AIR RAID ON VENICE.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15421, 28 October 1915, Page 8

AIR RAID ON VENICE.

TO THE EDITOR OF " T HE PRESS."

Sir, —W*o, 1 • think, have reason to hops? that the precious works of 1 intorotto and Veronese, stated in your cable messages to have been damaged, are as yet sale. The message dated October 2-Jtli mentions tho fall of a bomb in the Piazaetta, which did no damage, and speaks of the damage done to the Chiesa dcgli Scalzj. This ehurch contains no work-, either or Tintoretto or \ eroneso, and stands far away trom those, buiidings winch are enncncd by works of these masters, That the bomb which fell in the l'iazssetta did 110 damage is possibly to be attributed to the fact that the glorious buildings around it iiave been very carefully protected by masses of brickwork and sand-bags, as shown in the illustrated journals. That the railway station is iar away from the finest Venetian art works, we may be thankful. The Chiesa degli Scalzi, which, as yon state, stands next to it. is valuable only as a link in tho historic chain of art. It represents the debased period of the la to 16th and early 17th centuries, when skilful workmanship was more valued than beauty «f form, and when imitations of all kinds were admired. This church is more famous for its beautiful marbles wrought to imitate s«lk curtains and lace cushions, even, than for its tine painted ceiling. \Ve need not regret the loss of the church itself, for there are even too many examples of this period in Venice, but the loss of the ceiling is a serious one. Let us hop© it will not be followed by the loss of tho works of the greater masters. We may, I think, rest assured that such loss will not be suffered, for all the most valuable works will have been, n« far as possible, removed to places of safe-keeping.—Yours, etc., S. HURST SEAGER.

THE WAR CORRESPONDENTS. UNDER STRICT CONTROL. Conversing on the troop train yesterday with returned North Islanders, «i representative of "Tlio Press" was told some interesting particulars regarding the war correspondents who are sending news of the operations on the Gallipoli Peninsula. A trooper stated that he had seen Mr Malcolm Ko»s, the Official New Zealand War Correspondent. -Mr Ross, he said, wab havintr a particularly bad run, and had showed him many sheets of foolscap soored and inarrod by the censor to such an extent as to nullify the correspondent's Apparently, the reason for the censor's harsh treatment of Mr Itoss r 6 copy was that too many details were 2> ven - Just before the "big engagement, early in August, all the war correspondents—Mr Ashmead Bartlett, Mr Malcolm Ross, and Captain Bean —were tent to the Island

of Imbro*, and, according to the trooper, Mr Bartlett's remark that he had witnessed the operations from Chocolate Ilill was imaginative in character. Other 6oldiers told of Mr Bartlett visiting the trenches in company with some of the military heads. They eaid he used to "poke al>out all over the show." always with his camera with him. One day he visited Quinn's Post with some officers, and in order to secure a snapshot of some dead Turks, made to get up on one of the benches in the trench. The Turks were about fifteen yards' distant. Ho was immediately -pulled down by some of the officers, who asked him if he wished to get shot. The narrator remarked that if one out a firmer above the trench it would have been hit.