PARIS IN WAR TIME

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 61, 11 March 1916, Page 13

PARIS IN WAR TIME

HOPES OF THE WAR ENDING A FAMOUS "SMILS." '(Special to "Star.") ' PARIS, January 3. If things in Berlin are really as they are depicted In a French paper by a gentleman belonging to a neutral Sta.tc, tLen there is hope that the war wiii be over sooner than we imagine. lie affirms having seen a procession cf women marching wdth red flags through the German capital, crying out against the war and the famine prices reigning therein. News from Copenhagen and Amsterdam tends to confirm the abovementioned neutral's statement, so that, after all, and in spite of Germany's frantic attempts to prove the contrary, the spirit of revolution is sparkling in the Fatherland.

Another "smile" is destined to become world-famous, if only for the romance that has been woven round it lately. Following "La Joconde," whose "smile" set the universe awag when she was stolen from the Louvre, comes the story of the purchase by an American of the "Sourire de Rheims." This particular smile is possessed by an angel, whose part in the famous sculptural decoration of Rheims Cathedral, known as "Le Cortege de Saint Nicaise" ("Procession of Saint Nicaise"), has inspired many artistic minds to rapture. One of these especially—Mr Alfred Dupont, of Wilmington, the American referred to —has now come into possession of the celebrated relic; at least he thought so when purchasing it from a second-hand dealer, and therein lies the mystery. German artillery having facilitated Mr. Dupont's acquisition of the angel, all he , had to do was to pay some thousands of dollars for her. The news of the purchase having reached the ears of the Minister of Fine Arts, this gentleman started an inquiry, which resulted in doubts being thrown upon the authenticity of Mr. D.'s treasure. Furthermore, presuming that it should prove to be the original "Smile of Rheims," it is therefore Sflate property, and the deal becomes illegal. Thus Mr. Dupont may yet have reasons to repent his dealings with the said bric-a-brac merchant, with a consequent cooling off of his artistic temperament. ; 2,000 ENGINES LOST. It would seem impossible. even in war time that 2,000 locomotives, together wjth a commensurate number of railway trucks and carriages, could be shunted on various side lines and forgotten. And yet this thing has happened in France. But for "Le Journal," which" discovered the scandal, all this rolling stock might have eventually found its way to the scrap heap. Although lying idle since (September, 1914, and consequently in an advanced condition of rust, some of this material is not totally beyond repair. The remarkable part of the whole matter is that the French Government, • "finding itself short of engines," had placed an order in England for 150 of these. The "mislaying" of such an enormous quantity of valuable stock, and at a time when every engine and truck 13 of vital importance, has created some indignation.. All this. is to be remedied, however, and armies of workmen are busy ; putting new life into the longoiegkcted • j instruments of military action. FOREIGN RESIDENTS. i. . v . ..■ .■.---iifeSt;. r ■ j Some interesting statistics came ■to r light in the Minister of the Interior's ! declaration concerning the suppression . of spies in France. Before the war Paris , sheltered 400,000 foreigners, but these are now reduced to 8000 British, 13,000 Russians, 18,000 Swiss, 20,000 Belgians. 45,000 Italians, 7000 Spaniards and 8500 ~ Americans, and, strangest of all, 467 Germans and Austrians. The fact' that these have sons serving in the French army enabled them to escape a war sojourn in concentration camps wherein 45,000 Austro-Teutons are properly interned. Four thousand seven hundred subjects of various nati6nalities have been deported for various offences; while 735 arrests were effected within the interior in connection with espionage. Of these twenty ended in death. sentences, with 33 life transportations and prison. -Within the army zone 100 spies have been condemned to death, 34 to penal servitude, 14 to solitary confinement, and 29 to prison. France has no - room for spies, and that is as it should be. ESCAPE FROM, INTERNMENT. After a series of adventures, Sergeant Georges Madon and , Corporal Rene 1 Chatelin, two French aviators who have been interned in Switzerland eince 2nd ' April, have. accompanied by their fox terrier Follette, in escaping to .. France. Leaving Paris on April 2nd, the I two men, with Follette as passenger, started in a biplane to return to their post at Toul. But they were eventually forced, to land near Porrentrury, >in \ Switzerland. Here they were arrested \ and interned. During the first three ' months they were allowed considerable liberty on parole, but later on the Swiss authorities became much' stricter, and the two Frenchmen therefore withdrew J their parole and-schemed tQ escape. The ' first time, they climbed irom their bed- [ room window, stole past- a "sentry, and I set out for the mountains. But they were hunted down anil retaken, and for L twenty days were again .placed under arrest. On October 2Sth they were j transferred to Zurich, where they met j M. Charles Beck, a French soldier on sick j leave. The two aviators got permission t from,, the Swiss authorities to take a stroll, one soldier being detailed as their . guard. The unsuspecting Swiss was led c outside Zurich to a small copse, where s M. Beck was waiting with an automobile p and civilian clothes. The three Frenchj men made short work of the guard, • whom they stunned and chloroformed. 1- They then tied him into the back of the c auto, Follette jumping in after him to s keep guard, and made their best pace " by way of Berne and Friburg for Ouche s Lausanne. Except for an uneasy five r minutes with -a Customs officer, who t was finally reassured by Follette's y superbly innocent expression, the drive i- was made without incident, and at c Ouche, the party, under tne eyes of a Swiss "endarme, took their places in the a motor "boat which M. Beck had pred viously hired, and reached French terny tory safely. if NURSE CAVELL MEMORIAL. '* A representative committee' has been formed, with M. Painleve, Minister of ? Public Instruction as president, to c.\rry into effect "the project of the "Matin" j to erect in a public place in Paris a basrelief of Miss Edith Cavell. The pro--1 posal to honour the English nurse who . wae so barbarously murdered" liy the r Germans at Brussels has been warmly . welcomed by Parisians, 1 and the uiunit cipal authorities have agreed to prorito a worthy site for the memorial.