Sidelights on the War

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 168, 15 July 1916, Page 15

Sidelights on the War

Nearly SOO single men employed ou Government work in Liverpool were discharged tbe other week, and their places taken by invalided soldiers.

To a conscientious objector before the House of Commons Appeal Tribunal the chairman (Mr. Donald Maclean, M.r.) said:

••you have given mc a lot of texts, and now I'll give you oue. Look up Numbers xxxii., verse 8, and you will there find the words, 'Snail your brethren go to war, aud shall ye sit here? , "

Private John McKlnnon, of t!ie Black Watch, a sixteen year-old boy, has been awarded the D.C.M., and also a regimental tivicc for valour. McKinnon enlisted a rear ago, and much to the boy's regret his parents succeeded In getting his discharge from military service.

liev. H. H. Corytou, chaplain to the Royal Xaval Brigade at Groningeu, relates tbat at Rotterdam he met a sailor who told him tbat on February "S his vessel was torpedoed, and he found himself swimming in the North Sea. Un March -S a similar event occurred, and he was waiting to see ■what would happen on April as.

Speaking in London, Mr. Herbert Samuel, the Home Secretary, pointed out the ueeii for incessant vigilance, and said that only within the last few weeks they bad discovered in the heart of London a publichouse occupied by a naturalised German and the resort of other naturalised Germans, where language of the most treasonable and anti-British character was used. The powers in his hands enabled him promptly to intern all the men who were concerned. "TIME AN ENEMY." "To win the fisht we must light to win," said Mr. Ben Tiilett in an address at His Majesty's Theatre. London, on "How to Win the War." ">fr. Lloyd Ueorge has said time is not an ally. I will go furtner and say that time is an absolute enemy to us if the people at home do uot rise to the occasion. I am not hero to complain," he added, "but to sound a note of remonstrance, and to urge the people at home to aCtioD." HUNGARIAN TRAITORS. F&ir members of the Hungarian Czech party have been found guilty of high treason and espionage and sentenced to death. The men on trial were Dr. Kramarscb, leader of the Young Czechs, ami l>r. Uoseriliain, a deputy in the I Met, who were found guilty of high treason, and Ilerr Zamasol, bookkeeper, and Ilerr Cervinka. editorial secretary of the newspaper "NarodDv'.Kty.' , who were accused of espionage. The fiur men were charged with leading a inurement to bring about a rapprochement between Bosnia and Uussi.i. Ilerr Kraliiiiricli bus T6p£ntctllv l>con to l'Gtrosriid in connection with the movement. REWABB OF PATRIOTISM. "My five other boys are in the army, aid one has been killed." said George Gilbert, of Hanworth. when summoned at Feltliam for not sending his remainiug sou to ■ school. He said he was a butcher cm- ' ployed on Governmeut work, and it would be most unfair if they did not allow his remaining boy to help him. The chairman said be could procure help elsewhere. " The boy is better to mc than a man," raid Gilbert. " Besides, he will be U in June, and need not go to school then. It would be most unfair to fine mc." The chairman said he would have to pay a fine of 15/. " I won't pay," said Gilbert. " What is the alternative! I'll do the time." "Pay in a week." the chairman remarked. " And that's what you get for being patriotic," was Gilbert's caustic retort. "Fire sons in the Army." A GLIMPSE OF THE KAISER. A Russian journalist, who was recently in Berlin, says:—l had the good fortune, on the first day after jny arrival, to catch a glimpse of the Kaiser. It wa? a few days before the rumours about his illnes?. which assumed such exceptional dimensions outBide of Germany. Tue seriousness of this Illness was denied in Berlin, and the papers enly spoke of a slight indisposition due to a furuncie on the neck. 1 was walking a'ong Frieilrichstrasse in the direction of Unter den Linden, when, amidst the comparative quiet nf the Berlin streets, i leard the characteristic sound of the horn of tbe Imperial motor car. Together with a few other persons I ran to the corner of Friedrichstrasse, and near the Cafe Bauer the large closed Royal motor rushed past. The car was painted the Qeld-grey colour, ■hearing the Imperial insignia. I caught a glimpse of two grey figures in greatcoats and covered helmet?, in one of -which It was not difficult to recognise the Kaiser with nis characteristic moustache, turned strongly grey and somewhat cut. I could jndge, by tie portraits which, are exhibited In abundance in the shops of Stockholm and ■Berlin, that Wilhelm has changed, and looks older and worn. But the living face behind the glass of the motor car, the earthen, greenish-yellow colour of the ?kin. aggravated by the grey background of his coat and helmet, the eyes fixed on the back cf the chauffeur as if he did not notice the salutes of the passers-by who quietly lifted their hat 9 and sometimes waved them in the as if some automatic tin soldier was raising Ms hand in salute—all these made an exceptional Impression. The impression was as of some intricate, terrible machine endowed by some Inexorable will with the i power to destroy and devastate human lives, the creation, of centuries of human thought, dreams and asjjirations. I saw him for the ■space of. one brief second, but this meeting lace to face with tie Kaiser on this day in ■the Dnter den Linden, Berlin, will remain lor every In my memory. AN IMPEDED RECOVERY. The doctor, making his morning round in a London military hospital, paused beside the bed of a big, rough fellow, with a Pugilist's jaw and a round, short-cropped lead. ■• Why are you not getting on better . my lad?" asked the doctor. " You ought to be setting well fast, but you're -What's wrong? Are you trench shy? Don't you want to go back?" " I don't mini going back; you can send mc now if J°u like," came the answer. A man in the B «t bed joined ia. " Why don't you tell 'he doctor all about it, Jim?" he asked. "Ut the doctor could get nothing out or the bullet-headed patient, whose recovery was mysteriously checked from some unknown reason. From another patient the Motor learned the truth. •• It's that boy in that keeps Jim from getting better." Ah, that poor lad Is very bad," said tbe eoctor, •• r m afrald ne won . t Uy<; ~ .. YeE _ aDI I every night he cries for his mother, an d when the lights are lowered Jim gets nt of his bed and goes to the lad's bed, m<l he sits there holding his hand and "™'ng his forehead until he's comforted ™» oil to sleep. It's that that prevents •""* from getting better."

"He looks rather queer In the head " remarked the Lambeth magistrate, when a dejected-looking deserter, who had been a conscientious objector, was bronght before him. "They all have about the same look these conscientious people, sir," remarked the sagacious sergeant in charge

Potatoes are being planted on nearly all the nuoccupied land in the churchyard at Styal. near Wilmslow. a fairly large area of ground is being made use of. This is said to be the first churchyard iv Cheshire lo be turned iuto a plot for the growing or vegetables. The experiment has escited much interest.

A reeolution declaring the vast majority of the people of the United States believe Germany and Austria precipitated the present great war, and asking Congress to congratulate France and her allies "for punishment of international faithlessness," was recently introduced in the United States House of Representatives by Representative Gardner, Massachusetts.

Germans towed a Dutch trawler into Cuxhaven. after colliding with a Kiel Canal warship, live months ago. The boat has now returned to l'mulden, "entirely plundered of everything movable." In addition, the vessel's manager has been forced to pay £1000 deposit—"to cover the Imperial Government's claim for salvage": How Germany might "rule the waves."

It Is not often that a school inspector allows a class to put questions to him. One who did it got some fresh light on his duty ! In regnrd to the war. lie did not look : beyond military age. -Now, boys," he ] said, -don't be shy; It's your turn now. ' Ask mc any question you like on any subject you like, and if I can I'D answer It." After hesitating, a small but courageous boy held up his hand and blurted out, "Why are you uot in khaki?" A MEAN GERMAN TRICK. "IMurried women whose husbands are at the front only have to present themselves at the office to obtain repayment of the price of their seats." Such was the notice Hashed cm' the screens of all the moving picture places in Frankfort one day last month. The women, agreeably surprised, hurried out to the ticket office, where another surprise, less agreeable, awaited (them. Officials stationed there hurried thorn nIT to police headquarters, where they were bluntly told that, discovering they had money enough to go to places of amusemeut. the city had concluded to stop their usual allowances. THE WAR-STEED AS SHIRKER. It Would be interesting to hear wbat the Blue Cross people would have to say against the allegations of a French veterinary that horses are often artful shirkers'. So many cases have occurred o" horses belns sent down from the front owing to nervous prostration, and a generality of troubles, and they have been followed by such surprisingly quick cures, that the horse doctors have become f>uspieious. The point that bothers them Is That while a man malingerer may be made t-i think better of it, there is nothing to be done with a horse that has made up his mind tbat he does not like battlefields. REMABEABLE OPERATION. The proudest wounded soldier in London to-day is the man who has Just had a jagged piece of shrapnel removed from his heart by au operation that has excited the greatest interest among the doctors. The shrapnel, whose edges might have torn through the adjacent tissue on any exertion of the sufferer, was lodged in the pericardium, in a position apparently so inaccessible that it was thought inadvisable to operate. The patient was able to leave his bed. but was obviously permanently unlit. Then an Australian surgeon suggested how the opcratiou could be performed. It involved most intricate surgery, and at the end the shrapnel was to be picked out by the surgeon's delicate fingers. The soldier, who is well on the way to complete reshrapnel destined tn become an heir-loom. DEATH TO SOLDIER DIARISTS. At the beginning of the war, (iermnn soldiers were told to kerp a cjiary while on active service. Now. however, announces the ••Aftenbladet. , ' the German Chief Command baseissueil the .strictest orders forbidding all privates, N.C.O.'s, and officers . d> keep diaries. The reason is because the enemy has constantly published the contents of diaries found on the fallen or taken from prisoners, which disclose the moral state of the army, and tell of terrible experiences on the battlefield. Hereafter, whoever keeps a diary of events during his life in the field will be liable to be shot. At the same time the censoring of the German soldier's letters home has been made much stricter. "LET GERMANY BEWARE!" The Imperial German Government has seized the latest number of "Die Zukupft," in which Maximilian Harden wrote:—"Germany is responsible for the war. She should have helped Lord Haldanc and come to an agreement with England. The chancellor is unreasonable to expect the Allies to make peace, based on the ' situation on the map.' They Will uot do that until they are convinced that their cause is lost, and su.»li a moment can not be foreseen. All the belligerents must agree to an organised peace, guaranteeing absolute sovereignty to every one. witli an Internationa] agreement on military questions and the establishment of an international tribunal, with the power to make unruly nations respect their decisions. Lot Germany beware if she discountenances such a solution. The Allies continue the war only because they fear that if peace is made now, the German armaments would force them to continue competition. Organised peace may be possible now, but the opportunity will soon go forever." FRENCH ARMY SCANDAL. The trial by a court-martial was concluded in Paris recently of the army and civilian doctors and other individuals who were charged with fraueulcntly securing the discharge of soldiers from the army. Xhe court passed sentence on the principal offenders as follows:—Dr. Lombard, ten years' hard labour and a line of 3000 francs; Dr. Laborde, five years' Imprisonment; Garfunkel, five years' imprisonment and 4000 francs fine. Forty other defendants, mostly soldiers whose discharge had been fraudulently obtained, were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment, ranging from three years to six months and fines of 10,000 to 300 francs. Four of the accused were acquitted. L,lzka f>l Garfunkel, a Kuseian by birth, and a naturalised Frenchman, was arrested on January sth last at Geneva on a charge of being concerned in assisting to obtain illegal discharge from the French army. The lucrative nature of the operations engaged m by Garfunkel and vis associates is shown by the fact that OHo individual, after being mobilised, paid £tioo to secure a fraudulent disctarge from the army,