WAR JOTTINGS.

Press, Volume L, Issue 15157, 22 December 1914, Page 8

WAR JOTTINGS.

>'EWS ANT) NOTES FROM TAKIOUS SOURCES. Mr C". E. Bevan-Brown, headmaster t>l the Boys' High School, at the dis-triK-.iiion of prizes last evening, mentioned that the number of Old Boys of the school now engaged in the de:icnce of ihe Empire was 122. That .number of names, he said, were actually in hand: but he had no doubt that :!.« actual number was larger, because o; the difficulty of securing all tho names of those who had volunteered. Recruiting for the London Scottish Territorials Is unusually brisk (says the •'Evening Standard"). Since the news arrived of their gallant charge at tho front there has been an onrush of volunteers for service. Already the ranks nf tho second battalion are overflowing, ami tho formation of a third battalion at , uu early date is contemplated. Colonrl F. N. Mando. R.E.. who is T.iiring war articles for tho "'Evening ■Standard," takes a bright view of tho outlook for tho Allies. CoTonol Maude is a military historian of note, lie has ' A-riiteu l>ook.-; on the campaigns of Leipzig, .Jena, ami Tim, and his '\Kvohit:on of Strategy" has been transiat'"l into German. Of tho use of tho I iorman Landsturm in tho war. ho f-ay.s : —"These Landsturm. men and Inns, were first reported a<; arriving in Bo!si:tim .il>o;jt sir; weeks ago, and this moans ilrat already in the middle of - September the Germans were more pressed for men titan at any tiruo durjfitc the 1870 campaign, when, except lor duties on lino* of communication, only Fomc four divisions—say. 00.000 LiMidwehr —worn actually employed in f.icn of tho enemy. Indeed, though everyone knew, of course, that this ulTnrtato liability for service existed Jo£n'ty for all able-J>odird men over sevon-t-rm years of age, I never yet met a Gorman who evon -considered it as a tic a-t all. One and all went about their affaire quite satisfied that once tho last yar of Land-svehr senrieo was completed, ho rould dismiss all idea of furiher calls upon him from his mind. Certainly, in arranging for their sons, iio one ever supposed they would bo required until after their "twenty-first .. birthday. Nor have I ever met a German officer who boWed that moro men than tho active army and tho wholr- of the Landwehr would bo required. even in a war on the east and wpst frontiers simultaneously. Henersi.ly, they ruled out even the Landj'ohr oyor forty as too old and slow - lor modern tactical methods." 'I no wholo German idea, of financing h «ar dates back to Frederick tho : t.reats 'Instructions to mv generals in t-nse of siego" (says Colonel Maude) I can only repet that it is impossible to nniroduoo tho extraordinary mixture of broken trench and German in wh-ch T.-io original is couched. Quotinfr from memory, tboy run somewhat as follows: •When the enemy appears before vonr town and threatens to invest it, you will call together all the principal citizens and merchants, and borrow from SrVi! 1 'h < ? ash —Pointing out that Joui will pay the money away in wages to the soldiers and civilians who work on tho fortifications, who will spend tho money m their shops, and co presently &i W,U a , n bo bac] > m the ir tills again. \\ Hen, then, you find your ready money running down, you will call 'them to- - gethor again aud borrow tho money «cam. and so you will E o on borrowing tho same money over and over again IT 1.. J5° m -S and . reli eye you and pay tho bill" Now, m very simple languago this ia precisely the same socuntv which the German Government is now- ottering for its war loans; though its language is moro conventional and financially more correct, the thought ■is the same. Tho lenders will b o repaid—when "the King oome-s to his own again," namely, out of war indem- . Jiitics to be wrung from th© conquered countries, and from England particnlariy, when the Kaiser's armies aro • victorious. If now tho Kaiser's armies ~ are forced back on the Rhine, tho knowlodge of their utter failure can no longf 'i b. B concealed from the nation. Tho ivliolo bubble of Gorman financial credit . will be pricked, and tho ensuing smash vrtl bo about the greatest tho" world _ uas ever known.

Ihoiollowing is an extract from a ietter received by a well-known citizen <>t Dunedin from hie niece who lives in Ixindon: "Some .of tho Belgian refugees wo have in London would make your heart acho. Their plight is too terrible for wprds.. A lady I know has taken | in two little Belgian children, each of them under five years of age, and both of tho little mites have their hands cut off at the wrists (the work of the Germans). Theirs is only one case of many tsomo being much worse.' .

; vTt je likely enough tbat a few Gerspies in Belgium hirre managed to jtcet to England among the refugees , (says London "Troth"). But some of the stories on. ibis subject now in eircu- • Tation bear the hall-mark of fiction, if not tho trade-mark of Germany. I" heard last' Thursday from a lady whose credibility 1 can answer for that a friend of hers living in the West End of London had given hospitality to two refugee Belgian women. The refugees flrrived on a Saturday afternoon. On Sunday morning the lady asked if they would like to accompany her to church. They excused themselves, and she went by herself, but came onfc before the sermon- She- lot herself into the house ■with a latchkey, and went upstairs, ptflsing tho door of the Belgian visitors. iVe door wa3 opon, and inside the hostess saw a man shaving. She retained lier presence of mind, stole downstairs again/ found a policeman, and two j- more Gorman epics were added to the jiational collection. It does not seem to bo much of a catch 3 for, as there were servants in the house, the spy in female disguise who. would shavo himsolf with the door opon in sight of anybody passing up or down the stairs has a. good deal to learn in his business i before he wilt becomo dangerous to anybody but himself. However, having heard this story on Thursday, I was mucft interested to find it reproduced : on Friday in tho '"Liverpool Post,' , ; with an entirely new: setting. This time the spy m women's clothing hat? become a nun, and the scene had shift* ed from London to "a. small villago in Buckinghamshire." The host was this yt-imp a, gentleman, who had offered hos- ' ! pitality to a party of Belgian refugees, ihe nun among them. Seeing a light in the guest-chamber at night, curiosity , prompted him to get on a chair and < ,: peep through the fanlight over the ''door." Thus it was that tbo nun was » discovered shaving. Of course, botli {these stories may be true, in spite of '■ appearances. In that case. I can only i suppose that, as has been ihe case with f tho army, the flower of the German '■ secret service has now been used up, and that the ranks have to bo filled up 'either with, tlio infantile or the senile. • The Trar Is shattering the popular ■delusion that the Germans are an ex- - tvaordinarily intelligent people as sure- ■ ly as it is destroying the legend of their ' l-military invincibility (says "Truth; ). Nowhere is their national stupidity■ dis- ; nlaved more conspicuously than in t;-;e clumsiness of their courtship of public opinion in the United States. In Sew ■\nrk they have established a weekly ionLl called the "Vital Issue," to disseminate true information about tho German case. The publisher has furbished mc with a copy, and I «mcerely trust that he will keeo "Iruth , - on JS free listTfor the " Vit! ? l Issue 1S iondcrfulrj am«inS. For instance, as

"an incontestable proof that England wanted war all the time," this journal gravely quotes a report from Berlin "that" the English Ambassador dismissed his female German cook on July 30th, five days before war was declared V

Trooper A. 11. Wilkio, of Argyll East, a member of tho New Zealand Expeditionary Force now in Egypt, had tho misfortune to lose his troop horse, the well-known hunting mare Merry Bell, while passing through the Indian Ocean (says tho "Hawke's Bay Herald"). Hunting folk throughout Hawke's Bay sympathise with Mr Wilkie in his loss, as Merry Bell was known as one of the best hunters in the hunting field in tho province. Merry Bell was by ilerrylegs 111., out of a Fusilade mare. Bandmaster Devoto, of the Tottenham branch of the Salvation Army, has achieved the distinction of being the first Salvationist to receive an honorary commission in the British Army. Formerly private clerk to Sir John Fronch for ' seven years, Bandmaster Devoto has been given the rank of honorary lieutenant and quartermaster, and is now attached to the Royal Irish Rifles at Clandeboyp, near Belfast, vi hero he has superintrndpnee of tho clothing, feeding, and equipment of tho battalion. Corporal Ishcrwood. of l> Company of the 2nd Battalion of the Manchester Regiment, who, with a batch of wounded, arrived at Cardiff early last month, earn: "Tho Germans were all arounu us and our trenches had been enfiladed by their iire. First our lieutenant was wounded and then the sergeant, ami we were left without a .single officer in command of tho platoon. While v.o were wondering what to do Private £ ro - st '?n. a Lid of eighteen, known, as tho ijaby of the company, , threw up his cap and with a ringing" choer veiled 'Jix your bayonets, lads!' Wo "did *-o and charged the advancing Germans. Ircston was in the act of bavonetin" one German when ho sboute-I 'Fo" pods sake, don't stick me!' 'It's too late, replied the youngster, 'it's throupi you.' That young fellow has boon recommended for distinction." Asfoor.rfSTFMEl oFn Pcpimazcl .m m . Dr. InjTR Dnan of fit. Paul's, ep'eaklng at St. Helen's. Bishopsgate, said: isinee tho beginning of August we hare .seen such an orjry of horrible wickedness on the Continent as we hope never a sain to witness in human history. The tomble enieltv perpetrated, made more inhuman by o tyne of pedantry a.s if a legion of devils" had outured into tho breasts of a leg-on of drill sercoants, had devastated one of th.-> most highly civilised parts of Earone, and this monstrous injustice had" drawn down no fire from Heaven, and so far no punishment from an outraged humanity. Wo hunted about for .some explanation that would save our faith in Providence, and wo realised that it was our Lord's promise that 'those who take the etrord shall perish by the sword.' "