RANDOM SHOTS

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 67, 18 March 1916, Page 14

RANDOM SHOTS

,WY X

Borne write a neigboMirs name to laih. Some write—Tain thought—for needful cash, Some write to please the country Claris And ralae a din; for ms, an aim I never tub, I write for fun. "Love your enemies." Many people would place this injunction in the category to which the other maxims of a celebrated sermon are generally assigned—that is, tbe Mat of impossible ideals. But it would Mem that we (and in "we" I include the British, French, and all the Allies) hare been loving our enemies overmuch. German prisoners of war, as well as civilians who have been interned, have been too well treated. The unspeakable Huns, instead of being grateful for the kindness shown, have repaid u« by inflicting insults, buffetings, and semi-starvation upon tho»e whom they hold in captivity. In England and in France the people are repenting of their benevolence, and are now talking of reprisals. I sincerely hope there will be no descent to German methods; but there certainly seems to be "ample scope and verge enough" for correction and adjustment, without being guilty of positive cruelty. We may, in short, still continue to love our enemies, without necessarily making bally idiots of ourselves. Even in New Zealand there is room for repentance and reformation in this respect. ********** Take the case of our manner of treating the Germans who were captured at Samoa. It is reported that some of them, weary of their healthful seaside sojourn on Motuihi, have been granted parole to_ visit Auckland City, where they have lavishly spent money on luxuries. That may be a canard; but I am assured that what follows is absolute fact. Just before the war an official on Motuihi bad arranged to get married, and for his and his bride's suitable accommodation the Government built a neat little cottage. All was going "merry as a marriage bell," when suddenly the war broke out, and by a i "coup" the German colony at Samoa fell into tbe bands of New Zealand. The Governor of that colony was among the prisoners brought to the Dominion for internment, and the authorities at once became roost solicitous as to his proper treatment. What did they do? They calmly suggested to the Motuihi official that he should postpone his wedding t£ c flos**g« srectedj lo f him w»a required as a residence for the German ex-Governor of Samoa. Postponed accordingly was the hymeneal bliss of the two loyal New Zealanders, ip order that a German prisoner should have comfort! Why should such things be? I am irresistibly reminded of what a German officer who was captured in Flanders said to a British officer: "You English will always be fools, but we Germans can never be gentlemen:" The first clause of thesentence seems to be perfectly true. ********** . Among the most glaring proofs of British folly may be cited the way in which the people submit to be spoonfed on fictions and empty futilities, euphemistically called war news. Now and then we hear a voice raised in protest, as for example, when Mr. James .Douglas writes:— " Oh! tbe tales 1 could tell if tbe censor would only uumuztle mc. But I am more useful out of gaol than in it, though sooner or later I feel sure they ywill lock mc up for telling the truth. The plain truth is that England is in bad need of bait a dozen Journalists who are willing, to go to gaol, "like W. T. Stead and Ernest Parke, for an Ideal. If yon only knew 'now hard It Is and bow dangerous it is to tell the truth about anything, you would, form a Truth Endowment League. My friends, everything is endowed in England but the ] truth. We love lies and we worship liars. I have not the slightest of smallest doubt that any man who tells tbe troth will be pitilessly and ruthlessly and- relentlessly broken. What does Sir lan Hamilton mean by those cryptic four words In his dispatch about his Gallipoll comrades? ' They know tbe truth.' I think I know what he i means, but I dare not even hint at it" If it be true that we "love lies and worship liars," our kindness to German prisoners is at once explained. ********** Cable messages give indication that members of Parliament may awake and tell some startling* truths to the nation. Mr. Noel Pemberton Billing, an airman who has just been elected to the House of Commons in spite of strenuous opposition on the part of the Government, is apparently determined to make good his election promises. His speciality is, ot course, to denounce the inadequate defence against air raids, and his speeches may not be altogether "hot air." He is a volcanic individual, according to a description of him by a London journalist: "There are cix feet of 'P. 8.,' six long, lean electrical feet He talked to mc for two hours without taking breath. As he talked he walked, flinging his long arms about like a windmill, and' occasionally stopping to stare out of the window with his strange, passionate blue eyes that blaze with all the fires of hnstledom. Talking and walking may seem an ordinary thing, hut to watch 'P-B.' talking and walking is like nothing on earth. The man ie a human hurricane. Back and forth he stride like an untamed tiger, roaring epigrams, shouting audacities, grinding his teeth in rage, bursting into sudden laughter, and all the time turning your ideas upside down." Very evidently Billing does not believe in cooing! ********** Reference to the censorship suggests the reflection that very Boon we shall all get into the habit of suppressing the truth, a practice which is just about as •bad as downright lying. Here is an example. A correspondent at the Eastern front, writing to a London ■ paper, 6ays that soldiers and mud are the dominant features of Salonika these winter months, and- he adds that the .-* British Tommies have summed up the place in half a dozen expressive words, which he keeps to himself. I fancy that correspondent must be in training for the position of censor. A man who can so effectively emasculate his own correspondence ought not to be on the Preaa but the sup-press. '

That" it ie poaeible to carry patriotic fervour to an undesirable extreme, even in war-time, ie a truth that liae been borne in upon a clergyman in the North of England. It is related that he recently exhorted the boye in hie congregation 'to wear come favour in their buttonholes to show their patriotism. He was shocked when on the following Sunday all the 'boys who attended church were decorated with large buttons (heplaying in gift letters the legend "To Hell with the Kaieer." ********** "Better is death than life," the preacher said of old, and the clerical editor of the "Prestvrich Parish Magazine" appears to-day to be of the same opinion. In 'the January number of thit periodical there is thia notice: "To our readers. Please patronise our advertisers, and co help those who help us." And ths only advertisement on the page containing the notice reads: "W. J. 'Chapman, Funeral Director, 432, Bury Sew Road, PreStwich." ********** In its notice of a celebrated Indian pharmacy, a Hindu journal says: "It ie under the protection of the Jam oi Jamnagar." Just co. We have all vivil recollections of "jam" in connection with physiCj but personally. I never found the jam afforded any "protection." ********** There must be many thousands of Australian and New Zealand soldiers now in Egypt. They are not, however, spoiling the Egyptians, but more likely (are being spoilt by them. The ducky descendants of the Pharaohs are making commendable progress in the study of the "Anzac" language, ac may be seen from the following handbill, copies of which are pressed upon our boye in khaki:— THE VICTOR'S RESTAURANT. [Royal Coat-of-Arme here.} Abbas Street No. 5, Heliopolis. Sir,—With great pleasure to tell yon that we have done some priparation In addition to what we had of both cleanllnesß and — FAIR DIJJKUM TUCKER. Try once and you will be very satisfled. GOD SAVE THE KING. 8a; it once and mean It. Probably we shall presently find, something similar taking place at Salonika. Recent photographs from that city show a public-house, with signboards in Englieh, French and Greek; very soon, perhaps, an inscription in the Anzac tongue will inform our boye that it ie a "Booze Shanty."