WAR MISCELLANY.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15486, 13 January 1916, Page 3

WAR MISCELLANY.

» XEW ZEALAND LAD ENLISTS. (FROJI OCT. OWN" CORKE>rONDENT.) LONDON, Dcccraber 3. illiam Broar] the cishtcen-vcar-old Dunedin voutli. -vvho travelled as a k stowaway the 12.000 mile journey to | Leicester in order to join the regiment conncctod with his parents' native town, was unfortunately too short by a few inches to achicvc his dosirc. Going to Derby, however, he has qualified for the Notts and Derby Bantam Battalion, and is now in the Army. It was only after sis days' sailing that the discovery was made on board ship that there was a stowaway. On being brought before the captain, the youth shyly but candidly said that he wanted to got to England so that ho could join the Army. The captain allowed the boy to work his passage, an d eventually Broad tounci himself in East Ham. He got employment there for a wec-k or two .so as to enable him to save enough money to go to Leicester, and there ho pleaded to join. The authorities , tin-re then helped him to go to Derby. •The Leicester "Daily Post"' says:— ''When one thinks of the hardships this lad endured and tho dogged resolution all this implies, we get a c.'earor idea of the depth of tho attachment to the Motherland felt by the men from overseas. Their patriotism has in it something of idealism. Let us see to it that wc do not shatter that ideal by neglcct of our own obvious duty.'' NEW "GASSING" DANGER. A Nottingham hair-dresser has just fallen a victim to German gas-poison-ing under extraordinary <;rcunisiancce.. A few days ago he formed one ol tho regular hairdressing parties which the Hairdressers' Association provides I gratuitously for tho benefit of wounded soldiers in Nottingham hospitals. The last patient he attended was a Canadian who. had been badly gassed. Immediately ho reached home he became ill. and alarming symptoms set. in. similar to those suffered by men who have been gassed. He is still under medical treatment. AIRMAN'S BRILLIANT FEAT. In order to prove whether an airman could make a safe landing at a height of 10.000 ft in a parachute, LieutenantColonel Maitland, R.N.A.S., volunteered to perform that feat. He did so this week over London. Ho took fifteen ihii.utes in his daring experiment, and the parachute fell hundropj of feet before it opened. The colonel's chief difficulty was on account of this cold. At one time he thought lie would have to let go. Hut he succeeded in leaching the ground Safely. The feat, though not a record, is one of the most remarkable of its kind. THE BISHOP COMES FIRST. In the early days of the war the Senior Army Chaplain -was the Rev. J. M. Simms, a Presbyterian. Later, when life at British Headquarters became. more settled and Church of England Bishops visited the front, tins fact was noticed, and very soon_ Dr. owynne, the Anglican Bishop of Khartoum, was appointed principal chaplain. The London "Gazette" of last Wednesday re-opened the moot point by ■ announcing that Dr. Simms liad been granted "relative • precedence as Major-General" to date from November 9th, 1914. This would have given him precedence over Dr. Gwynne, who was granted "relative precedence as Major-General" in August. The LOll- - don '"Gazette,'' two days later, however, ' shows that "November 9th, 1914," was a mistake. 'A Substituted announcement is published, with the date "November 9th, 1915." The Bishop therefore retains his advantage in the matter'of precedence.'• . GERMAN HOSPITAL CONDITIONS. ,

The special correspondent of the Bri- I tisli Press with the French Armies 1 writes: "I have .received the-following details concerning tho German treatment of prisoners from a French prisoner, who has just returned from Germany. He was captured in September, 1914, in a hospital in France, where there were four nurses and 79 wounded. For four days the Germans left these prisoners where they. were <"Ti the straw, and-gave them 110 provisions. Then they sent my in formal it to a Gorman hospital in France to* ucc as nurse. The only drug provided was aspirin. The food was very bad, and a number of boys between 15 and ii), who had been carried off from the North of France, died of their hardships. The staple nourishment was jjectroot' and rotten cod. Prisoners were continually -struck and kicked for the most futilp reasons. For the smallest offence prisoners were tied to a stake with their he-ads bare in the fail summer sun. A French prisoner who had tried to escape was mercilessly beaten, "and the next- day orders wero given to two of his fellows to tie him to the stake. They refused, and were struck with the flat of a sabre. Everyone, eyen the wounded, was compelled to work. There was ■ practically no medical attendance, and a paralytic died from want of care." 78 GERMAN SUBMARINES LOS 1\ ■ Mr R. Mounser, in the "New York World," makes a series of disc'osuits based on information gieaned by him personally during a. journey from, Constantinople to New York, via Sofia, Bucharest, llerlin. The Hague, and London. Quoting the "Koeluische Zeitung," and the "Berliner Tageblatt." for statements proving that Germany admits the failure of her' U boat campaign, lie assorts: — 1. Since February 13th the British Fleet has captured or simk 58 submarines, while 20 more arc listed as "most probably destroyed." 2. The. British submarines which have played so much havoc in the Baltic, include the ex-German U boats operated by British crews, the German patrol boats having failed to discover the real identity of these craft when they passed through the Sound. In this connexion Mr Monntsier says:—"The British public . . little realises what part in the sudden reversal of' the submarine situation has been played by the brilliant coup of the British Admiralty in capturing and making use of a valuable flotilla of U boats, once the pride of von Tirpitz and the Kaiser.'' GREAT EFFORT IN THE SPRING. The French Chamber-has passed tho Bill for the incorporation of the 1917 Class. Tn the course of the debate General Gallieni. Minister for War, said that he entirely agreed with General Jofrrc that the demand for the call to the 'colours of 1917 claes was a mere precautionary measure. "The call to the Colours." be said, "does not mean that the 1917 class will be immediately sent to the front, but this class must be trained for a long time and with < great care, in order to be ready for any ; eventuality." He asked the Chamber 1 to hand him over this class as soon as ] possible in order that, it might be readv . by the spring of 191fi. when, he said, j "in agreement with our Allies our reinforcements and armaments will allow us < to make a decisive effort."