Sidelights On The War

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 251, 20 October 1917, Page 15

Sidelights On The War

Panl Francis Schlick. a nephew of Hindenburg. and a graduate of Yale University, has enlisted in tbe United States Navy. It is stated that there are 126.(590 members of the Order of Recbabites serving with the forces. Of these six have won the Victoria Cross. Of the Indians who went to India from America to spread sedition. 36 were sentenced to death (commuted to transportation in 19 cases). 77 to transportation for life, and 14 ro imprisonment. Timothy McCarthy, one of the Weddell Sea party who accompanied Sir Ernest Shackleton on his 7o(Vuiilo journey in the small boat from Elephant Island to Sourn Georgia, has l.em killed while acting as gunner in a ship that has been torpedoed. WAR CERTIFICATES AS PRIZES War certiflcatrs hare heen given in place of pr::;p hooks at King Edward's school in Birmingham. THE FUNNY GERMAN. The Cologne "Volkezeitung" publishes an r\ngry leading article on the King's adoption of an English family name. It threatens that in future German princes will refuse to marry foreign princesses. HATIONING OF NETJTHAI-S. Oorm.in papers publish Copenhagen telegrams statins that the explorer Dr. Nansen : has loft for New York to intercede witn I the Inited states on beh.-Hf of Norway in cnnnei'tion with the American embargo on food ex porta to neutrals. GERMANY AND SWITZERLAND. If Is announced that negotiations have ; begun in Berne regarding "the foundations jof a new rrade treaty" between Germany j and Switzerland, the present treaty having expired on July 31. Tbe Swiss necotiators include the President of the Republic. EXPENSIVE PENGUINS. Captain Evans, of tl.M.s. Broke, at a private luncheon given at Liverpool in his honour, was asked to draw a few penguins on the back of a menu card. He readily did no. and on the card being put up for , sale It realised £1000. which Is being handed over to the Red Cross. A DUKE'S OFTEK TO SERVE. The Duke of Manchester appeared before the Medical Board at Kempstoa Barracks, Bedford, recently for a voluntary examination, and was rejected for military service on medical grounds. ')n his me'Hcal history sneet he was described as "Montagu, Dn£e of Manchester, of Kimbolton Castle. Hunts, aged 40 years and 6 months, born In tbe parish of Knightsbridge, London." PRUSSIAN "LOCUSTS." Bavaria Is again this year, much to the I crowds of hungry Prussians, who have de- | scended upon it for the summer months ! like a swarm of locusts. These visitors, ] not content with eating the Bavarians out of house and home, are haying up all the food they can lay hands on and. sending lit to their homrs. Tne Bavarian Government has determined to put a. stop to this exploitation and threatens offenders, no matter who they bo, with heavy fines and deportation from Bavaria. NO BELLS FOR PEACE. Church belis are being commandeered all over Germany to be melted down for munitions. Only one tell is to be left to each commnnity. Solemn services of farewell for lons-cherished bells are now the rule in countless churches, especially in the Roman Catholic regions. A Swiss newspaper published near the Baden frontier remarks: "The spirits of German towns and villages which mnst part with the 'victory' hells of three years ago are sorely depressed. in the 'glorious peace' for which the people have been waiting so long and so vainly." GIVE UP YOUR GOLD. Some time since people in Germany were called upon in tbe name of the Fatherland to give up all their gold ornaments, chains, ' bracelets, and other jewellery at special 'collecting depots, to be melted down into ! bullion for the Imperial Bank. To the [ amazement of the patriotic souls who had sacrificed their gold trintets in ■ exchange for paper money, the jewellers' shops still I Ro jreat was the discontent among the i public that the authorities have now had to Assure them through the columns of tbe j Local Advertiser-" that the glittering ; articles that they see exposed for sale In the shops are not sold, but merely plated ware, and that not even a sold wedding ring is now permitted to be made in Germany. A MONS GTO TEAM. J Driver Frederick Butcher. R.F.A.. whose home Is* at Straits Mill. BodUng. Essex, has been awarded a silver enp, ISm high, as the only driver in his brigade who has continued through the war with the same pair of Horses. The cup was presented to nlin Iby the ceueral In the presence of the bri|e:ide .it ii parade in France. It was delivered to tbe winner's mother by Captain I Stokes, UFA., who had brought it to : London to be engraved. j Driver Butcher, who is still in France J with his battery and his horses, went out I with the original Expeditionary Force In I August. 1014. He drove his horses through I the retreat from Mons without mishap, , although he had a sun blown up behind J him, hut the harness gave way and his I horses were liberated. He has fought |througli the war ever since and has taken ;a gun Into action continuously with the same pair of horses. Of his original battery jonly nine men remain, all the officers and the other men having fallen. KRUPP-OWNED GERMANY. Tbe purchase of the "Weser ZeUiing" by the Krupp interests, says tb« "Berliner Tageblatt." ought to awaken the German i people to a sense of a very serious danger which threatens them. The Krupp capitalist is Invading every brunch of industry, and If something is not done the German will find himself completely enslaved. The c-arnpaign to control public opinion 'is not only confined to purchase of the Liberal and Independent Press, but the people will also be reached through the film. , "This activity Is being carried out by th? I German Animated Picture Company." says the "Tageblatt." which also declares that it Is reported from many parts of Germany that "police officials are acting as agents for the company, bringing pressure to bear "on cinema proprietors to replace the productions of other film companies with those of the German Animated Pictnre Company." "In one town." the paper declares, "the police granted a licence for the holding of a children's entertainment only on the condition that the Krupp Company's were shown exclusively." That the company is almost entirely Krnpp-owned the paper proves by giving the names of the companies subscribing to the shares. They are all Krupp concerns.

IRON CARTRIDGES. We have evidence of the necessity tor ■ the use in Germany of iron cartridge cases jin place of copper and brass, and of the ■ jneed for saving ammunition, says Mr Beach :; Thomas, in a recent article on the results l |Of the British attacks in Flanders. MILLIONAIRE'S SON'S APPKAIi FOR EXEMPTION. A New York wire says:—Mr. Kirigdon, .Gould, eldest son o.- Mr. George Gonld, the ; millionaire, has cla.mcd exemption from i the military draft following upon his havjms passed physically. He was married on. I July 2. and claims as his reason for exemption that his wife is dependent upon him. "TOILET OF VENUS." One cf the Canadian photographs at the I exhibition at the Grafton Galleries. London ; i labelled ■ The Toilet of Venus." shows a I man. more than simply garbed, enjoying a bath in a biscuit-box. A lady who was attracted by the laughter of the spectators hurnea up and claimed the original as her misband, whereupon she ordered a reproduction. She was delighted. RABBIT SAUSAGE. , Sausage made out of rabbits !s Berlin's latest war-time delicacy. i t appears that thp municipal meat commission ha:) been storing frozen rabbit in the town's cold storage vaults, and now places it at the disposal of butchers for conversion into sausage. The newspapers say that it is "very eatable" and well worth the specially cheap price of 2/ a lb. Rabbit sausage can enly be purchased, like other meat, on presentation of ration carls. JUTLAND COMMANDER'S SUICIDE. A verdict of snicide while temporarily insane was returned at the inquest, at Plymouth, on the body of Commander Robert Prescott McHardy, who -ws.s foondwith a revolver wound in his head on board one of H.M. cruisers. Commander Mo Hardy had recently returned from leave; - and was stated to be under the delusioarthat he had been drowned while <>n leaTe," He had fought in the Battle of Jutland; and imagined that he was aslee? during the battle. "TOOK BRITAIN'S SIDE." Lieutenant Pollak, Royal Fusiliers, who is reported killed in action, served in the Austrian cavalry before coming to England - fourteen years ago. He was naturalised five years afterwards, and, although he had businesses in London, Berlin, and Vienna," he always declared his intention of taking" Britain's side in the eventuality of a waf' with Germany. He joined thp British; Forces immediately war was declared, and, is believed to have been killed gallantlyleading his men during a bombing raid on - the German trenches. PUBLIC KITCHENS IN GERMANY Public kitchens w«re first opened in Berlin in July. IM6. and statistics of the first year's operations are printed. Greater - Berlin now has eleven kitchens. They began by feeding only 6,300 people daily, but last July, which recorded a nigh water mark, 171.000 were fed each day. These include thousands of school children and: i regularly secure food from th« kitchens for I their employees, the largest amount supplied to any one works being 300 gallon* (of hot-pot) a day. , PORTABLE ARMY BATHS. I The French War Department has just i completed the first of a series of SftT I portable bathin? establishments which are • about to be used in the French army. Each comprises three compartments, separated toy double partitions. The soldier leaves his uniform and underwear In the nrst compartment, has a warm shower bath in the second, and in the third is given new, underwear and receives his uniform, which, in the meantime, has been disinfected by steam heat. The whole apparatus fa carried on two automobile trucSs. Each establishment is able to provide for about eight hundred men a day. THE PRICE OF BRANDT. Those, crafty German raiders have hit ne shrewdly in a way of which not all the •world has yet learned (says the " Dally /Chronicle"). A veracious and observant workman has Just explained the position to Ills mistress. " Yes, mum, these raids is very corstly." " Very: roads and buildings cannot be repaired for nothing," she answered sympathetically. " Oh, it ain't that, mum. It's the ladies, poor deara. They faints, and it takes a lot of brandy to bring "em round. And brandy is so expensive in these 'ard times. That's where it comes in, mum." Trne daughters, without doubt, of ladies whom Dickens limned. TBE BITER BIT. Hindenbnrgs cautious reply to the request of the " Illustrierte Zeitnng " for his opinion of the submarine war:—"The Üboat war is performing its office; that is enough"—will put a further damper on. popular expectations of an immediate and glorious end of the war by its means. Another disheartener comes from the columns of the " KolnLsche Zeitung," which. In trying to explain the causes of the food nscrtbes one of them to tho C-boat campaign. " Greatly though we desire," says the " Zeitnng,' , " that our submarines shall achieve their pnrpose and make foodstuffs" scarce for our enemies, it has a consequence' for us—although we gladly put up with It—" tout there are more ;ind niore asEtv buyers of foodstuffs in neutral countries, which cannot, therefore, sell to us, which increases our scarcity." "MASTERS OF THE AIR." There was a glorification of Germany's air Huns at a recent meeting in Berlin, at which.the principal speaker was Major., Siegert. inspector of the flying forces." air" above both land and sea. and as paragons of humanity who, "with touching piety notify the enemy when one of his airmen' is shot down, drop a parachute with thfe' fallen enemy's personal effects over his own lines, and. if possible, send a photograph of his last resting-place to his bereaved family." "Though undoubtedly daring and extraordinarily tenacious," he said, "the Enf> : lish have grown so rowdyish through sport that they are not filled with any sense of - the terribly deep meaning of war. They * look upon it merely as a thrilling change from football or boxing. It has even hap-* pened that an English airman will challenge ns to a duel, asking us to meet in the stoat a certain place and time, armed only with one machine gun, and fight to aflnish." Siegert gave an interesting resume of the vast progress flying has made daring th» ' war. "In 1914 our airmen could carry, comfortably, three bombs in each of thelf two pockets. To-day they drop bombs the size of torpedoes. In 1914 they travelled with 80 to 100-h.p. engines. To-day they can fly three times faster than the swiftest express train. The tricks of Pegoud. which in 1914 made the world hold its breath, are now every-day feats."