EX-KAISER AMUSED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 130, 5 June 1933, Page 7

EX-KAISER AMUSED.

Schoolboy Scare Treated As A Joke. INCIDENT AT ETON. LONDON, May 31. Tho ex-Kaiser, through his Lord Chamberlain at Doom, has solemnly replied to the allegation in recent letters published in "The Times" that another possiblo cause of the Great War was a schoolboy's joke on tho occasion of the Emperor's inspection of Eton volunteers in 1801.

The visitor arrived, splendidly escorted by British and German officers, and as his silver cuirass and spread-eagled helmet flashed in the sun the Eton Corps assumed the "threatening attitude" of volley-firing. Tho clicking of 200 rifles was interrupted by the roar of Private Hugh Cunliffe's weapon, fired exactly opposite tho Kaiser, causing the latter's outraged charger to rear, while the War Lord leant precariously to the off-side of its neck. Tho Kaiser, it was stated, demanded tho immediate expulsion of Cunliffe, who subsequently became a distinguished cricketer and an Oxford lecturer. The headmaster refused, whereupon the Kaiser asked Queen Victoria to insist that Cunliffe be expelled, but she replied, "Don't be silly, Willie!" The Kaiser's chamberlain now states that His Majesty clearly recalls the entertaining incident, and was even more anvused to read how a fertile imagination had mingled fact and fiction.

Actually, ho said, he laughed all the way to Windsor, where.he repeated the story to the Queen and other relatives at lunch amid roars of laughter. He had never dreamed of seeking the boy's punishment, as it was a regular boy's joke.

Sir Neville Cunliffe reveals that his brother Hugh, who was killed in action in 1916, was the victim of an unfortunate accident, and that the incident was not a joke. The salute had been ordered to be "fired" without ammunition, but three rounds of blank had been issued for subsequeut use, the boys being definitely told not to load.

Hugh, who was then 15, was the last boy in the world to take such a risk, and cither had misunderstood the order or somebody had played a trick on him.

Sir Neville had confirmed the Kaiser's denial that he demanded that Queen Victoria should have Hugh punished. On the contrary, he was very amused. Hugh, who only got a wigging from the headmaster, was always horror-stricken regarding the incident, and hated to have it recalled.