ENTRE NOVS.

Free Lance, Volume XV, Issue 802, 12 November 1915, Page 11

ENTRE NOVS.

¥ HE son "oi a distinguished member of the ICivil. Service, who; returned amongst our wounded soldiers, -corroborates the stories of gifts going -astray and letters stuck up at the base. He says there -are tons of letters and parcels awaiting sorting and' delivery at Alexandria, and'the few postal hands there are quite unable to . cope with the -heavy New Zealand maila. Some reputable people at Alexandria had preferred their help, but apparently it was not -availed of. So long as soldieccs remained as the base, their letters and papers were delivered pretty correctly, but once they got out to the trenches it was a happy-go-lucky business. As for gifts finding their way to the canteen and ■being sold there, he cited three instances. One soldier bought a shirt at the canteen, and on opening it he found a- note pinned inside the breast. It was from a widow in Dunedin to her son, saying it tvas all she could afford at thei time, but she sent it with her warmest love. And, the pity of it, the mother's gift was sold to a stranger.' Of course, it may be her soldier boy was among the killed. * # «• * A novel patriotic fund in Australia is •one for the Purple Cross Service, the •object of which is to aid Australian troop horses at the front. During Cup week in Melbourne Kiss Lass, a little coal-pit pony, was paraded through the ■city streets to engage the sympathy for • the poor . battle-horses, and incidentally to win the nimble sixpences and humble bobs of the multitude for the better attention of these poor horses. This was a very 'cute move on the part of the promoters. Melbourne was crowded with race-goers at the time. What patron of the sport of kings, whose love of horseflesh of so big that he will travel miles and in his teeming thousands to see the gee-gees ga.lop, could possibly resist Kiss Lass's call for practical sympathy for her kin■dred iti the firing-line ? _ We would suggest that our horse-loving wool-brokers might also > initiate a similar movement 'here in New Zealand. There is ample sensation in the following little war story, which is. said to be quite true, "to build up a plot for a photo-play that would thrill to the •backbone. We pass it on to our mov-ing-picture suppliers for what it, is worth. In a village near Namur; Belgium, some German ' officers ordered a young Belgian to bring out his car and •drive them to a given point. The man refused. One of the officers thereupon •drew his revolver and shot the young man's mother, who was standing near 'by. When the Hun officer —he was a colonel —shot the poor woman, the son turned deathly white, and for a moment it seemed as though he would -spring at the German's throat. He recovered" himself and said, "Good, I will drive you." The colonel and several •other officers entered the car. The son of the murdered woman took his place at the wheel. Soon the car was running at top speed. Then suddenly, just as it reached a temporary bridge over the Meuse, the driver gave a sharp turn to the wheel. The car was flung into the river. All the occupants were

drowned. What a grand climax this final plunge would make for the film! * * * * In a recent breach of promise case in Sydney the usual order of things was reversed. Complainant was of the sterner sex and defendant a woman. The case was tried by .iury, and, after listening to complainant's tale of woe, "the twelve good men and true" admitted that defendant had engaged herself to marry the poor fellow, and had then shamefully fractured the contract, thereby blasting his fond hopes. They then proceeded to add up the sum total of his injuries, and finally put them down at "one farthing damages." A Melbourne paper comments that male juries are contemptuous towards men claiming damages in such cases, and sympathise with defendant, whereas women, knowing women's wiles, would be ready to give a man a fair deal, and mete out pure justice to the guilty one. But isn't that the wrong point from which to view the case? How about the insult inflicted on the gentle sex as represented by the above defendant, in assessing this complainant's loss at a paltry farthing?. * * ■ * . * An amusing (to some . people) phase oi last week's tornado is to be found at the Hutt. A resident there had a section situated on a hillside, and he made a lawn which overlooked his neighbour's front door. Under the lawn was a culvert to carry off storm water. This got choked during the currency of the torrents, and the result was the,lawn was transferred to the bottom section, although not in exactly the same condition as when it resided on the higher altitude. The .owner of the flat section, for some reason , or other, was most indignant about the transaction, despite the fact that he got'a brand new lawn for'nothing, and he. is talking loudly of lawsuits. The poor chap on the hillside has now lost his lawn, and is being threatened with having to pay .for the removal of it from lower down, also to make good what damage the , migration cost to his neighbour. Lawns cannot be appreciated in the Valley. •» ■» * * A propos of these street collections, etc., for patriotic purposes, a visitor to "Wellington from across Cook Strait way relates an interesting little incident. It happened, so it is alleged, in a certain provincial town over in that direction. A juvenile, armed with a collection box, and who to all intents and purposes was gathering in -funds for the good cause, chanced to bring her box under the notice of the wife of one of the organisers of the fund. "And what are you going

to do with, all the money you. are collecting'?" asked the lady. With the. innocence of childhood the youngster replied. "Oh, last week mother. bought herself a new hat and this week she is going to get me a new pair of boots." * * * » No more loyal New Zealanders at this moment than are those of our one-mil-lion population who are of Irish descent. A striking instance of this patriotism is that of two sons ' of Erin, residents of Wellington. , Both are married men, one an expert gunner and. the other'of a professional calling. The former has a family of six children, a little circumstance that is quite sufficient to keep him very much at home, toiling full eight hours a day. The other brother, also a family man, is the more comfortably off, and could better provide for his wife and children, but he has a practice to look after. However, the two brothers, both keen on doing their whack for the Empire, have conferred and weighed these considerations. They have agreed that the one who is a gunner should go to the front, being the more useful to his country in the firingline, while the other will stay at home and keep things going here. If anything 'happens to his brother at the front-, he has undertaken to provide for the future welfare of his children for him. * * The present ocqasion is not' the first that the Huns have fondly dreamt of , landing an invading army in England. At the time of the Spanish Armada's attack, most elaborate arrangements were completed for the invasion of John Bull's home from bases in France and Flanders. ' Stated that an Auckland lady has a copy' of an English newspaper, published 327 years ago, in • which, an official account of the enterprise is given. It seems the whole olot was the work..of Germans of the Hanseatio League whom Queen Elizabeth had driven from London. 1 These Germans had grown fat by means of profits derived from rich monopolies in trade under former English monarchs. . Not satisfied, ,they coveted the whole kingdom —and were finally kicked out for their treachery. * Further proof of the Huns' belief—a belief so often expressed by the Chief Hun —that they have a monopoly of the Deity is found in the engraving on *• some of their rifles. A young American student, who spent six months as a member of the American Ambulance Corps at Dunkirk, has recently return- , ed with a collection of wax trophies. Amongst them is a rifle, on the stock of which is engraved the slogan, "Gott mit

uns" '("God is witt us"). The) rifle was taken from a dead German soldier at -Nieuport. Most likely this -slogan was •engraved on the death-dealing instruments of warfare by Krupps at the express command of the blaspheming Kaiser himself. Other war relics collected, by this, young student include pieces of •.? Shells the Germans hurled into Dunkirk. -These travelled twenty miles through the air, and at the highest of flight were six miles over the earth. The aeroplane darts and bombs are from both French and German aeroplanes. The French, dart looks like some child's toy,'but the chemicals hidden in the slender reed will start where the dart strikes. The weapon is so slender, heavy, and sharp-pointed that it is said to be capable of penetrating a man, horse, and saddle if it strikes plumb.

Since the beginning of the "war Japan has blossomed, out in New Zealand.- markets with all sorts and. conditions of goods never before manufactured in the Land of the _ Chrysanthemum. The labsst importation is Japanese lager beer. Why we should, buy Japanese anything that we can make ourselves is not clear, but the reason for going ,to Japan for beer above all things should puzzle the faculties of anyone given to thinking.

. The end of the Kaiser's mad career is in sight, according to "Prophecy," a journal published by the National Astrological Society of America. Amongst its war prophecies appears the following: "The year 1916 may be characterised as the 'beginning of the end,' and it is indicated, early in the year, the Kaiser meets with reverses, revolution, and a termination of his career." We sincerely hope so.

The scarcity of dye-stuffs -is being felt all over tlie world, and as- a means of remedying the shortage people at Home, in America, and 1 elsewhere, are being urged to wear white hosiery. "We have noticed, here about the streets in Wellington white stockings and socks,' usually worn with black footwear. This new black-and-white effect is not very beautiful. . . However, the perpetrators of it must be pardoned for their selfsacrifice in the common interest. Who knows but we may yet see Mr. Massey, Sir Joseph Ward, Mr. Tom Wilford and several other of our Parliamentary knuts affecting this new magpie style?