WAR NEWS BY MAIL.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 67, 19 March 1915, Page 8

WAR NEWS BY MAIL.

~OUR AMEWCAN BUDGET, j - - - - (Special to "Star.") SAN FRANCISCO, February 24. SAW, TORPEDO THAT SANK SHIP ' IKARIA. ' A first-hand story of the sinking of the . • British freight steamer Ikaria. torpedoed , by a German submarine on January 31, off Havre, wa s told by Alfred Edwards, , a member of the Ikaria's crew, who } reached New York, a passenger on the ( steamer f"t. Louis, from Liverpool. "It v.v.s shortly after noon," said * Edward. " when I and another member ■ of the crew standing by the rail saw the submarine come to the surface less . than a mile distant. In appearance she _ -resembled a partly-submerged tugboat, '" iex bow showing the marks " U-9.' 1 . in-tmediately Tecognised what she was. , A moment afier she rose a head appeared -through the tower-top. Our ship was evidently under surveillance. Tlie cap- • tain of the Ikaria apparently took the ' war craft for a British or French sub- ' -marine, for he ran up the British flag. ; It was hut a moment before the sub■marine sank""from view. The next thing ] ■we saw was a white shape coming to- - awards us. just below the surface of the < -water. Then there was a crash under - ■our starboard 6ide, just abaft No. 1 '- hatch. -A tower of water rose in the air "" " .ajul the ship keeled over as she rose "_ "-with the uplift. ■""All hands "were ordered to the boats, ' •■_-—""bj"t hefore--we-could, launch them a . second explosion occurred on our port . _ ) i_e j _ind again the,ship was lifted almost -out of "t—c water. One of the lifeboats TK_SMl_m—ged. and we were compelled to ' ""___H_"~*""_"tErrd "one in which to take r "xefuge. ~We»«on"y got one look at the sub- ' ■snarine, and that was when she first appeared. We did not see her when the ' •second torpedo was launched, and we - "■»vere. not molested in our ooats. "W"ien ' struck we were onlr about fifteen miles ' «fF*"Ha."trre; the sea was calm, and, after i -----a-tahing-"i"ie Tkaria .go down, we put for - and were picked "up within an • - _ujur--hy a-Erench-torpedo i)oat." 1 ——— i -f _"""~ENC"H3IOTHER'S TERRIBLE _£" """■fciVENGE. ~ i ". from the ■"War zone In France i " Jto San Francisco, Miss Mary Boyle ' 30*Re"lly gives a curious sidelight of a ■ -"frenchwoman's attempt to obtain re- ; -a-eDge-for the -murder of her- two daugh- - . * 4"_ers' 'by German -soldiers. " All the v< T '.'. "horror of the war is epitomised in the iragedy of the""Had Woman of Sois- ] -sons," says Miss O'fijeHly. " Helpless _nd unoffending, she is only one among millions of "the unknown victims of the ■war. Last July Monsieur and Madame _. "Mesral were contented proprietors of , *""""" the Hotel of the .Silver Cross at Sois- 1 ;' J sons, in Northern "-France. With them ; ■ -•_ lived their two daughters, young pretty, ■ docile girls, for whom the thrifty parents , were accumulating proper dowries. Pride ; and long patience had raised the little . family to a position of acknowledged : c- . speetability. "Germany declared war upon France. - In a fortnight Prussian troops entered the city. Monsieur Mesral's two daugh--3 . ters were missing. At once their terror; —— striekeh mother" started in, search of - them. A da-"-"Su_s""arch'heyond SoissOns ■J*"* she f"^d;b"^-r"-^4jjii^j^-da'ughters-- i- *■_-*; dead. '""That ■ discovery unbalanced her ~— mind. - '-I was.*"the -happiest- woman in '• the world,' she 'moaned. ' I will never .1 go home until—until——'.' Then she dis-. • ~ a-ppeareiL_„Graduallv "out.of.the hum of ~ rumour grew- a terrible, consistent report of. a mad woman-near Soissons. At dusk, after every fight, she was said to . wander across the battlefield searching out German wounded. These she quietly stubbed to death, crooning: 'Don't cry, ; Jny little ones; I shall send down to you many, many others like this one.' The ; •;. taley-whether~trne or ."false, adds poign : ancy to, terror. Commanders made efforts to trace the naarriac- All failed. Calmer- judgment' relegated the story . to. the limbo of dreadful legend. But .one night a. French officer was brought into Monsieur Mesral's hotel. Said he: ," * I was lying helpless, with a severe iwound, between our trenches and those of the enemy, when 'I heard a stealthy ""footstep. Out of the shadows came a - ■woman, who went about searching among the slain. Prestntly I heard a J" hoarse whisper, more like a moan of an 7"" animal than human speech: 'Don't cry, ': -my little ones,' the strange woman was saying. ' I shall eend down to you many ,*? many more like these!' Cold sweat stood on my brow, realising her mental "Jj; state. • Then she stood over mc. staring -- down. ' You are one of us.' she whis- - gjered. ■" I will carry you to safety.' ' And she did. On the'way-her mind ap- ". parently became clearer. 'What did we do to deserve such anguish?' she de■manded. "What can T. their mother, do » -to-Tfepay" "Look-where"the ""funs have -made a fortress of the quarries. How shall they be driven out?' '"Weakened by wounds and pains, I -". fainted. When I came to. the mad ».' woman zto.%. gone. _A.'week later a ier- %' -rifle- explosfoh "shook the quarries' of ' Soissons. Tlie galleries were packed - witli,eneniy troops. We will never know ~i how-many of them perished.---a Since that day the fighting has been incessant, but no one has again seen the mad woman of Soissons." ."" _: CALVE PACT'S KITS TO AID ".: _."'*• SOLDIERS. _ Madame Calve, the famous operatic ■- 6tar,. is • devoiing her time almost ex- • '. clusively to aiding the French soldiers. and while in New York spent most of her afternoons at the Lafayette Fund headquarters packing kits for soldiers. " People ask why I do not go back to "- France to help my countrymen," she ' . said; '*but I feel really I can do so ; much more for them by staying here in » America. Many times I have sung to our soldiers as they lav wounded in the r ' cathedrals and hospitals near Paris. One of the."toost" pathetic experiences I had was when a" wounded Frenchman limped into the--dormitorv where T was singing, andjasked if I would not leave the door open so that wounded Germans. lying outside, might hear. ' They cry,' he said, ' for. beautiful music'" AN DEATH. Sir 'Hamilton ■ Goold-Adams, formerly Lieutenant-Governor of the Orange River Colony, and who has recently arrived at Vancouver, -British Columbia, stated that one of the most fortunate shots fired during the South African rebellion was that which killed General Delarey. Hamilton said, was on his way "U> "Btoemf ontein to incite a large defence force: there to rebel and seize Pretoria, and the huge quantity of ■war stores -there. Delarev Tefused to atop his motor, car, and the -police, think-' ing he-—ras tie Wgiiwa- robber for whom they -were eeaichlne, shot ___ _j_ e _ U.gpgV . .".'-.-..*.•-;■*"'-•■'"■- -a - ■--.:;• i._i

X-RAY B_SVEAXS RUBBER IN COTTON BALES. Agents of the British Government are losing no opportunity of preventing the passage of contraband from the -United States to enemies of the Allies. Vast quantities of barbed wire intended for military entanglement usage by Germany have been held up on the Pacific coast, where several steamers have ; been loading wheat and barley for "Sweden," but apparently ultimately for Germany. Operations on the Atlantic jside have been maintained rigorously ' also. X-ray examinations of cotton cargoes of outgoing British ships which I have been conducted by representatives of the British Government for several months, as a means of preventing the ! contraband of war being shipped, have just revealed the fact that bales of cotton waste consigned aboard the White Star liner Cretic contained rubber. The Cretic was scheduled- to sail for Mediterranean ports. The consignee was given by officials of the line as a firm in Genoa, Italy. The consignor, they said, was A. B. Newman, of New York City. Each of the 17S bales in the consignment contained about four I pounds of ruhber. The entire consignment was refused shipment when the contraband was discovered, it was said, at the Cretic's pier. Officials of the White Star Line said that office of the United States District Attorney had been furnished with the name of the consignor and consignee. GERMAN SHIPS LAID UP IN AMERICA. According to a tabulation prepared by a New York newspaper, there are 66 German and Austrian vessels laid up in the'ports of the United States or its island possessions. Their gross tonnage is 518,706, and net tonnage 297,760 tons. Fifty-five of these ships fly the German flag, while eleven are Austrian vessels. Thirty of the ships are at New York, eight at Boston, four each at New Orleans and Baltimore, three at Philai delphia, and eight at Honolulu. The Hamburg-American Line owns twentyeight of the shipSj and the North German Lloyd owns fifteen. The tonnage in ports of continental United States Is 483,675. They would adeommodate 42,135 passengers. The largest in the list is the 54,000-ton Vaterland, with a crew of 923 men, tied up at "sew York. Next in size is the President Grant, also at New York, with a crew of 525 men. Third in size is the Amerika, of 22,000 tons, at Boston, with a crew or 541 men. Other large vessels in the list are the Kron Prinzessin Ceciiie, Kaiser Wilhelm 11., Cincinnati, Pennsylvania, "Grosser Kurfurst, Bulgaria, Barba rosea, ! Princess Irene, Friedrich der Grosse, Hamburg, and Rhein. AEROPLANE RAID A HOAX. The dispatch by the chief of police of Morristown, New York State, of a telegram at night to the Mayor or BrockviHe, Canada, stating that two mysterious aeroplanes had been observed travelling over the United States City in the direction of Brockville, stirred up tremendous excitement throughout Ontario. So much excitement was caused in Ottawa that the highest authorities in the Dominion ordered all lights in the Canadian capital to be dimmed. The citj was forthwith plunged in semi-darkness. The supposed German aeroplanes passed innocentlyover the Canadian city. ""Then exhaustive inquiries were made the next morningiit was discovered that uear Ogdensburg, in the State of New York, a suburb had that evening indulged in a I' celebration, and had liberated three fireworks balloons. The wind carried them over BrockviHe towards Ottawa. (At BrockviHe they were mistaken for searchlights or aeroplanes flying into Canada. Although the affair proved to be a hoax, and (-bused much amusement on the American side of the border every precaution against an aerial raid has been taken at Ottawa. The Canadian Parliament met with windows darkened, with the tower light at Ottawa extinguished, and tlie Parliament grounds, which, are usually ablaze, in absolute darkness At Niagara Falls the military guards at the international bridge have been doubled. Special cars carried fifty more soldiers from the Nineteenth Regiment to Niagara Falls City. No reason was made known for the increase in the guard, but evidently every precaution is being taken by the Canadian officials to guard against any surprise attack across the border from Germane in the United States. FIGHTING GERMAN-AMERICAN INFLUENCE. In California, where the influence of the Teutonic forces have been severelyfelt, and where public opinion has been poisoned to a great extent against the Allies by diabolical lies, industriously disseminated by German agents on the Pacific Coast, a promising- movement has just had it 3 inception in Southern California, at the enterprising city of Los Angeles. "Here the numerous •Britishers of the city convened a monster gathering of the British societies, and after discussing the incorrect attitude of certain American and' other neutral sections of the community towards England and France, resulting from the war, it was decided forthwith to found a British-American League, its chief object being to combat erroneous statements circulated by German emissaries in America, who are endeavouring to exploit the general public,, and turn their sympathies from the side of the Allies to the Teutons. The Los Angclea organisation has gained thousands of adherents in Southern California, where Britishers predominate, and a vigorous campaign is now being waged to defeat the Germans in their attempt to capture opinion in America to their side. •A few days later an enormous gathering of the British societies of San Francisco was held, and Mr. F. D. Brandon, an eminent Anglo-Oalifornian lawyer, who had assisted in the formation ot the Los Angeles League, gave a detailed statement of the establishment of the southern society. Mr. Brandon stated that adverse criticism had been levelled against England and her Allie9 in consequence of a German propaganda, which was obtaining a, foothold in the United States. It had been discovered that carefully-pre-pared mis-statements had been issued from Berlin, and by further distortion these Inaccurate reports had been cleverly presented ,to the American Press, and had been circulated on a wide scale. Tlie lying statements had I been compiled -by the best men possible in Berlin, by men who could twist language with a small sub-structure of truth, and build upon it until an abso--1 lute falseheo-. was presented. These - German emissaries had adroitly managed [ to get hold of Irish Press writers in These, writers- frequently

were discontented, and -were easily approachable, and a great deal of harm to the British cause had been accomplished by these .renegade scribes. In | addition to that the German agenta.seeking America's sympathies had used money to a large extent, and were wiljling and ready to launch funds covering millions of dollars into the coffers of American newspaper publishers, in order to obscure and render uncertain and distort into untruth those circumstances which they, as Britishers, knew were the pre-disposing causes of the •European war. Germany w_s continually apologising lor the war, and madethe preposterous assertion that it was forced upon her. The second motive of the German campaign in America was to embroil the United States with England. The Teutons wanted to induce the United States, to give a declaration of war to England tinder any pretext. It was pointed out by other speakers that British-born residents of California numbered at the present time 107,880, or nearly one-third of the entire born population, as compared with 70.20S German born, yet German emissaries were endeavouring to monopolise public opinion, and that on a false basis. Were not Britishers entitled to a hearing, as were their friends the enemy? Yet that had been denied them in the western newspapers. Eventually the San Francisco aggregation of British societies resolved to establish a BritishAmerican League, similar to that started at Los Angeles. ' Its objects were stated to be to commemorate the hundred years of unbroken peace between the British Empire and the United States; secondly, to strengthen the bonds of friendship and reciprocal esteem between the two nations, by promoting common ideals and sacredness of treaties, by affording protection for the weaker nations, the abolition of ware, and the federation ot nations for peace and prosperity. The third object of the Le?gue is to', bring together men and women of British birth, to stimulate loyalty to the land of their adoption, and to nurture in the breasts of their Americanborn sons and daughters pride and affection for the land of their ancestors. Fourthly, to counteract by dissemination of appropriate literature the work of any channel that had for its object the fostering of enmity between Great Britain and the United States. The last object of the new organisation was to provide facilities for social intercourse between members, and the bringing of them together with better opportunities to secure firm American and British solidarity. Mr. T. G. West, an Jrish-Canadian, stated that the reason of the presence of an over-abundance of Germans in the Californian Press was because the papers were subsidised by Germans. Some surprise was caused by the reading of an important communication from Captain W. H. B. Hill, late of the Eng lish Army, and now resident at Sacramento, the capital city of California. Captain Hill declared that it had been brought to his notice that recently there had been an unusually large influx ol Germans into California. These men were all reservists of the German Army, and it had been observed that they were gradually moving towards the British Columbian border, obviously waiting a [favourable opportunity to make a raid on Western Canada. Captain Hill considered it high time for all Britishers in the West to get together, and organise and help Canada to meet any emergency. The chairman quoted from a German "publication, widely circulating in the United States under the name of "The Fatherland," stating that there were 40,000 German reservists in America, and they were ready to attack Canada when the time arrived. Mr. Charles B. Sedgwick, editor of the "British-California," an enterprising monthly magazine, spoke of categorically contradicting personally with editors concerned regarding repeated mis-statements, which liad appeared in western newspapers, placing England's cause in a false light. He advocated organised contradiction on the part of the League members whenever any fabrications appeared, for. when the editors feared a threatened-depleted circulation of their newspaper, they would quickly d;'-con*fjn<ue their eflbrtp to discredit England, and give Britishers a chance. Since the formation of the BritiahAmerican League there has been a signal falling-off in the customary crop of misrepresentations, and evidently the Britishers have successfully off-set the pernicious German propaganda, and have secured for Great Britain and her Allies a measure of fairplay hitherto practically unknown. _, AMERICAN SUBMARINES FOR ENGLAND. Renewed complaints have been made to the American State Department at Washingtc* on behalf of the German and Austro-Hungarian Embassies that submarines were being built in the United States, and shipped in sections to Canada for re-shipment to England. Charles M. Schwab, president of the Bethlehem Steel Company, and owner of the Union Ironworks at San Francisco, ia said to have cancelled similar contracts with the British Government several months, after a conference with Secretary Bryan, on the theory that they constituted a violation of the neutrality laws. .:' Naval officers detailed at various private yards where contracts-for the United States Government are being executed, have reported to Secretary Daniels that the Union Ironworks of San Francisco- and the Fore River Shipbuilding Company of Quinay, Massachusetts, were building ten submarines each in addition to those they have under construction for the United States. It is said that these had been contracted for by Great Britain before the outbreak of hostilities, and could not be delivered' until the war was over. Inspectors have reported that none of these boats could ifee completed for several months, and that none of tbeir component parts have been shipped i*y the builders. So far as Washington officials know,'no breach of the agreement between- President Schwab and "the American Government is contemplated, but it was made" evident, notwithstanding the legal opinion secured by the steel company, affirming its rights to ship parts of war vessels' to belligerents, the Government will not permit this to be done without appealing to the Supreme Court if tbe courts are Invoked' by the shipbuilders. Inquiry at Quincy showed that ten submarines were there under construction for a foteign Government, but that no attempt would be made to deliver them until_ after tne close of the war. It is known that no shipments of completed submarines have been made from Quincy since the war began in Europe. After reading Ambassador BernstorfTs complaint that submarines were "being "built in Seattle "or fireat Britain, Presi-

dent J. V. Patterson, of the Seattle "Construction and Dry Dock Company, which.has fauilt man" submarine^and is soon to-construct for the United States Navy,"said: "What the German ___>assador says is not true. We are not building any submarines for any country at present. Under the law we have tlie right •to build submarines in Seattle, take them to'pieces, and ship them any : where, but our plant is now entirely idle so- far -as - submarines arc concerned." • The officials of the -San Francisco j Union Ironworks have declined to comment on the German Ambassador's complaint, but it is generally known throughout California • that the San Francisco firm has already -begun the construction of eight submarine hulls intended for one of the belligerent Powers, ostensibly Great Britain. FOREIGN* EXCHANGE BATES IN .AMERICA. Demoralisation in the foreign ex- j change markets ha* affected, the. large ! financial interests, in America to such- an extent, in the opinion expressed by qualified authorities in New York, that a meeting of international "bankers may soon be called to readjust existing abnormal conditions. Light drafts on London are now selling down to 4 dollars 7!> cents per pound sterling, the lowest quotation in a generation, whilst exchange on New Zealand is below 4.70 dollars per pound. Exchange between New York and most parts of Continental Europe, while less unsettled than in London, also points to acute strain. The situation is largely the outgrowth of America's heavy extra exports to Kurope, chiefly of war materials. In the first four months of the war, shipments of such supplies aggregated almost 50,000,000 dollars, and, according to trustworthy accounts, they have already passed the hundred million dollars' mark. These figures do not include the \ enormous export of foodstuffs and other commodities, which have gone out in unprecedented volume since the begin-j ning of 1915. Except inlnstances wbeve I credits had been established in the, United States, payments for these exports were made in pounds sterling, francs, marks, and other foreign money. These bills now pressing on the exchange market, and their extent, coupled with England's refusal to release gold in sufficient quantity to meet demand, have been the primary factors in depreciating rates. The situation has had the effect of putting all foreign gold at a premium. | The American market has become so deranged that a number of contractors and other exporters of supplies have | decided to demand future payments in dollars. This plan will necessitate the I placing of additional credits in the | United States by foreign Governments and individuals. The British and Rns-1 sian Governments have established such credits, but the amounts available at this time are said to be inadequate.