. The "strikers" have now been almost all enppiied, thanks to the aid of a large number of expert workers sent to Bucharest from England. France and Italy. CHESS AND WAR. Dr. Lasker, the famous chess champion, has been studying the present position of the armies in the West in the light of chess strategy,, and has arrived at the comforting conclusion f'hat the Germans have no occasion to be dissatisfied with the course of events. Recalling the chess maxim that '"nothing is more difficult than to win a £ame tbat is won," he adopts the view that this is the task now confronting the Kaiser's forces. "If he has so far attacked, now he restricts himself to defence, newly orders his fighting forces, and leaves it to his opponent to make desperate attacks." As to the ultimate result, "svsUrn and method-will finally triumph, juV ts at chess." •AUSTRALIA'S BATTUE HTMN." The "Christian Worid" has been favoured with a copy of "Australia's Battle-Hymn," by Dr. J. Lawrence Rentoul. of Ormond Presbyterian College, Melbourne University, the air composed by the Rev. J. Melniosh. M.A-, This is the first stanza 'and the refrain:— God. that made our fathers strong. Lead ns when the dangers throng; God. tha: nisde our mothers pure. Make us steadfast to endure! On th» wave or tented field Be our sword and battle-shield. God. that watches through the day. Guard each seaward coast and bay; God. iv love's unsleeping might. Keep our homes through darkest night. COLONIALS' PASSWORD. The Commanding Officer took up a position with the object of determining for himself just how the soldiers behave towards sentries, and whether the troops seriously recognise the position as regards pickets. Presently the tramp of approaching footsteps was heard. "Halt! Who goes there?" demanded the officer. "Scots Greys'." came the clear reply. "Pass on. Scots Greys?" ordered t!ie officer. More footsteps. "Halt. , Who goes there?" "Grenadier Guards," answered a respectful voice. "Pass on. Grenadier Guards:" Then in the darkness, the steps of some more soldiers. "Halt. Who goes there?" exclaimed the officer. "Mind your own business!" came the reply. "Pass on. Canadians'." ordered the Officer.—"London Opinion." GERMAN BRIBERY. The gentle art of German persuasiveness is- illustrated again in the case, of th« Cologne "Volkzeitung," which has thunderously denounced the Dutch newspaper, the "Tyd." as "in the paid service of England and France," and warned It that it had better go straight, or, etc., etc., etc Anc. when the bellowing ceased and its reverberations died away, the "Tyd" gently replied that no proposal of bribery had come to It from either England or France. One such proposal had, however, reached it during the early stages of the war. It came from Germany, and had been dedined. And now the "Tyd" publishes these interesting facts in the frankest possible / way. It is really amazing how German 1 delicacy continues to manifest itself with these ganeberies. " FRIGHTFTJIJIESS " OF WAR. The following extract from a letter writ ten by a young Bavarian lieutenant to hii mother was published in the German Social Ist paper "Vorwaerts": — "People at home who are always impa i tiectty expecting big victories can form nc • pictnre of the misery of the population What war fails to destroy, the Germai army, which is simply insatiable, devours We spare our Fatherland as much as pos •ible. and take all from the enemy. - "When the war is over, all the district m which the war has been waged will b ntterly destitute. Once it happened to m> when requisitioning horses that an old an< feeble man bent his knee before mc wbi his wife tried to embrace mc, and hi daughter, as If mad, flung herself on th Be<k of the horse, wept over it. and whe: the horses were led away fell to the groum •hriekinj Mc montrai.* The son turne - his on* u> th» iSoor «nd wept bitterly. "1 wanted to Icm them one of th horses. ;-ni Ha« Snitwwible. I "had t obey my wders. tee, dear mother, sue . h mi."—Beater.

.It la stated that all Germans and Austrians have been advised to leave Home, and that a large -proportion of them have already departed. On the occasion ot the Russian Sew lear King George conferred honours on tne Grand Duke Nicholas and leading Russian Generals. A. woman who made an unlawful claim on an Austrian title has had to pay £100 damages. She should have waited. They will be given away with a pound ot tea shortly.—"London Opinion." Mr. Richard Martole, a prominent Welsn Canadian of Vancouver, has sent over to England, at his own expense, twenty fully equipped recruits for tie Welsh Army Corps. The German Socialist paper "Yorwaerte" estimates that the war has already cost the belligerents about £1,540.000,000, without allowing for the damage done and the loss of productive industry. Adding these the journal increases its estimate to at 'least f3,500.000,000. | The "Vorwaerts" «tatee that puMlc • meetings, which hitherto have not been interfered with in Saxony, are now not allowed to be held without permission. Herr Stuecklen. the Socialist deputy, was to have spoken at a public meeting at Gruen- ™ .ST* J W ? iS Ws own constituency, on The World War and the Working Classes, but the meeting was prohibited by the military authorities, no reason being given.—Reuter. ren 4 l v"r olV^ haJDPt ° n aWa named <**. * pf!« I questions contained In the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee's circular, stated that he had six of his sons .serving the country, one each in the North and South Staffords, one In the Royal Field Arfcllery, one in the Territorials, and two in Kitchener's Army. Cox, who is 63 years old and has served eight years in the army and eight in the Volunteers, says "1 am still willing to serve, if called upon." It was stated at a recent meeting of the Governors of Hartlepool Hospital mat during the recent bombardment the institution was in the hottest part o£ the firing shells bursting all round, but the nurses stayed calmly at their posts, removing to less dangerous positions those in the more exposed positions of the building The hospital was not struck, but the property all round was much damaged. The matron I herself said if ever young ladies deserved the Victoria Cross, they were the members ,of her staff. | £80,000 rare roR song. L A .' adJ " froia Valeiiel eones relates that j the town has already been mulcted of an •indemnity of £120,000. On the first occasion _"SO,OOO was levied on the pretext that •copies of a song entitled "William's Win - I considered Insulting to the Kaiser, were found at the police station. The second time £40,000 was collected because the town was unable to supply the quantity or flour demanded by the Germans. The whole population, including the most mdi- ' gent, clubbed together to -raise the necessary sums in order to avert the carrying I out of the Germans" threat to shoot the mayor.—Reuter. BTJXUED BT GERMANS. Major C. B. Vandelour. of the Cameronians, attached to the Cheshire Regiment, who has escaped from a prisoner's camp in Germany, reached home witn details of treatment of British prisoners by the Germans. Major Vandelour relates, says the "Daily Express," how British officers, in particnlar, are treated with the greatest , contumely by their captors: that they are subjected to the grossest insults and humiliations, and that no effort is spared to show the hatred which the Germans have for the English. Compared to their lot, the treatment of the French, Russian, and Belgian prisoners is most remarkableThere is no complaint as to bad food or accommodation. It is the constant piling of insults by German bullies which the escaped officer dwells upon. RECRUITING HUMOUR. The returned papers which are reaching the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee In London contain fresh instances of the unintended humour of householders. The spelling of the word "eligible" has, says the "Westminster Gazette." furnished abou: twenty different versions, varying from "ellidgable" to the phonetic form of "lgbl"! Many householders persist in entering the whole of their family as "willing to enlist." including "grandfather, aged seventy-eight, and grandmother, aged seventy-three." One venerable man put his age down at 704, presumably meaning seventy-four: On another paper, under , "General Remarks." was given a long account of a centain "Cnkle," who, worse luck, is now in prison. Otherwise, he Is "a fine fighting irishman," who ought to be released to join the Army. VERDI ON THE GERMANS. Guiseppe Verdi, who was as great a patriot as he was a musician, foresaw that Italy would ene day have to intervene to defend the cause of the Latin races against Prussian militarism. In a letter which he wrote in November. IS7O, he criticises his countrymen for not going to the aid of ; 1 France in the Franco-Prussian War, be- - lieving, as he did, that the overthrow of France would mean that of European liberty and civilisation, "The European War," -he concluded, "we shall not avoid, and we shall be devoured. . An excuse Is easily found." Verdi's character sketch of William I. might pass without alteration ns a portrait of the present Kaiser. "That King who, with the name of God and Providence constantly on his lips, destroys the best part of Europe, and thinks himself destined to reform the manners and punish ' the vices of our modern world. What a : missionary." GIANTS "WORK OF BRITAIN. M. Gustavo Herve. the Socialist writer, replying in the "Guerre Sociale" to a German newspaper which alleges that Perfidi- " ous Albion Jet loose the present catastrophe, ' says: "The proof that Great Britain Is not ' the originator of this war lies in the fact that this calamity took her unawares, and unprepared. She was not ready except on ' the seas, and only her Expeditionary Force • and the Indian Army conld be mobilised. 1 "We should not ignore the fact," says the " writer, "that Great Britain had to create ' in their entirety six armies, to equip "them, and to manufacture rifles, guns, and ammu--3 nition, while at the same time she was f cede ing Sir John French's army, and "working c for the French and Belgian armies as well. 1 This Is the giant's work which Great Brle tain alone was capable of carrying out. We s sbonld, therefore, not grumble at the slowe ness of the British reinforcements. When n they do arrive, it will be the beginning of a the end for Germany. Concluding, M. I Herve says the perfidy of "perfidious Albion" simply consiste.l of demolishing c j successively all governments of the peoples ° ! who attempted to treat the rest of Europe II las a conquered country.—Press Association War Special.