Sidelights on the War

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 156, 1 July 1916, Page 15

Sidelights on the War

.is an experiment, v.onieu axe being employed Ui the French army :o underlie certain lJglit du::ej. such as those of deris, storekeepers, cooks, etc. The offices in N'orLhumberland Avenue, London, of tie Society for the Propagation of CSrfctian have been taken orer br the Ministry of Munitions. : De Keyser'6 Hotel, on the Victoria Emfcaatment, tLondon, has been requisitioned sjj lie Government, and all the guests live received a -week's no:ice to vacate lieir rooms. Amons the a" 3l^'3 lat est recruits are 90 cell froffi the Falkland Islands, who have Seen cn S a S eJ iv erecting the new longunge Marconi station in that lonely oatpost of Empire. Seirly 1000 old boys of die Church of England Waifs and Strays Society are serving in the Navy and Army, of whom six iave gained commissions and thirtyeijat ha« lo=: their lives. Eeccnt advices from Nora Scona state tint from tiio beginznns of the war to April 1 ! as ' nearly IS.OOO men enlisted, for oversea service. In additiou to this number there are over 3,000 men oa home service in tie Province. A Lambeth laundry proprietor appealed to tie Tribunal for the exemption from military service of his son, saying he was a single man. The son, huwever, said he ■was married, >md the father nss-nreii the Tribunal that this was the first he had ieard of it. It is understood taat several British dlstillsrs. *v!io applied to tii& of Munitions for permits to manufacture tsiisky, have been informed that the Department is to prohibit all distillation except whit is necessary for tie production of jest A convalescent hospital for Canadian officers to be epened shortly on a eate overlooking Putney Heath, with twenty-uve s>eds, has been given to the Canadian Government by Mr. TVUliam Perkins Bull, X.C.. and the donor, whose residence adjoins, wEI co-operate la its maintenance. Daring a recent air ruld scare, the order <was received in a Yorkshire town to eitinpiiih all lights. The trams came to a dead stop in utter darkness, and through the din of many voices sou-nded a shrill, impatient.one: "Mummy, do be quick and pot a peany lα'." In Belgrade the Austrian military snthorities are offering rewards for information leading to the recovery of hidden {Tons and innnitioo?. There is a regular tarH of prices, beginning with £15 for SeM guns, £25 for 10 or iOcentimetre canEcn, and £iO for heavy guns. If. Eoglund. a Socialist memjer of the Swedish Eifcsdaj. has beee sentenced to! three years' imprisonment for inciting' soliiers to strike in the event of Sweden! participating in the war. Another Social-! ist his been sentenced to IS months, and a third to oce year's imprisonment for the ssme offence. Japaa:fs mating systematic preparation to caprnre for Japanese exporters the i ■Eassiaa mariets formerly dominated and eleos: moaopol:=ed by Germany. The Japanese Ambassador in Petrograd has requested the Eosslan Government to assist him in obtaining a complete list of all Bnsslaa teas which formerly traded with Gennanr. in order that they may be canvassed by Japa-ese firms. In protesting against the sinking of the Brazilian steamer Rio Branco, the "Jornal' &> CoEinsrcio," of Rio d<? Janeiro, rays:—! "It is onr doty *to take action against I ftese degrading crimes. All America must j RIPPOK the action of tLe United StateTo let toes act alone would be equivalent I to the collapse or the Pan-American 'd,-i i Germany must capitulate before the 1 unanimous protest of the nations ! ier methods." i THE SLACKER. A certain slacSer gave two excuses lor 10-to? back. They appeared on the re-' Wttog agenfs card M follows ■_ | •Tirst: Weak eyesight, v .l cannot see' ais -way ,i enlist." I "Second: Has varicose veins, and no confidence in the Government." ■A- SOIDIEK'S PEBQTJISITSS. Middlesex Session* hia *w«»tbeart —>s *n asked by Mr Montague Sharpe if she f2ld him to walk out with her The ~l- : < T «T surprised,: -.No." Mr Sharper "There *> 1 tegnlar practice in war time. 1 believe. fc;. aCi3r?efOr -Woot^tt •& CHRISTENED CAK. A soldier on leave L-cm France very' Properly draws attention to the fact that I •ie French soldiers are not the on-v per- \ «ns to give names to their guns and! »"ts to the fact that motor lorries', and ' "~ ClrS ' are ■■ ba ? in the British '' 7w n- d ° not kDOW tbe " nit to ! r , Tot ™7 beltnjs. bat judging from' »• wae of its transport wagon thero ne a strong Scottish element in the! Tae car bears th e name -Annie , ; "BIRDIE" DID. A story is 50iEg ro _ nds Genera[ | *« fe?f M Za?aA c,loael - 2 stlcklcr ; ISn ,'' ' were tae AustraQneen='- C c " ffeeSi eS T" *° ! nd^^beyond V a 0 ! "ton" 0400 ° f Ule comjn:lad ". Presently. tmt %' he Saw a she;l «<>nUnS. and yelled Duck your ncad , Ci ; die ... .. An( , "^thre^.d^'ny-T:^' 1 ?* *Z n "^^"^"ueneraTßiriheaer- W3S tola ' J dncked my OPUJ3ON OF SHIRSERS :i officer who is ssrving somewhere near U^: WMy of tie« conscientious objecto his'wlf a'a air co:n Pany. He writes aan „-. iis "no P lace for a married » re : t din i Ot — « f the rotters who It's „ • ° Co!ni)ataD t service because «4 th' the "" belsU - T te «*ins: They ""* ta "° Jr "^"y^H-s'a" U? ho „ Wr ° nS t0 be on. 8 iOM «tdi it in the

Monks are acting voluntarily as nurses at Quair Abbey, Isle of Wight, where a hospital has been established for sick and woucded soldiers. Corporal Wyatt, V.C., a Xormer Doncaater poUceoaan, has beea pobUdy received by the mayor of his native town and entertained at dinner. "Tobacco is not so mnci a taxury as an actual necessity to our men at the frent," cays Uent.-Colonel Treeby, commandant of t!ie East Surrey depot. It is said in Paris that we: two months aud a-half ago a large staff of German ■Civil servants, -who had been appointed for the civil administration of the Verdun district arrived in Brussels. They are still there. An artillery eergeant, in a letter home, says that a blackbird has built ier nest on a gun -which is daily in action. The nest now has four egss- in it—"as saucy as she is confident of protection," tie sergeant adds. ' •New decrees have been issued in Austria, for reqnisltionins Jead aad tin to tae extent of SO per cent, of nanolactnxexs , and merchants' stocts. Typefounders, printers, and newspapers are required to give np 20 per cent of their type. Extraordinary difficulties have been placed in the way of travellers deslrin s to leave Austria. Under the latest rejniatloos inrrodncei by the military authorities a political quarantine or 20 to 3O days is enforced at FeldHrch, on the frontier. According to advices from Salonika, desertions from the Bulgarian Army in Macedonia, which had ceased, fcave again resumed in Increasing numbers. Information from Sofia points to toe existeoce of great depression among the public owing to the prolongation of the war. A table compiled by the "New York Herald" gires 27 ships whose destruction, or threatened destruction, by fire or explosion, will form -part of the indictment against the -prisoners Kleist, Becker, Walpert, and Bode, -who are ntw awaiting trial in lAmcrica. A miniature of Napoleon, picked up on the field of Waterloo, has been given to the Church Army for sale on behalf of its war fund by the daughter of a major in the Rifle Brigade who fought as Waterloo aod whose great-nephew, a major in the Royal Artillery, has recently received the ATr. Henry Ford, the American peace advocate, spent £177 on a fnil-page advertisement in the "Chicago Tribune" explaining his views in opposition to national defence, and in .he same issue the proprietors of the journal said they proposed jto devote the money to the Xavy Leajrue ■ propaganda. The Navy League is now suing Mr Ford for IOO.OOOdoIs. damages for J alleged libel contained In the advertisement. An East Coast soldier home on furlough says that one of tie parcels he received during the spring contained a 10/8 nmj breila! The recipient was severely chaffed, and got rid of the unnecessary umbrella woman, with the result that his company was for weeks afterwards well supplied with fresh eggs. Mr. TennanL replying to a question In the House of Commons by Mr. J. 3d\ Henderson, said: —"A certain number of cases Jof disordered action of the heart are I occurring—the so-called "soldier's heart." This is bein- investigated in a hospital ! spe<-ia!ly set aside for the purpose. We have lo evidence that the number of cases i i.« increasing at present. By some ol>- ; servers thi*= <-ondition is attribnted to escesslve i-izurotte and tobacco smoking, ir.d this is being looked into by skilled ■ exports." DONKEY MEAT DINNERS. Xh? Qerrnans nntl f^o fool probleco dow so acute that they are sending away civilians from the invaded French provinces in order to g»t rid of useless mouths. Trainl"ads of French people I-ave Lille, Touricing, .Kocbaii, and other regions daily for Zurich or Sebaffhausen. -whence they are ?ect to France. The r&patriated men and declare that the Germans can no ioncer conceal that they are threatened quisitiened for food. Twenty thousand Krenrh civilians are un£ar orders to quit the territory. A CAUSE OF THE WAR. One of the great causes of the war was the world's failure to recognise human communion. Such is the opinion recently expressed by Mr. Laurence Honsman to an of "An .Englishwoman's Love Letters," ion." An intense humanism is taking possession of ut; more and more as the war progresses, and humanism is the mo9t spiritual thing in the universe. The war is bringing to our life, and therefore inevitably to our literature, the spirituality which is our greatest need. " I don't snppc6<?." he said, " that such a catastrophe a.s the war was necessary to awaken the spirituality of the world. Contact with any ; tiemendous actuality always has that effect. I But the war has brought about this spirlitual awakening. And in literature one of its most conspicuous manifestations is the I new enthusiasm for poetry, llore and betj ter poetry is being written, and more poetry lis being read and appreciated in England ! to-day than has been the case for many years. The war has made young men read i and enjoy poetry who before had absolutely jno use for it." "A SCRAP OP PAPER." One of the Gallipot warriors, who is just back in England, states that the following tale was a favourite one with the lads out there: A certain Tommy suddenly developed something like a mania for picking np loose scraps of paper. WhereTer he was, in the trenches or out of them, he spent most of his time looking for any stray bits of paper and gathering them op. This soon became a nuisance, but drastic orders to refrain and long terms of C.B. alike failed to enre him. He went on picking up bits of paper. Finally, in desperation, they sent him to France, thinking a change of scene might effect a cure, but arrived there his mania for gathering up paper fragments got worse instead of better. Finally he was removed to the where he continued his "paper chase." At last, gifing him up as a hopeless case, they sent him to London for examination as to the soundness of his mind. A board Bat on him. They decided that he was "dotty," and should be invalided out of the Army. They gave him his discharge, written, on a neat piece of paper. The suldier surveyed this with gratification. "Aha!" said he, "That's_tlieJ)iUof pap«rl'Tejbeeji.lo»SlßS"tor'"^<—' *y