EPITOME OF WAR NEWS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLVIII, Issue 4472, 13 February 1917, Page 6

EPITOME OF WAR NEWS.

(Written specially for the Gisborne Times by “The. Major.”) It is non' -decreed by law that during the w«r period in France men attending tlie opera shall not wear evening dress. No embargo is placed on the women in this respect, and so far there has been no complaint from the Gay Lotharios. Presently it won’t be Der Tag—it will be Der Rag Tag. , After what Uncle Sam has taken, we’d better change it to the Almighty Swollar!

A doctor in Berlin is conducting a Chew-Your-Food crusade. His mission is to teach the Germans to grind their fodder thoroughly in order to get the maximum of nutriment from every grain. In vain the rules are written, Too late, the frugal view, Since Germany lias bitten Much more than she can chew. American jiapers give an amusing explanation of the war regulations governing anti-sliouting in New Zealand. That “shouting” is the Maoriland equivalent for "Have one with me” is not generally known in the land where Wilson’s Notes are somewhat prolific and Dollars abound ; the prohibition of shouting in bars and hotels is believed to be a veto on loud talking. One Yankee journal makes the naive-announcement: “By a law recently passed in New Zealand saloon omers are forbidden to speak above a whisper.” This fair land of the No Moa is bad enough, but the silent pub (that has not been shut altogether) has yet to come. The San Francisco Argonaut makes the following comments: “In New Zealand they now have a law prohibiting shouting in bars and hotels. The shouting in churches and prohibition mootings goes on as merrily as ever.”

Talking of this being a young man s war, Mr. Forster, in answer to a question’ in the House of Commons, did not deny the assertion that certain route marches, while quite within the power gf younger men, had been too much for some of the men approaching 40. The experience gained since these older classes were called to the ranks discouraged the likelihood of men above 42 ever being called to the colors for general service.

Heirs to hereditary titles killed in this world-war numbered] 118 up to the end of December last.

Les Darcy, the boxer who escaped from Australia a few months ago to avoid military service, is a living example oi the man Who fights and runs away and lives to fight another day. Darcy has been matched to fight McCov in New York next March, and his” share of the purse will be £6OOO. It is to be hoped that while Darcy is in America he will take steps to secure naturalisation in that country, now that America has been practically challenged to enter the fray. President Wilson should send an encouraging Note to the champion boxer of Australia on the subject.

Food Controller’s Motto: “War to the knife—and fork.”

Even in Germany, which in spite of successes in the field, has its back to the wall, and is more “all in” than any other nation, the snide ways of the profiteer are not altogether suppressed. The Reichstag and the papers have been discussing army contracts and the contractors’ huge profits, and there is, apparently, to be an inquiry. The profiteer in every country is an alien to patriotism, just as he' is devoid of humanity.

Smoke from "the burning oil-works, destroyed by the Roumanians before the oncoming Germans, could be seen darkening the sky for over a hundred miles. Three days’ destruction amounted to over £500,000Extract from the Hungarian newspaper Vilag referring to the months of October and November i s interestlng;_A‘So far as the indispensable necessaries of life are concerned, imnrovement is impossible. This year s "harvest could not improve our food depots. The prospect is not rosy, and under the pressure of extraordinary times we must be prepared for a greater reduction in the commodities of life.” Another Hungarian paper, • the Pester Lloyd, writing on the same subject, says:—“The starving pigeons on the pavements of Buda 1 est tap the asphalt all day long with then Deaks in the hope of finding something to eat, and-these birds produce a painful impression upon the starving public in Buda Pest.”

The prejudices in England against the employment of women on the land —the prejudice being strong in the women themselves originally—have now been broken down. A certificate emblazoned with the Royal Arms, and bearing the inscription, “Ever v woman who helps in agriculture during the war is as truly serving her country as the man who is fighting in the trenches or on the sea,” has been issued by the Board of Agriculture. After completing thirty days’ service on the land, registered women are entitled to wear a Government armlet of green baize, with the Royal crown m scarlet. According to the Board of Trade Gazette, 72,021 such certificates and 62,000 armlets have been issued, and altogether close upon 140,000 women have been registered with committees. The experience gained during the war goes to prove that some women can do anything and everything on the land, and do it well.

The editor of the weekly paper called Blighty, printed in London m the interests of the fighting foices, in a cabled message recently to President Wilson, says:—“You appear to ije unaware that in 1914 Germany invaded Belgium, burning, murdering, looting, ravishing; that -Serbia, Montenegro, and Roumania have, in turn, been invaded, ravaged, and despoiled; that men, women, and children or these countries have been carried as slaves into Germany; that England and her Allies are fighting to restore to the enslaved nations their birthright of freedom. Read your own newspapers, President, and get wise to the facts.”