DEPARTURE OF CANADIAN TROOPS.

Evening Star, Issue 15653, 18 November 1914, Page 3

DEPARTURE OF CANADIAN TROOPS.

Thirty-one ships were required to carry the men, tho guns, the horses, and the supplies of the overseas expeditionary force. To convoy that number of ships a fleet of 11 war vessels was requisitioned, the whole movement being the largest and most important ever effected on the Atlantic. It was carried out in a splendid manner. The movement from Valcartier was effected in fine style, and the embarkation and sailing followed as a part of a well-ordered plan. Tho movement of 31,300 troops and 8,000 horses was the biggest war action that Canada has ever undertaken, and it was performed almost faultlessly. The movement from Valcartier started with the mustering of the left half of the 12th battalion, which was sent to Quebec to perform guard duty, and ended with the departure from camp, eight days later, of tho right half of tho same, battalion. The troops that moved in took possession of tho wharves and the breakwater, and when they disappeared ono day the rod coats of the 87th Regiment replaced tho khaki stiiVs of the men of the 12th battalion. In this eight days the division liad moved out of Valcartier. Horses, artillery, and transport waggons came over the 18 miles of road, while tho troops wore sent by train. H had been intended to match all tho men to Quebec, but (says tho 'Daily Mail') the weather was vile, and plans wore hastily marie for the movement bv train. Id required five days to transfer the- various units, an average of 10 troops moving away from the camp each day. Th« trains ran directly to the breakwater, and the transfer to the- ships was made promptly. As tho ships were filled they moved off and steamed down the river to anchorage previously arrrod on. and there met the naval' convoy ; afterwards tho great fleet set out to sea.. There was little of the picturesque, in all this business. Thorn wore no cheering crowd.-*: in fact, comparatively few po.opU knew any thing of what was going on. MORE GERMAN "CULTURE." The retirement of tho French fiom Alsace early in September was followed by a- xeiirn of terror that constitutes one of the blackest chipters in the war. Always suspicious of the attitude of {.ho o-onquercd provinces, the Germans only needed the excuse of sue!) evidence to wieak vengeance in ovovy po?siblo way. and in so doing to strike terror in the. fashion mmrecognised ths world over as part of their war methods. The rce-ch, i r . that the "sneak" informers have been basking in the t-milos of officialdom, while semes of tho worthie.-t citizens of Cppcr Alsa.e aro eitli'T in prison or in their uravrt. Th" punishment of tho whole country *ide was carried out systematically. " Harboring tho French" was everywhere deemed sufficient for bloody reprisals, tho strange theory adopted by the Prussians boini; apparently that a. man whose bouse, is invaded by troops who fir«" from his window 16 responsible for their act. Th.-t some wore co lsonting parlies may bo true, but it is only too certain that the helpers and the innocent, havo been in tho majority. At Burzwolier, near Mnlluuisen. where the village was burned and rive of the inhabitants were executed on a charge. of harborirg franc-tit cure, the inquiiy set up has failed to establish tho charge, and has, in fact, proved tho innocence of the victims. All the wounds of tho Gorman soldiera alioscd to have been shot from houses in the village aro stated by doctors to have boon caused by projectiles u.'ed only by ».b<> German Anny. The Mayor of "the village in vain offered 1.000 marks to anyone who would provn that » single shot wa« fired by a civilian. ant\ it is now understood that the alarm and the subsequent fusillade, in which Herman soldiers were killed by German bullets, were created by a. Chlan shoot bur his wounded charter behind a brick kiln on the outskirts of the village. A cable message litis been received (savs the Wellington 'Times-') t-tatin,.; that Mr Kenneth Mathicson, who resided near Marton for some years, was killed in action near Ypres on the Ist inst-. Before coming to New Zealand, the late Mr Mathieson Ixdonged to the Scots ( I revs, and really came out to the Dominion for health reasons. He was farming in the Rani'itikci district, and, having completely ivem-eml his health, he returned to the Old Country about twelve months ago. Upon the. outbreak of war Mr Mathieson accept".-! a captaincy in tho Irish Guards, and had only been'about a fortnight at the front, when ho met his death. Last week was observed in ( hi i>tchineh as "Belgium week.". Collections and two concerts resulted in '£734 being obtained. An amusing example of the kind of nous forwarded to British papers from American sources is furnished by the following extract from the Edinburgh 'Scotsman': "New York, October 6. The White Star liner Delphic, which arrived hero to-day from Auckland with 6,000 tons of beef, reported that there are 5,000 Gorman residents in Now Zealand, prisoners ot war. literally guarded by sharks. The island upon which "the Teutons aro isolated is not. a lon'' swim to the mainland, but every man so far who has tried to cover tho distance ha* been literally gobbled up by the maneaters with which tho waters swarm. Tho prisoners live in houses and tents, and require few sentries." The employees of the Woo-Jhaugh Paper Mills send us £2 15s, being their seventh contribution. This money is to go to the Belgium relief fund.