SET OH FIRE, THEN FINED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15730, 3 October 1914, Page 8

SET OH FIRE, THEN FINED.

FATE OF BELGIAN TOWN. NOTABLES AS HOSTAGES. Rotterdam, October 1. The Germans set fire to a part of Tournai and demanded a fine of-two millions. Belgian notables have been taken as hostages.

Touraai, a city of Belgium, is situated on th<? .Scheldt in the province of Haioiint, pliout. 50 miles south-west of Brussels, near tin' border of France.

Although In the course of its long history i: It.i undergone many sieges and v. as sacked at various epochs by the Vandais, Normans, French and Spaniards, it preserves many monuments of it 3 ancient days. Among theso is the cathedral ol Notre Dame, one of tho finest and bestpreserved Romanesque and Gothic examples in Belgium. Its foundation dates from the year 1030.

FROM THE FIGHTING LINE. HEROIC BRITISH CYCLIST. SAVES HUNDREDS OF LIVES. London, October 1. French wounded narrate that during the battle of the Aisne it became necessary to-warn French reinforcements of an ambush. Two Frenchmen when signalling" tho danger were killed. A British cyclist dashed forward, but wa3 shot. Another followed, and he too was shot.

A third cycled at full speed across tho inferno and reached the trench untouched, conveying the warning. The commander took from his own tunic a medal won for bravery, and, pinning it on the cyclist's breast, said: ''This was given to me for saving one life you Lavo saved hundreds."

DEFENCE OF IRELAND, NATIONAL VOLUNTEERS. GIFT FROM AMERICA. Loxdon, October 1. At a meeting of a majority of tho Provisional Committee of tho Irish National Volunteers, Mr. J. Redmond was elected president. Resolutions were adopted appealing to Irishmen at Home and abroad for funds to equip and train volunteers to carry out the defence of Ireland, the advancement of Irish rights, and the maintenance of self-govern-ment. -Mr. Redmond has received from Amcirica £6000 to arm and equip Nationalist volunteers.

SUPPLEMENTARY REPORTS, j Times and Sydney Sun Services. (Received October 2, 5,50 p-m.) Lontkw, October L Alsaco remains quiet, the people real- j ising that any attempt to sympathise openly with the French will be ruthlessly crushed. The cable connection between Sweden and Germany has been interrupted since Monday. The interruption is ascribed to the gale recently reported. Germany has received no foreign malls since last week. Fresh cases of cholera are reported at Vienna, Buda Pesth, and Brunu, brought by refugees from Galicia. The outbreak is causing the greatest anxiety in-Austria. A wounded Frenchman lying on the Marne battlefield was surprised by feeling a wet caress on his face. It proved to be the regimental pet dog, trained to carry tho kepis of the wounded back to headquarters. The wounded man told the clog to bring help, and it returned 6>on afterwards guiding the ambulance to the spot, This dog goes into the firing line and when tho fighting gets too hot lie digs a hole and buries himself. A i lennan commandant's letter which has been found says:"Wo are marching gloriously and irresistibly to Paris. We would have preferred some resistance, so that wo might enter Paris as conquerors instead of a mere parade; but French valour has decreed otherwise. In a week's timo we will be drinking beer on the boulevards." A French bullet brought tho commandant's march to an abrupt ending.

AWFUL MUSIC OF BATTLE. ! A VIVID DESCRIPTION. .! The Belgian papers differed curiously about the engagement which took place at Dinant between the French and tho Germans. One of them declared specifically that there was no fighting at all, another put tho losses on the German tide alone at something between 10,000 and 20,000. A moderate and possibly correct estimate, not of the casualties, but of the strength of tho troops engaged on each side, [juts the number at about 30,000. The strength of tho German force could only be guessed at from the volume of the fire, which during the afternoon was often very heavy. When big guns, field nuns, rifles, and machine guns were all booming and banging and rattling at the same time the noi.se was tremendous. At the hottest moments it kept changing curiously and horribly in character, volume, and tempo, rising and hilling with alternating diminuendo and crescendo, and hurrying and slackening pace.

Sometimes the deafening volleys of reports Bounded like the clattering of a clumsy, lumbering waggon jolting heavily over, the nils of a badly-made country lane ; sometimes like the brisk hammering ot thousands of hammers on wood, regular and spasmodic, and then regular and relentless again ; sometimes like the roar i,f hundreds of heavy goods trains thundering and bumping along to meet in hideous collision".

Against the changing undercurrent and background of sound and confusion the separate kinds of reports were always distinguishable, the heavy, slow booming of the big guns; the sharp, vicious bang of tho field pieces, with its lightninglike velocity and shattering, irresistible force: the crackling and spitting and spluttering snap of tho rifle; and, most awful of all, the rapid, pitiless, machinelike tapping and rattling of the mitrailleuses..