THE MOTHER COUNTRY

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVI, Issue 16842, 28 April 1915, Page 10

THE MOTHER COUNTRY

MORE MUNITIONS.

LORD KITCHENER'S APPEAL

By Telegraph—Presn Association —Copyright. LONDON, April 26.

Lord Kitchener sent a message to Messrs Vickers 5 . workmen appealing for a full output, and stating that anything less would' mean that gallant lives would be sacrificed unnecessarily and victory postponed.

THE NAMELESS HEROES.

MR BALFOUR'S TRIBUTE.

LONDON, April 26. _ Mr Balfour, speaking at Bechstein Hall, said it was clear that the enemy's position was far less strong morally and materially than at the beginning of the war. It was a great thing to have checked the tide ot invasion, but until the final consummation was reached the' efforts of the mechanio at home and tho soldier abroad must not be relaxed. Our gratitude was due not only to the leaders of the troops, but to the un-numbered nameless heroes on whose work ultimately depended the efficiency of all that was done in Flanders and France, and to whom in truth and reality we should owe our freedom ■ from the military nightmare uuder which Europe and the world groaned.

GERMANY'S OUTLOOK.

NO HOPE OF TRIUMPH.

LONDON, April 26. Sir George Paish, writing in the "Statist," dealing with economic questions arising out of the war; says that he could not think that if tho business men of Germany had any voice in the ■council of war the struggle would be continued indefinitely, as they realised clearly tho disadvantages of a long war.

Judging from increasing economic indications, Germany could not hope to win, and business men would bring all the influence possible to bear on the governing classes to recognise the situation and minimise the consequences to their country. It was evident to everyone outside Germany that the country" could not stand, as long a war as could the Allies in proportion to population. The AlH»m had suffered little loss of purohag-

been very serious. It was as evident to German business men as to everyone else that the longer the war lasted the more onerous would be the terms of peace and the more serious and permanent the consequenoes to tho German nation.

THE COAL MINERS. LONDON, April 27. Mr Asquith's reply to the Miners' Conference was indefinite. Mr Asquith is still urging tho federation to accept the employers' offer to discuss tho war bonus at various wages boards, as national conforeuoe wages would bo nn entirely new departure in tho coal trade.

PRINCE OF WALES FUND. LONDON, April 27. The Prince of Wales Fund amounts to £5,000,000.

NOTES FROM LONDON.

EXTRAORDINARY DISCLOSURES

WAR CHARITIES FRAUDS IN FRANCE.

j LONDON, April 27. A message from Paris states that astounding results have attended the investigation of war charities.

Out of 147 societies in tho Department of the Seine seventy-six are fraudulent, of which thirty-five have been founded by shady financiers, most of whom have served terms of imprisonment.

One society was installed by a German house controlled by a secretary who has been eleven times imprisoned. There are several cases of Austrians and Germans, who escaped from concentration camps, acting as presidents tinder falso titles. Two women who were penniless before the war are making forty pounds a day, and another is earning eighty pounds daily by means of a spurious agency for tracing missing soldiers. Most of the societies sold goods at exorbitant prices, which customers bought, believing that the profits would be devoted to charities. Some employed agents to collect subscriptions from house to house. Several' of theso agents received commissions averaging £6 daily.

The investigation was the result of a tailor who was going to the front giving his stock of clothing for charitable purposes and subsequently meeting the founder of the society wearing one of the gift suits. -