CAPTAIN OF MONMOUTH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15834, 3 February 1915, Page 8

CAPTAIN OF MONMOUTH.

SAID TO BE A PRISONER.

WIFE RECEIVES CABLEGRAM

r BY TELEGRAPH. OWN CORREsPONPKNT. ]

Wellington', Tuesday.

Information has boon received that the wifp of the commander of the ill-fated .Monmouth, which was reported lost in the action off the Chilian coast, has received a cablegram from her husband, from an unknown destination, to the effect that Ire is alive and well, but a prisoner. It is therefore probable that at a later date a v. ry complete, story of the engagement between the enemy's ships and the Good. Hope iyid Monmouth may be made available for the public information.

LIFE IN THE TRENCHES.

"NERVES" AND FROST BITE.

LETTER FROM A SURGEON.

[BY TELEGRAPH. OWN COKRESrONDENT.]

Palmerston North, Tuesday

Dr. Martin, of Palnferston North, whose record at the front has aroused admiration, sent another letter, in which he throws some interesting side-lights upon the manner in which the great conflict is being waged.

" When I last wrote you," says Dr. Martin. "I was in Belgium, a few miles across the frontier. To-day, I am again in France, just a few miles from the frontier. Our division is resting, equipping, receiving reinforcements, and allowing the men a much-needed rest, and baths, and good sleep. Well they deserve it. The neije effects of living in an atmosphere of bursting shells and constant exposure to German bullets aro very trying, ewn to the hardiest of men. The trenches are as comfortable as ono can make them, but they are not very comfortable, for all that. Two nights and two days in a front-line trench leaves one frozen and numbed, physically and intellectually. On one occasion I could hardly bend my fingers sufficiently to handle the hypodermic syringe in order to inject some morphia into a wounded man near inc. But there you are. We are resting for a week, and we have had baths and good meals and good beds.

"We are still holding the road to Calais Nothing can get past us now. Our army —I speak of the French, too —was never so fit and was never such a terrible and effective fighting machine. The German attacks at Ypres and Dixmude have recoiled again and again before the pitiless sleet of lead and the deadly bayonet work of the British regiments. Gallant French Colleagues. "One cannot speak too warmly of our gallant French colleagues. The French are splendid. It is a sight and an experience never to be forgotten to be behind a French battery in action. The din is frightful, but the calm insouciance of the French gunners fills one with joy at being their allies. I saw, some weeks ago, a French brigade charging, and the reckless daring of these bold fellows as they swept across a neck of land full of barbed-wiro entanglements and swept by shrapnel made one realise what a gallant and heroic nation we are fighting with. I have not seen their cavalry. This is no war for the horsemen. The cuirassiers go down to the trenches and use the riflo and bayonet like the infantry. Later we shall hear more of the French and British cavalry. Their hour has not yet come, but toon the haughty Prussian will know that his Uhlan is not in it with the British dragoon or the French cuirassier. A French Boy Hero. "I met in a Belgian village recently a very gallant French boy. Another medical officer and myself had • entered a restaurant and had ordered a glass of the red wine of the country. Then in came Alphonse. a youth of tender years, but with a proud military mien and a ferocious swagger. He ordered his glass of wine and polished it off like a falstaff. I asked him how old he was. 'Treizo ans. mon officer,' he said. 'How many Germans have you killed?' 'Oh, peutetre quatorze "on quinze.' 'Admirable, mon petit soldat! And how did yon kill them?" 'Avec mon carabine'—this with a smack on his carbine, and a salute to u s ended the interview. He. as a matter of fact, had killed 14 Germans. He is a dead shot and a splendid scout. He crawls out of his trenches at night and scouts well into the enemy's lines. "An officer of his regiment told me his story. He was a Parisian newspaper boy a gamin, and attached himself to this particular regiment at the beginning of the war. He is onlv 13 vears old and small for his age, but he is old in knowledge and in sin. The regiment could not shake him off, and so at last, like a French regiment, it adopted him and gave him a uniform and a carbine. ■ Dangers of Frostbite. "In the trenches we have not been getting m;uiy wounded lately, as the fighting has not been of such a sanguinary character. All the armies are living in holes in the ground, and when the 'coal-boxes' are hurtling over the landscape a hole in the ground is a very good place indeed. Frostbite is somewhat'prevalent with our men, and it is an important factor, for a bad frostbite can incapacitate a soldier for many months. Charcoal braziers made out of perforated buckets and petrol cans are used in the trenches. "The position of the men is very cramped, and (he only muscular exertion they get is that produced by shivering. You will agree with n*e that the muscular fibrillation produced by shivering is not a very cod form of exercise. It is obviously unsafe to stand up. so crouch they must and they must still shiver. Humours and More Rumours. "We live on rumours and more rumours up here. Daily we get a fresh rumour. The" favourite one is that the Kaiser is dead. He has Keen drowned, assassinated, suicided, shot bayoneted. Mown up. died in convulsions.' Dailv. or most daily some calamity has befallen Wilhelm, but from last accounts the 'war lord' is still alive, and still assorting that the Almighty is on his side. When we do not kill the Kaiser we kili the Crown Prince. Ho has been bnried in all parts of France and Poland, but he always gets out of his grave and turns up elsewhere. He. I b.dieve, is still alive and well On 'dog days' we kill and bury Yon Kln.-k. or Bulow, or Hindenberg. Dr. Martin's New Work. "Directly this letter sets out for von I also set out from the front to Rouen, where I have been posted to take charge of the surgery in a largo base hospital. It is only temporary, while we are sitting by in this war of trenches. When we advance I again ioin my ambulance. There is a lot of work to do in the base hosnitals at Pouen. The city is a wonde'fullv beautiful one, situated on the Seine." .» THE BAND AT TRENTHAM. COST OF INSTRUMENTS. Mrs. H. D Bel!, Ministerial residence, Moleswortii Street, Wellington, has undertaken t.i collect part of the sum required for the hand instruments now in use at Trent ham camp, which will go to the front with the men. She will be pleased to receive, subscriptions from half-a-crown upwards for this object.