General War News

Horowhenua Chronicle, 5 February 1918, Page 4

General War News

A single oak tree realised £130 at a recent sale of standing timber in Northamptonshire ' 'DEVIL FROM HEAVEN.' *

A peasant woman, 85 years old, who travelled from an adjoining village to see the fallen Zepellin near Sisteron, which she referred to as "the devil fallen from heaven," would not believe that the airship was an engine of war used by the Germans. STANDARD SHIPS AFLOAT.

Sir Leo Chiozza Money stated in the House of Commons recently that five standard ships of 5200 tons each had been built and put into service up to October 2±. By December 31 18 would bo completed, ic> of 5200 tons, and one of 3000 tons, and one of 2000.

17,000,000 YARDS OF CLOTH. Army contract? for 17,000,000 yards of cloth, to be executed between January and April, have been placed in the west riding of Yorkshire. Half of this quantity is to be made iu tho Huddersfieid, Colne Valley, and Holme Valley districts and will consist chiefly of tartans, whipcords, tunie cloth and cloth for greatcoats. Large orders are likely to bo placcd ere long for cloth for the American army.

KABYLES' DECORATED DOG. The Kabyles wlio sweep the streets of Paris have a pet dog from their own country. Ilia name is Chouia, and he lives in a railway truck at Gargan, on the Eastern Railway, whence he frequently accompanies his dark-skinned friends to Paris. He wears a Ted and .green collar to show that he has seen active service. No one who knows his history grudges him this assimilation to the Croix de Guerre, inasmuch as he was formerly attached to an African regiment and was wounded by a stray ballet. __ CHIPS FROM THE EDEN TREE. In an address following his return after 12 months' service as an army chaplain in Mesopotamia, the Rev. H. Colin Walker, vicar of Christ Church, Wai;ey, Essex, told an audience that the Arabs did a good trade with the Tommies in chips from a tree on the site of the Garden of Eden described as the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The British proved such good collectors of these souvenirs that the tree was whittled away and has now disappear-

THE MEANING OF BOLSHEVIKI. The word in Russian means '' those ivlio want more." It is synonymous,. with the Latinised term "Maximalists," and is applied to the extremist international Socialists —those who de-qi'-d tho principle of nationality. "Bolshevki" is the plural. To say the "Bolshcviki Government" would be similar to say '' the German Government" without the possessive indicated. The proper term is '' the Bolshevik Government, " the word Bolsheviki being applied to the members of the party in the plural sense. The Bolsheviki rank nest to the Anarchists. After the Maximalists arc the '' Minimalists, also international Socialists, but less radical than the Bolsheviki. Then follow the Social Revolutionists, the Social democrats, the Labour Party, and Peasants, all comprised within the Russian proletariat. Coming to the so-called bourgeois classes, the Constitutional Democrats arc nearest to the Work-

men's and Peasant parties, and it is in them largely that the hope of revolutionary Russia lies as they embody the elements of Russia best fitted to assure permanency to the democratization :if the country. RAEMAEKERS AT BATH. Mr Louis Racmaelcers, the Belgian artist who has made a world-wide reputaion by his war cartoons, has gone to : ive at Bath. NEWSPAPER OPPICES WRECKED. Tho concussion of the great explosion t Halifax shattered one of the big gasometers and thousands of feet of gas "scaped. All the power plants in the r.Uv are out of business and the newsrefers liayc been so badly wrecked that publication of papers is impossible. OUR MEN IN GERMANY. ' British prisoners of war in the hands of the enemy have been very badly off Cor clothes, and the War Office has arranged with tho Army Clothing Department to supply new suits to all requiring their.. With the object of providing warm, serviceable clothing a3 economically as possible, a black cloth has been chosen and this will be made up into uniforms with khaki facings. KILLED IN THE RANKS. Ever since August 4, 191G, Percy Bcauchamp Astlcy Cooper, private in the Buffs, lias' been missing. But his death is now established as having occurred on that date on active service. "Private Cooper" was in Teality a retired Lieut.-Commander, R.N., the eldest son of Major Lewis Astley Cooper, 10 years of age. He entered the navy as a cadet in 1890, and retired with Ihc rank of lieutenant ill 1908. NO MORE LEAD SOLDIERS. Among the sufferers by the war arc the little lead soldiers who have marched so gaily and bravely across nursery tables, defended wooden forts, and ambushed the Ilun from behind barricades of books. An cdict has gone forth, and no more lead is to bo used for them. The Lead Controller is determined that our men at the front shall not bo kept on short lead rations. Even more important to a section of the public will bo the substitution of cast-iron .piping for gas, electric light, and water. >