THE COMMONWEALTH.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16212, 15 May 1918, Page 8

THE COMMONWEALTH.

Sullivan for physical training. "In tho I light of after events, this is significant, ■ out tJicfo was no whisper of war during ; tiie last days of July. Tho Berlin Kowmg Club iiad a very fine senior eight, but within three months of the biiginnmg.of hostilities six of them \vj?r© killed. Most of the military officers who came under Mr Sullivan's hands . were destined for the flying corps.' l j Naturally, little news from the outside world reached tho camp. But one ! dl, y a terrific explosion, ten miles distant, smashed the plate-glass windows i ? o** an d stand, and the building rocked so badly that it seemed in danger of collapsing. Tho official Gorman i was that sis people had l>een j killed and +hrco injured; but unofficial rumours put tho death-roll at something like 800. OTHER OPINIONS. From the remarks made by others of tho hundred-odd returned civilians it is evident that they have not kept t&eir spirits up to tho same extent as Mr bullivan. Unpleasant stories they tell of their treatment by the Germans. "It was like he'l during the early part of the war At first we were kicked and ■treated' like dogs, and if it had not been tor the iood received from Eng« land we would have starved." Another, a Scotsman, said: "I have not seen a. hre for three years. Even in the depth of winter we were only given one blanker Again: "The food was r«i ? c con ditions intolerable. On Christmas Day we were givon for our meals coffee made with acorns, a few potatoes, and for tea a liquid that we could not drink. During tho last few months food conditions in Germany have been very bad. Tho people look thin ana worn, and there is a great shortage of everything, but as wo received our parcels pretty regularly wo lrved much better than the Germans." Une man said that there appears to he a great shortage of drugs, for -when any of the internees fell ill the German had nothing "but aspirin tablets to give them. DEPRESSING INE3WJENCES. Mr Francis Gribble tells us that our men at Ruhleben are, in increasing numbers, going mad. "No one who hTis had any experience of the life will have anv wonder that these things should be so. -uuen had been done, by the organisation of study and amusements, to resist the tendency; but tho deDressing miluences are many and various. Over and above the physical hardships which are bad enough, thero is the monotony, tho hopelessness, the separation from all the normal of life, the sense of a broken career, and the anxiety for the fate of wives and children, left to fend for themselves in a hard wor d. And the trouble is now i likely .n be aggravated by the increas- ! y m supplying the camp with | { i c 3 I t f t I v c t r f v ( a t t v 1 e r F n s I n T V c c ( II 1 5 c 3 I: y ? I "( •i i x By Cable.—Prea? Association.- opyright.) MELBOURNE, May 11. Floods havo isolated Benalla (122 ciles north-east of Melbourne) and lave caused heavy damago.

FLOODS IN VICTORIA