SYDNEY SUN MESSAGES

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue LXVIII, 17 October 1914, Page 5

SYDNEY SUN MESSAGES

FLOATING HOSPITALS

BARGES UTILISED

OPPOSING. ARMIES BANDY

TAUNTS

A FABLE.FROM THE FRONT.

LONDON, Oct. 16. The four great rivers in the north of France are connected by a network of canals, and the French Government is equipping river barges as hospitals for the wounded, thus enabling treatment to be given during the transport from the front. LONDON, Oct. .16. Inactivity prevails at. the centre of. the fighting front in France. The trenches are placed so close that, in a Homeric manner, the troops are' able'to bandy insults and taunts. They realise that any attempt to carry the positions by frontal attacks is doomed to disaster. Both sides are waiting do ■ velopments upon the wings. . LONDON, Oct. 16. Three French soldiers, bored by inactivity, agreed to emulate the "Three Musketeers," and made an excursion to a small farm in the middle of the war zone to get a good meal. Several Germans, likewise adventuring, entered, and agreed to a truce, and the meal was enjoyed. Then the French claimed the Germans as prisoners, but the Germans protested that,, owing to their superior force, by. the rules of ihe game the, French should be prisoners. After a polite wrangling, the French led the Germans to the French trenches, where 1 they were given an immense reception.