HUNNISH VANDALISM.

North Otago Times, Volume CVI, Issue 13975, 8 September 1917, Page 8

HUNNISH VANDALISM.

IK THE WAKE OF THE RETREAT. j RESTORING WAR-STBICKEX ■ f; " LANDS. . ADOPTED VILLIGES AND • CITIES.

American, French and British, civilians are working in closest co-operation with the French-military and civil authorities in restoring the territory destroyed by the Germans when■ they-hur-riedly quit the lines they had held for two years, from NOyon to the Soiumo, T.lio Amerieau Associated Press correspondent, after visiting Noyon, the adopted daughter of Washington, went through the entire district and observed 'what .was being done, Others have followed the example of the Federal capital, and have devoted their, energies to the succour of particular localities'. For instance, the American fund for French wounded has stepped aside from its original idea and taken full charge of the hamlet of Beherincourt, with its 125 remaining inhabitants, all of whom were in the greatest distress. American women have seen to that all these poor people are provided for with their most necessary requirements in the way of food and clothing.

' The. Countess de Chabrannes La Pallice has taken to herself the hamlet of Maucourt, of which only heaps of bricks

and stones remain, and will rebuild it. Dr Baron Henri de Rotschild lias opened a food and clothing depot at Noyon, to which he sends everything necessary to keep life going to any applicant in

any part of the afflicted district. All this, however, is but a drop in the ocean when it is realised that there are 243 villages ami Immlots spread, over the French zone alone of the "country which the Germans, before their retreat tried to make into a 'desert. One hundred of these small communities are now just heaps of-stones'and'-brielts; without one habitable room or Cellar

among them, while of (he remainder onethird were partly demolished, and the rest only slightly. Thousands Without Pood and Shelter. . In this region 35,000 old men and "women and children under fifteen years were left without shelter or food by the Germans. Some 12,000 of these were evacuated immediately to the interior of France, where a proportion of them joined their relatives. The military authorities have grappled in a masterly fray with the vast problem which confronts them' of providing for a large destitute community immediately behind the lines where a shield of French llesh and'steel was holding back the German? from a possible return. They set to work to organise the country and its people. The -first step was to provide food, and this was done through the military commissariat, as there was no means of civilian transport of supplies from other parts of France.

Then came t.lio question of putting in cultivation again the 250,000 acres ol agricultural land comprised in the French zone. It was late in the season, but a practicable scheme was at once formulated and put into effect. Officers of high rank were placed in charge, The devastated country was divided into seven sections, and composed of twenty-

five communes, and each in charge of an officer with skilled aides. Horses were lent by the Army, broken ploughs and harrows were repaired by motor mechanics of the Army, seeds of all kinds were procured, and work on the land was begun. For this manual labour was necessary, and this was found among the many peasants and small farmers in the 'ranks. Thirty American tractors were found lying idle in the depot not far from the stricken district, and these were transferred to the places where they could be most useful and put to work. The labour was l dangerous owing to the presence of unexploded shells under the surface of the fields, but only one accident has occurred from this cause. '

Four Thousand Acres Planted. In this way about 4000 acres have been ploughed and sown with grain and grass, and another 2000 acres ploughed and cleared of weeds, while,with the help of American, English and French donors, every family has been provided with seeds and roots to form a truck garden, with the result-that sufficient produce is expected to make the' community self-supporting. The Germans had also cultivated a considerable tract of- land and sown it with rye, which they tried to destroy before their hurried departure, but with only, partial.'success, for at least 2500 acres 'will produce crops this season. In the meantime houses ■ are being repaired where possible, and temporary shacks erected where no habitation exists. Schools have be'en opened,' military doctors attend the sick'; a pteal t service has begun, ami so frii 1 - as pos-' Bible life is being made cndura'ble 'for the "thousands who suffered so much during tlie German occupation, and-vir-tually everythiiig' , 'tliey possessed wneii'the invaders departed;' Vy'M