Sidelights On the War

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 89, 14 April 1917, Page 15

Sidelights On the War

rfore than 300 schools in South Wales have boon closed owing u> lack of coaL Following the British example an official German war film entitled "Our Hproes on the Snmrae," has boon photographed by iho 'ioxman military film office. PapL-in IVrsiJS. the naval expert, snys In :h.> "Rcrllner Tn-geblatt":—-Who can prf-ic- ii"w the Kritish girt of organisation will ? v. i.o in the fmure? Wlio can doubt th.it the liriLisli possess energy and tenacity? If ihis fact is jusily appreciated then *c sha.l i>e able to conceive in all its extent thr- p'.u-anic and !ip.iry task which lies before .mi' r-bi.ars." HnJDETfBTJKG'S NEW GIORT. Marshal vn n 1 lindenbur;;. says the ••Tim.-?.'' lias sent a telegram thanking the Gorman pntato-irrowers for naming a new champion potato Hindenburg. TEE KAISER'S BUSINESSES. The Kr'.iser runs a rate at Potsdam, close to his castle s-'aias. Hi also receives di-vi-owr. ami he if the sole owner of the big and fiourisliing porcelain works .it Padinon, which roturn him :\ profit of about nine per rent on a capital of .ClOD.oriO. TEN "TEARS FOB. PROFESSOR. The "Echo Brtpe" announces that Dr. fiosspnaerta, l'rufessor at the Royal ten years' imprisonment for (Jermnnophobe propaganda. Tbe Cermana offered to release him at on. o on the condition Uxat he consented to accept a '.-hair at the University of Ghent. Ho. refused. too istoch: to ask. A French soldier's wife was sentenced to hrr hnsband. a deserter. She appealed, and the conviction was quashed, on the gronnd that no law permits a wife to refuse admission and residence to her husband, and it would be asking a sacrifice beyond a wife's powers to require her to denounce her husband. ' KEEP THE KHEMAS OPEN." The Prussian n.iino Secretary has disapproved the suggestion that the country's thousands of cinema theatres should lip do-sod in order to save liizht and fuel. He states tliat they arc too popular a form of entertainment, especially for soldiers. The real reason is. doubtless, the great propaganda value which the Orman authorities attach to patriotic films designed to bolster up war enthusiasm. NO "HERO BOY" SONGS. An officer on leave from the Siimnie says that songs extolling the heroism of soldiers are strictly barred by tne men themselves Tbe men will lustily cnoru? the most absurd dittie?. but the slncor who tries tbe "Hero Boy" strain is seeking trouble. At one concert an officer ventured on a fouc; of the "When My Soldier Boy Comes Home" .type. He never got to the end ot BRITISH USE A SELECT GUN. The German correspondents on the Western front report that the British are using a new type of frun and shell. The gun appears to be pneumatic, as it makes no noise when fired, and can therefore be The shell which it carries bursts with an explosion resembling that of a mine, and the destructive area of the burst is large. It is chiefly used against deep dugonts and treuch positions. GERMANS AND RAILWAYS, " The Germans, as we know, have used railways with brilliant versatility, but then the Germans have always seen the value of railways. They grasped their significance in 1533, says a writer in " T.P.s Journal," " auO in less than ten years they had covered their land aud their frontiers with suc-h a web of lines that they strategical power was rendered enormous. The •70 war proved their foresight to the hilt. Thanks to railways, they flnng 450,000 men, 130,000 horses, and 14.000 sruns into Prance ■with amazing speed, and France staggered and went down under the impact." TO COMBAT THE SUBMARINES The steamship Carmania of the Cunard Line, which arrived in New York recently from England, La equipped with the best submarine defences carried by any merchant vessel that has reached this port (says an American writer). The Carmania is the first ship to show the smoke screen apparatus recently invented by the British Admiralty. In addition to this device she carries a naval six-inch gnn. By pressure of an electric button on the bridge the officer on watch can discharge through a ventilator on each side of the after-bridge dense clouds of chemical smoke. The Carmania's gun is handled by three gunners from the Royal Naval Reserve, one of whom ie always on duty. A WAY OF REPRISAL. The Allies. who. along with their Colonies, possess one-half of the world, might adopt from now a series of measures of such a nature either to make Germany hesitate or to punish her (says a French paper). For instance, an engagement might be entered into by all the Entente countries to reply to every torpedoing of one of their ships by the following declaration: —Every time one of the vessels of the Allies is sunk in this manner each of the Allies engages itself, no matter what may be the fntnre condition of peace, to close for fifty years one of its large ports of commerce—a list of which is appended—to every German vessel or vessel flying the German flag, or having a crew of which one-third is composed of Germans, or instrneted in Germany, or having in the course of its voyage loaded or discharged goods in Germany. AN INTERESTING PERSONALITY At a time when "drastic intervention" by the Latin South American countries seems imminent, I am reminded, says a correspondent of the "Pall Mall Gazette," that Chile's NavaJ Chief is a most distinguished sailor of British descent Like his father before him. Admiral Doe Juan Simpson has served a lifetime ia the Chilean sea service. His "greatest moment," perhaps, was when, as a young lieutenant in 1879, he took part in the war between Chile and the Pern-Bolivian Confederation. Peru pinned her faitu on her great ironclad, the Hnascar, which was engaged by two Chilean cruisers. The ironclad was eventually carried by boarding, and Simpson, rushing below, revolver in hand, was just in time to prevent the Huasear being scuttled. She was added to the Chilean Navy, bnt, unlucky to the end, received her conp-de-grace in the war of ISSI. She vras at best an nnwieldy thing in ironclad eonstrroctlon, and her commander in '70, Admiral- Gran, had his head blown off during the engagement.

Prince Anton Karl of tHobenzoUern, brother of the Kins of E-nmania, is one of the commanders of the German forces invading Itumania. The death has ocecrred at Ramagate or George Philpoxt, a 10-year-old hoy, who shielded his little sister with ills body when bombs fell near them ana killed his brother duriag the aLr raid on Ramsgate last March. ! The boy never completely recovered from t the shock. ; Preaching at St. Michael's. Chester . Square, the t>e:m or Westminster said he . met one of oar leading generals, who on the way home irot into conversation with a British, soldier, who described how desperately hungry he had Twen. Anxious to Hnd out the reason, the general inquired further, and the soldier told him that they had haa some toman prisoners In their lines and had given them all the-ir rations. A BAND FOR THE TANKS. A band for thc'Tantar , is being organ- . ised. O-f course it will not be possible for the baud to play Hie "'ranks" into action, but it will serve as a valuable stimulus ana amusement to the men when the "'Tanks " are off duty. Incidentally the fact Rives evidence nt Uie number of Tanks in readiness for the spring operations. ROOSEVELT AND 'I'H >■■■ "WAR. " Pf we go to war with Germany we must strike hard with the largest eipeditlonary force that can he raised." declared Colonel Roosevelt in a recent interview. No fight was ever won by parrying alone." he rontlnncd. ■" A asht must be won by hitting. It wonld be ruinous to go to war a little and not too much. It would be ruinous to prepare a little, but only a little. '■ Commenting on the disclosure of the attempt to align Japan and Mexico against ■the United Slates the colonel said:— i ■' What Germany attempts to do now, even should it fail, it will try to do some ■ time in the future." INCENDIARY BULLETS FOR AIRCRAFT. We are reliably informed .says the "Scientific American") that the British aircraft for the defence of England against . aeroplane rakis are now armed with an In- | cendiaxy bullet which has proved t«. be , I very efficient, and that it was the uee of , J these bullets which sot on flr e th e Zeppe- ; lin wiieh was brought down i n flames a few months ago on the outskirts of . I London. The bullet carries a charge of , highly inflammable au<i stnoke-produeins material, ignited on discharge, which as if]] is passing through the envelope and bat lonets of a Zeppelin ignites the contained.., ( gas. As the attacks are made by mg-trt.,-, _ the coarse of the darning projectUeT T is, ', ( clearly visible to the aeroplane ganner, .yho is thus able to bring his stream of bu-Hevs on to tlie Zeppelin without difficulty. ■ PREMIUMS FOB. BIG FAMILIES. , Scboneberg. one of the wealthy meuq-L ( politan boroughs of Greater Berlin, hopes" to solve Germany's "baby problem,- so'fair as its own population requirements .are concerned, by offering cash bonuses for i>ig families. The town council has just in- .. troduced a series of premiums whereby 1, every Civil servant. teacher, or working ( man in receipt of an income below £320 , 10/ on the birth of his first cbild, and £3 i on the birth of every additional baby. The Mayor of Schoneberg supported the j proposal with statistics showing that In ! 191G there were 571 more deaths than i births in the town, exclusive of citizens I more births than deaths. I , NEW NAMES FOR OLD. , Since November 1, l!il'i, ») people In : En-jrland. either Rruisli n.irn or mturalisert, > have changed their (Jerman-soundins names j I for English ones, the changes being registered at the Itoyal Courts of Justice. Tie ; following are some of the examples:— CHd Name. New Name. '- Eisenstein Stone Baurngartner Percy Brflmuyer Ma j. ; Sehmalz Small Schreeh Stnndlsta I Bergemann Hazelwood Schwartz Shaw Kshn Came Schmidt "..... Smith ; Kleeherg Keeble . Schlobohm Sloburu ■Bchnltz Scott 'Rosenwald Rowe Weiehert Wyatt Fncne Vox Krauss Anderson Wohlinann Wellman i Kischer Fisher i Reinhardt Martin l Schonbank Ewart ; A TERRIBLE NEW EXPLOSIVE. [ liochamboite is a new and terrible i>xL plosive that has recently been introduced on , the Western front by the French and employed In the defence of Verdun. Tue explosive, when tested in action at Verdun t was fonnd to possess a moat terrible and demoralising effect upon the Germane (says the San Francisco " Argonaut "). The explosive Is a powder which, upon ignition, changes into a molten metal and a very r large volume of gas in an infinitely smull ■ space of time. This sadden change in s volume and the terrific heat which Is genes' rated causes an immense pressure on the 1 walls of the vessel that contains it, shattert ing the walls and hurling the molten metal c and wall fragments in all directions, sprearlf ing death and destruction in their path. - The effects of this molten metal on the c Germans can hardly be imagined. Pieces of a the metal upon striking them Immediately 7 burn their way deep into the flesh, even to 5 the bone, causing intense pain and snfferf ing to the victim. So deadly and so de--0 moralising have the French foond this ex--5 plosive to be that they are now utilising It 1 on the entire front. r ; A GERMAN SERMONETTE. 3 The "Kreuz Zeitung." the organ of'the Prussian military caste, publishes every Saturday a sermonette of an exalted T pietist type, which is supposed to repre- „ sent the ideas of the Court, and especially s of the Emperor and Empress. The followt Ing sentences conclude a discourse on , "God's Hour," the words of the text being. My time is not yet come; but your s time is always ready:— j "Wβ are now in the midst of n most 3 serious time. The unrestricted D-boat war . has begun. Daily thousands of tons of j shipping and munitions and food are being r sunk. At the front our armies are in . feverish activity. The decision draws near. The whole world holds its breath. When, . where will the decisive blow l'all? j "And what shall we do? We must not g be impatient, there must be no despair. . We must have confidence in our tried army 3 leaders. Above all, we must raise eyes r and hearts to the Leader of Battles, the King of all Kings. "Prom the watchers on the walls must - now sound forth the cry: Congregations t of prayer consecrate yourselves! Halse , aloft holy hands! Consecrate your mem- , bars. Our prayer must be that the great - hour of decision shall be God's hour for our beloved German nation." '