INTERESTING WAR NOTES

Lake County Press, Issue 2737, 6 June 1918, Page 7

INTERESTING WAR NOTES

THE COST OF FOOD. 1 lie rise in prices is costing the in Habitants of Greater London something like £1<X).000,000 a year. That is the conclusion arrived at by a statistician, based on a calculation of the pre-war consumption, food, fuel. clothing,, drink, tobacco, etc. In the principal foodstuffs alone he makes out a total increased expenditure of £'f>o.ooo.ooo. According to figures given to tho Royal Statistical Society, the seven milions of people in Greater London consume about 9,500 tons of food daily. This includes 6,200,0001b. of bread per day. and, if tho average rise in the quartern loaf he taken at 3d., our increased expenditure on this item alone amounts to 019,000 a day, or about L' 7,000,000 per annum. Meat makes the largest call upon our expenditure. Taking all kinds together, London's consumption is 2,500,0001b.

HOW V.C.'S ARE MADE. Ever since the Victoria Cross was instituted by Queen Victoria at tho end of the Crimean War, tho making of the medals has been in tho hands of the same, firm. The ordinary medal is made* from n steel die, being stamped and completed in the same process; but the metal from which the Victoria Crosses are made is so hard that no die would stand it without breaking. It is well known that the first crosses were made from captured Russian guns, but now tho materials come from guns taken from tho Chinese. With an order for tho cross is sent a supply of the metal. First, a. rough cast of tho cross is made, and this has to bo filed, drilled, and chased. The chasing occupies the attention of a skilled artisan for many hours. The bar is a separate casting, and is also chased. The authorities are most careful to see that none of the metal is wasted. It is most carefully served ont, and if any is left over from ono lot of crosses, it is used up before a fresh supply can bo obtained.

WARSHIPS TURNED INTO CARGO BOATS. Ono of tho most remarkable developments in this war is reported from South America, where the Government of Chile is proposing to repair some of its old warships, and convert them into cargo boats for the transport of cereals, coal, and other necessaries. This conies as refreshing reading after tho many instances of peaceful adjuncts of business, such as steam tugs, fishing-boats, and steam trawlers, being converted into organs of offence or defence.

Dragon)iroff said he would rather take his chance of dying, but they persisted. Then he drew a revolver, and swore he would blow out the brains of the first man who tried .to use a lancet on him. He had his way, but for over a week ho held that revolver Lightly clenched in his hand, fearing that the surgeons would yet play a trick on him. At night he made his servant stand on guard armed with a rifle. He recovered after a few weeks' illness, and the only permanent ill-effect was a slight limp. Needless to say, he afterwards regarded the army surgeon as ono of the soldier's worst foes

HORSES DECORATED FOR BRAVERY. Tito cavalry horse has always played a prominent part in warfare, and there are several occasions when he lias been decorated for bravery. A short time ago, for instance, a Russian officer's horse was awarded a medal for "gallantry in action." It appears that the animal's master was badly wounded, and fell from the saddle. Tho horse evidently realised tho officer's plight, for it picked him up by his belt with his teeth, and cartied him .to safety.

This reminds us that a Russian artillery horse was awarded a medal at Plevna. A number of wagons nerc sent with ammunition to the front line. As they were making the journey, shells began to fall, and all the horses, with one exception, refused t > move. The driver of one-wagon noticed that one horse of the team did not seem a bit cowed, so ho cut the traces of the other horses. Thereupon the willing animal dashed forward succeeded in pulling the ammunition wagon through the fire. ' The driver was promoted, and his animal decorated with a medal specially struck for it. The lato Earl Roberts was carried on the memorable march from Kabul" to Kandahar on the back of a grey Arab steed named Vonolel. Queen Victoria bestowed upon this animal the Kabul medal with tour clasps, and the bronz Kandahar star. When Vonolel died it was buried with pomp and ceremony in the rose garden near tho Royal Hospital at Dublin.

RUSSIA'S BEST AVIATOR. Though Eighty, He Still "Loops the Loop. 1 ' One of the most remarkable of th« many brilliant leaders of tho Allied Forces is General Kaulbars, the fathei of the Russian Army. Although nearly eighty years of age, this veteran soldier still continues his career ai a practical aviator. During his fifty-five years in the Russian Army he has taken part in no fewer than seven wars and over eightybattles. , .- He was well over sixty when he firs'j interested himself in aviation, beinr'; one of the pioneers of the Imperial AU Russia Aero Club. His first experiments were carried out with balloons and kites, but he was one of the earliest officials to recognise the military value of the aeroplane, for lie obtained his knowledge first hand by his frequent attendance at the early French meetings. . He was the first man who organised and mapped out the first PetrogradMoscow Aeroplane Race of 1910. It was through his unceasing courage and energy that the Russian Government built near Pertograd a mammoth aerodrome which can lightly claim to bo the best equipped in the world, possessing splendid workshops, hangars, and apparatus for facilitating night flying. He was also concerned with the establishment of the naval flying school. Since the war, despite his age. General Kaulbars has no: only been directing and organising the Russian FlyingCorps, but has himself made manyflights in aeroplanes, which he believes to be far more valuable weapons of warfare than dirigibles. The veteran warrior's great versatility may be judged from the fact that Tie has flown no fewer than seventeen different types of machine, and lias even looped the loop over fifty times. _ Unfortunately, last year he sustained serious injuries in an accident caused by bad landing after reconnoitring German positions. This, however, did not diminish his keenness, and since his recovery he has made flights both in England and France, which he has visited to get fresh ideas for improving "his country's aerial squadrons.