PARIS IN WARTIME

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 258, 28 October 1916, Page 13

PARIS IN WARTIME

. (Fwm On.- Own Correspondent.} PARIS, August 14. THE END OR BEGINNING OF MUJTAKISM. It is generally understood, not to say' hoped, that the present war is to see the end of militarism—at least for a long," long time. The German Eagle, shorn of its cruel talons, will no longer be a menace to civilisation, and the world is to become • veritable aready of peace: and,, plenty. But, on the" top of these beautiful visions of a new . millennium, cpmea the proposition, set before the Senate -by Alefisirs-.-CUeron,iteranger, and Millies Lacroixj for. the obligatory military preparation • of• all boys from the age of twelve, i. From that early period of their young, lives males . are to be trained in the art of.war, so that at eighteen their military education will be so complete that they will he ready to eater the army, already fully-trained soldiers. True, the proposition ie eet forth as a reply to Germany's recent suggestion—that "every boy from the age of six shall be subjected to discipline as exact as that ■ which . obtained in ancient Sparta." But have these gentlemen lost faith in the' power of the Allied nations to crush Germany, and thus prevent her hereafter from ever again becoming a military menace? If we are to beat the Hun—and •Wβ will — who shall oppose the Entente Powers in their peace stipulation that Germany must no longer rear or maintain a dangerous army?

THE FIRST SUBMARINE. -; The honour—if such it be—of having invented the submarine has in turns been claimed by America and France. Now comes a startling story to the effect that Napoleon Bonaparte' was to make his escape from St. Helena on board a submersible craft, invented' and constructed by an English smuggler named Johnstone. If the plot failed, it was due to the fact that the extraordinary shape of the boat (being constructed on the Thames) drew the curious attention of the authorities. It was seized and destroyed by order, and tnere and tUen disappeared tne real ancestor of the Deutechland. Thie story is supported by Sir Walter Scott in his "Life of Napoleon," but like most of that particular history, must be taken cum grano salis. Nevertheless, the idea is not lost eight of over here, if only in view of the possibility of a like attempt, when William 11. of Germany shall be languishing on the same historic island. It is already said that a German submarine containing all the Kaiser's wealth and other necessaries of a fleeing Emperor's future life awaits that monarch's royal orders to carry him and hie family to exiled safety when the psychological moment arrives.

FABUAHEHT AMD WAR. Both the Scute and the Chamber are still bickering over the question of the Parliamentary Army Oammieeionere. As already pointed out, these gentlemen are to be weted with full *»*«*•«, m»y preceed without entoTl'ace hUeU in such a position as to ndanser the Jivee of men. Is not a eoSSfcg officer to retain the power £ order the Commiasioner's withr»w*l? The presence of thie man may certain strategical positions to f. c . enemy. Such points as these are being freely, «nd at times very warmly diicuesed. Yet it is tolerably certain that Parliamentary Army Control wiU become operative in all its mysterious power ere many moons have >assed. Premier Briand - explained that while on a recent visit to the French lines he himself was forbidden, "for military reasons," to proceed beyond certain limits, -which, after all, is as things should be. .7

IBS DABI3XG AIRMEN. French airmen do not get a great deal of leave, but when they are granted a few hours' holiday and appear on the froulevarda, they are at once treated as the spoilt darlings of the capital. It is surprising, too, how the news of their presence spreads. Of course each airman, before the war, had his favourite cafe, and when the word runs round that so-and-so is on leave his friends at once go to the old haunt, feeling cure that he will look in. Thus we are told that on Sunday afternoon there were four of the "kings o! the air" in. the capital, motor car had hardly stopped outside a cafe-before he was recognised. Instantly he was surrounded by a sympathetic crowd, and a dozen young women ipresscd round him requesting the handsome young pilot to sign his name on (Postcards. Later; Captain Paalhan, the. hero of the London-Manchester flight, who has done great things in France and (Serbia, passed on his way back to the front.. Then Jules Vedrines was "seen near the Place de la Concorde. A young ivoman presented' him with a bouquet, and hands were thrust out to him on (ivery side. Aβ the Germans have just published a list of the exploits of their airmen, it may be interesting to note that Sub-Lieutenant Navarre has brought) down 12 German machines, Sub-Lieuten-ant Guynemer 12 machines, Sub-Lieu-tenant Nungesser 10, Sub-Lieutenant Chaput 8, Sergeant Chainat and Sergeant de Roch'efort 5 each.

A MAD DOG SCARE. The silly season is now certainly at its height, for the Paris Press is terribly) exercised once more over mad dogs, the causes of rabies, the precautions to be taken if one should be bitten, and kintired matters. Fortunately, the debate is very diverting. Who could. keep a straight face while reading the tremendous truth that the number of mad dogs is in direct ratio to the number of stray; dogs? Of course it is, just as the number of people who are mad is., in direct ratio to the number of people: who are alive. To find out whether the dog "who ,may have bitten you is or is not mad, ■ you must, we are told with owlish, gravity, catch the dog and have it by a veterinary! The absurdity of the efforts to work up a mad dog sensation is betrayed in Ithe vagueness of the newspaper articles. The writers avoid precise details and figures as stubbornly as mad dogs are said to avoid water. There have been w 'eome" ceees of rabies, somewhere in the "region de Paris"; "numbers" of people bave been bitten, whether by dogs or mosquitoes is not stated; one person even lias died, but that, says an eminent unnamed official of the Pasteur Institute, is doubtlessly attributable to "the defective physiological state of the patient," a facfwhich appears rather to exculpate the do" In facts careful consideration of the°mad dog literature which is so prominent in the daily Press at aresent makes oite agree with our amiable contemporary, the "Petit Parisien": "H ny a aucune raison de e'alarmer.

WAR'S PURIFYING POWER. ' Whatever else the war may have wrought in France, it haa brought abouj; a systematical cleansing of Paris, morally tpeefking. Should this purification continue after peace has been signed, there are»ppaeibilities that the name Gay City will lhave no "raieon d'etre," noctornaQy speaking. Scarcely a, night passes but the police make a. raid on one or other of the shady neighbourhood* of the capital, and the "bag" in invariably of a most varied and salacious character. Unfortunately, war conditions have driven a large number of foreign youths and refugees to Paris, the behaviour of these, like that of their French kin, being not everything which might be desired. Thus, if tins streets.of the city have become to all appearance morally and sanatively clean, the refuse has been blown into various corners wiere, undisturbed, it haa long exhaled its noxious odours. But the prefectorial broom is being vigorously applied, and by degrees opium and cocaine dene, gaming houses, and other utiWuehing establishments frequented by the above-mentioned fraternity are disappearing. There is talk of opening a special concentration camp, wherein , doubtful characters, French or of any nataoutOily, should he interned.