ENGLAND IN WAR TIME.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15237, 26 March 1915, Page 2

ENGLAND IN WAR TIME.

SOME INTERESTING SIDELIGHTS.

THE KAISER IX XOB^AY.

OX THE EVE OF "WAR

A letter received in Geraldine from a young lady living in Sussex throTre soino interesting sidelights on life in England during war time, and gives borne personal reminiscences of the Kaiser as he was on the ere of vrar.'ln the course of the letter she- says:— I expect many of your friends have enlisted? The New Zealauders have been splendid the way they have come forward, in such numbers too; you must feol very proud of them a* we all do. From the photos they look such fine fellows, too. COAL AND BREAD DEARER. Trade, etc.. is really very normal hero, tho trade in luxuries, of course, suffering most, and through that a lot of Yrorr.en aro thrown out of employment for tho time being, although this is being dealt with. They are now making toys, dolls, and other things which hitherto have been made solely in Germany. Prices of food are higher, loaves instead of being 4Jd are 8 J a d now. Coil , hag risen from 33s per ton to 425. Most- things aro id to Id per potnul dearer', but otherwise nothing has risen much except the first-mentioned. Coal is dearer, I think, through so many miners having enlisted. KHAKI EVERYWHERE. In every available space in London there; are soldiers drilling. In the road outside Buckingham Palaco tli>e City Volunteer Reserve drill, in the cjuarlranglo outside Burlington House (the Academy) the Artists' Rifle Corps drill. Tho Scotchmen look so funny in their khaki kilts; they are so narrow that they complained* to the "War Office about iheni. They are not pleated in front at, all, but only at the sides and back. Every theatre, cafe, and cinema one outers scorns filled "with khaki. MANY MORE MEN. This month a large number of fresh troops have been sent to France. Great care was taken while the troops were being transported. All ths coast towrs had their lights completely out out, and everyone had to hang curtains over thtiir blinds, so no lights were visible from outside, and no motors or cycles or traps "'yo re allowed to have lights. It was quite exciting going.out at night. One. never knew if one would get run over or not. The post offices were kept open all night with soldiers guardian tho wires. At -every ci'oss roads tbero were barriers with soldiers with ihcod bayonets guarding. It seeinor! war indeed to bp rtreeted outside one's ov.-ngate with. "Halt, or I fire!" As 1 was passing, ono barrier one night a. ' riJle went off, and I found om> of the sen tries, after . ehar,«msr guard, had very carelessly meddled with his rifle whilst it was still loaded. A NICE BRAVE BOY. It had. of course, discharged, and shot another gentry in tho thigh. Fortunately it did not go through tho artery %.o I was able to instruct the ir-en how to carry him into a cottage close by fas it was freezing hard), and I telephoned for tho doctor, -who-took him straight down to Easthoyrne in his enr that niclifc. n< ho was afraid the bone might be shattered, and so w.inted it to be X-rnyed. However, bhre sinco heard that it vr, not, jnui tho boy is getting on 'very well Be wn.s «\ich a nice boy, and so plucky: he novor murmured when the wnnmi was being probed, although I could <co he was suffering asronies. SOLDIERS - WEEK-ENDS HOME. There arc rumours that we shall get 1000 soldiers billeted here for the second lino of defence, in case of invasion. I.don't know if it is true. \\e aro about eisht miles from the sea coast, the-very spot (Pcvcnsc.v Bnv) where Julius Caesar, and la tor •'William tho Conqueror, landed. At onr farm the old trenches said to have been dug cluriri"- the year of the Norman invasion can still be traced. Most of tho men who have' been out since the of the war get week-ends off and now come home. It is nice to sec them again, but terribly hard to see them co off. However, the rest docs them good Those who can bear to speak of tho war give much the same account s>r tho naners. Nothing seem* .to be a bit exaggerated. If anything things seem even worse. A boy I know in the London Scottish described to mc their famous charge last November Ho said the Pn-ssian Guard really had surrounded them,. only they (tho Germans) did not know it, and the London Scottish charged 'hroigh their lmo.s and saved Calais. It makes one feel very proud of onr Territorials, does it pot? Another boy I kr.ow in tnc CnMstrenm Guilds told mc the fighting Ihev wpn-5 through at Christmas was wnrV than the retreat from -Mons Much he was In). They trercm water in tho trenches nearly to their shoulders and the force of it was so strong that'when tlic worded fell. they were drowned before their eyes. He says too. that the fighting in Belgium now is terrible, as they are fighting over, the same ground they fought on in August, and when they dig fresh trenches they keen coming across craves. ' The amount of transport tnat goes over surprised me—not orly food fot our army. but also for theFrencly army and the Belgian army goes ttirougn cur lines. Also nearly all the T- renca railways are entirely "ndor British control, station masters, porters, and or-e-ne-dtivors boinp English. \\c have had an empty house Riven us in Heathficld which wo have fitted up as v Red Cross Relief Hosoital. havo one matron and one fullv-tramed nurse The rest of the staff is composed of our local Red Cross Society, as under-nurses. cooks.« housemaids, f tc. Two of my sisters and I are helping TVe hive 15 beds in it. a'nl expect'tho wounded "tv time now YVo work from 7 a.m. till 9 p.m., with two hours' rest for meals. We have one woek on and one week off. "THE OLD BEAST—THE KAISER." Perhaps you would be interested to heir of my experiences when war was declared. I was in Norway staying nith an old Norwegian school friend and her family in Sogne Fjiord (just near where "the old beast the Kaiser" was staying). He often used to come into our hotel for meals. Ho used to be fearfully polite to mc. complimenting mo on my German. I little thought what he had up his sleeve. I must admit, to give the devil liis due. he has an interesting personality, but T think most strong characters are in- i teresting. Ono first inkling I liad of war was the old Kaiser receiving a tele- j gram while- he and wo were at a teaparty, announcing the Austrian ultimatum. The Kaiser left on his yacht at once for Germany; and five cruisers which were in Norwegian waters at tin time also left./ There was an English ieservis', staying in our hotel, and he bad orders to join his regiment at- once, and so advised mc to try io get back to England as soon as possible. Where I was staying there were no railways —boats were the only means of transport to the coast towns, and I could not get back by one of these* as the Norwegiau Government had appropiiated them all for mobilising. DISTRESSING EXPERIENCES. 1 had a most awful time for about a week —no real news, but rumours of terrific battles in the North Sea, and the invasion or England. At last 1

succeeded in ;*ottinp a boat back to Bergeu, and J tried to get back by. boat from thcro to England, but our boat was recalled by wireless when 150 miles out j as a Gorman ship was lying in wait to take ns all prisoners. Th«i nest week I tried again to get back. All the berths- weie taken, but extra oneswere made up in the smoke-rooms, etc The men were sleeping on dock. 1 got permission to do the same. ; I got my hi "."a {re 0:1 board only to find the company had decided not to risk sending the* boat, as there were still German ships lying ii wait. There wero 700 j 'other disappointed English people (the boat was meant to carry '100) left on the ciiiiiy. - was all right, ns I went • bnr-k'u/my friends, whose home is in Bergen, but these other people had an awful time of it. as'no ."English money was accepted, and cash .had to be paid for everything. People offered £10 j notes in English for- 7s Norwegian money. Hotels would not take people! on credit, so many of them spent the night sitting on their boxes on the auay. ami the next day the American Consul helped them to charter a private boat, which was simply crowded, and they got safely home. T {rave my nlace up to others whose presence was more urgent in • England, and I stayed in Norway until after the fall of Antwerp. as the nnwuger 'x:nts had quite stopped mimi'ir to Enslnur'. After'their rumours ,of 'invnsion of England got, so frequent .'that T felt I win ply must go home. even if f cot blown up on the way. 1 found, there was a little- Norwegian fio v 'i (very small, only meant for the fi-ords) 'joint to England with ibiry produce, and I tame back by that. '■ AN EXCITING PASSAGE. The voyage was quite.exciting. It took three d.-iys and three nights, instead of 48 hours. We went between Iceland and the Faroe Isles. I have never been so far north before. "Wo saw whales off Iceland. Wo were not allowed f> undress at nights, and had to wear lifebelts in our cabins, for fear wo struck «. mine. "We were not allowed to have lights in our cabins, in case- there, were any German boats about, so the nights were very long. However, a nire Australian had his cabin next to mine, so we talked over the ton to. pass-the time away. There were only ten passengers on board. I was the only Knclish passenger. Thero were two other ladies —French actresses from Petrngrad. There was a very nice New Zealander on board—rl have forgotten what his name was—who came ifrom Dnnedin. and had been a mining engineer in Russia or Siberia: -We passed a lot of our fleet in the North Sea. and were frequently being challenged to know if we had any Germans on board. It is quite alarming when the first shot goe* off. to'know whether an English or German boat is challenging you. THE POOR OLD HAWKE. That popr cruiser the- Hawke challenged us just before- she was submarined. She came right round, and' we threw papers, etc., to the crew, and they gave u.s a cheer. About an hour afterwards wo wuv the poriscopo of a submarine, which wo then took to be an English one. but when we got to Newcastle the same afternoon we heard the sad news of the sinking of the Hawke. From the time and position the captain said we must- have seen the submarine which sank her.