THINGS IN GENERAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15864, 10 March 1915, Page 10

THINGS IN GENERAL .

v.;.■•« ■■> ■ ■■ - ■ .„•.•>*■■ ■■.•r mmtZ-- iNVASION'OF ENGLAND.' : S;«■ *. INVASION OF ENGLAND. "" A Was, England be invaded? This is th 'Question everyone has lit the back of their : minds,' no matter how vigorously they de- \{ ;■■?- •:, monstrate ■ the': alter impossibility of euch I an undertaking. . '.It is. much easier to pro--1 phesy after the event, but for the timid Ip'-V: there is at least comfort in the reflection' ■Jji that successful invasion has not frequently I figured in past history, and that at no time in our history was the British Empire better prepared to rapol an invader. fr^v; Very different was the situation when the Be last invasion occurred, if such- it can be p.;' considered. The court of Charles the Second was at the zenith of its flippant ijjp' : ' foolery. The national exchequer was | empty, and the navy was with difficulty W, maintained on a' system of paper money. i :."' i'ot tho national temper was as even as it is to-day, and London, in daily fear of an attack, had its theatres open, and its usual round of daily occupations. The most valuable evidence is afforded by Pepys, himself actively engaged in man!most valuable evidence is afforded by Popys, himself actively engaged in managing the confused affairs of the British Navy, yet finding time to note in his diary | tho doings and feelings of those around | him In a work, entitled "England Invaded," the authors describe the "invasion" thus:?." On Juno 10, De Ruyter entered the Medway. Sheerness first was j bombarded into ruins, although (Admiral f. Sir E.) Spraggo and his handful of EngI ■ lish and Scots held their ground until an i overwhelming force was landed for the ] storm. Fifteon;guns and all the stores at i 6heerne63 wire-taken, and the Dutch fleet I storm. Fifteen guns and reaches of the Bheernt63 were taken, and the Dutch fleet worked up tha winding reaches of the Medway. On the 12th the leading squadron arrived at .Dillingham 'Reach, tho usual H harbourage of : the naval ships. Two small \ and ill-armed batteries guarded en- \ trance. Between the two was stretched I'-... a heavy iron chain., Brackel drove straight i :; ' for this chant;; in' tho' flood-tide, and .* . crashed through < it, silencing the impoi[, tent forts, and throwing all the ships at !\ : the barrier." Next day the Dutch re--5 turned on the tide, by another channel, |f and burnt the three Eng'.ish ships, which II had been scuttled in an attempt to save ■'v, them, and, in the words of tho text, the Dutch " had \ inflicted upon England the :' greatest humiliation that she had endured | ii_ r eince the days of the Norse Rovers,,and I 'j_-■'" 60, well content, the small squadron'that" ;".' had dons days of the Norse Rovers, so, well content, the small squadron that had dons so much, sailed triumphantly |v.\down the river, insulting their humbleoj ;b enemy with thundering cheers and 1 vic- ( ■ torious music." One more 1 attempt was \ a": made, which Pepys notes, on July 3, 1667. I v " Here I find all the news is of the enemy's Jstj landing-3000'men near Harwich, and at:i' .• . tacking Landguard Fort, and being beat fk .-: off thence with our great guns killing some ■ of their men and they leaving their lad--1;' ders behind them; but we had no horso ;£'-- -in the Suffolke side, otherwise we might jV- have galled their foot.*' ■ Since that date ;-: no hostile:.raid" I has been made on the (no hostile raid has been made the the English coast until the time of the cut5. 'and-run attack on the part of the Gerjj I nians. 4|« s£t .*-" \.s . ;••". V '■ ' ';' . • ■;.: '■ FEEDING THE ARMY. . ; 'j r - •••\^ : Napoleon, who said "an ! army fights on - Its stomach," would astonished at fhe >jv,' enormous demands upon the endurance of ;y -t': the men in this war, for he "was never cble i^;-« i ; : to give ; his men the strengthening food well-regrJated armies receive nowadays, i•■v / feke, for instance, the ' battle of Lule BurK •:. gas. " The Turks .-. lost ; : because they had v;, been starving for four days; the Buil| •: '■'■'■ garians had their ; stomachs full The Turks were willing, hut ' could * not, fight, .":';■■ > and on 'their retreat many j died -of sheer : ; starvation. The Belgians and, in many >, i" cases, the Germans in Belgium have been }.'■■-, '.'. weakened by lack of food, although the \; German system in general is excellent. But W® the British {soldier has received his meals ■'. great regularity, 'A British private '": i receives every 24 hours l}lb of fresh meat or lib preserved meat, \ ljlb bread, 4oz ;> bacon, 3os. cheese, :4oz jam, 3oz sugar, £lb '%■!; of fresh vegetables or 2oz vegetables, I foz of tea, coffee, ,or cocoa 2oz tobacco a- v or 60 ,cigarettes,. per week. 'This aliowance is the result of careful study on the 5 part of scientists. ;. They . have found that K, - 2000 calories Or- energy-making units are f j-' required to keep a man alive if he is lying - in bed without mental or physical exercise. For a man marching 20 miles a day ■ 4500: calories a,\. day are t necessary. The | % British soldier receives 6000 calories, so he has 500 to -spare. In former British 3'-..■ wars there has, been enormous corruption i and chaos, -and the soldiers have often ■'■: .. '.' gone hungry.-1 Luckily, for two years be- - fore the war broke out the "director■ of supplies and ha; staff had been studying | every detail of I the new method, so that -: when the great call came the whole scheme i•; was complete and perfect, both as regards . " supplies : and transports. The v War Office *•' deals direct with the manufacturer, health W-$ officers always being on the look out for JV' food of quality. The manufacturer Wi ' must send his stores to the railways withfS! _ out knowing their '■'.[ destination. \ If this ?v were not so he might ho able to load ini> - ferior goods in ships for the Continent, fc. knowing well that the boxes would.be ffi? opened up too far away for inspection or complaint.'i Under the -new system these Si supplies must go to the Government food .'■". : '. ' depots at Liverpool or Leeds, where, they V'... come under the.eyes of health officers and I % ( analysts.; The' army had large reserves of food when war broke out, but in 10 days ■:; ' these had been doubled. "A' [stupendous %;.; plan was put into operation, and it worked p wonderfully. In France and Belgium one i'•■■■'■ . sees the'/Army, Service ; Corps, and passes their convoys on the roads. Interminably C. the motor trucks hurry from - the bases to |;,< • the fighting * lines' with Tommy's dail meals, with fresh bread baked on the railfc ■ ways, and often with fresh fruit from the tT , '• South, || ' ''• THE ACT OF KISSING. t p . Kissing is an ancient habit of mankind Mr] |»fhirh has been handed down to us from #■'- Bg'M far beyond.the rang© of history, ori- .. ' ginating -perhaps amongst the ape-like t ancestors of the human race. Poets have vk exalted the act of kissing, and in these ($V hygienic days doctors have condemned it. ; : ; ■ In the United States even it has been proposed to make kissing a penal offence, I :. on the ground that disease germs may be, B| and indeed they often are, carried from Mr person to" person by the act of osculation. .. But th* • instinct of kissing is too deeply rooted in human nature, and has too deep a significance to allow of it being tabooed altogether. Kissing is a habit to be found -, ail the world over, either in the form of i- t kissing proper dv in that of nose-rubbing 6 as amongst Maoris, Esquimeaux, and other ■;■' races. In New Zealand we are familiar p.- with both the ordinary kiss and also the sjr noso rub. Both are really modified forms of sniffing— active effort to smell or |N. . explore by the olfactory sense. In fact jV. an ordinary kiss might bo called a salute !?'. by taste, and tho act of nose-rubbing a ;->A ; salute by smell. Many animals seem to recognise each other by the sense of smell ;'.■'•'•• solely. In man the sense of smell is not §|•', '■ ;.■• nearly so well developed as it is in most '. animals. ■ Or perhaps it would be truer to sf: A' say that our sense of smell is not so well llpla developed as it.was long ages. ago. We no|lonp;l;r":TecognlsS'-6ur friends' and foes. j£ j *i by smelling ; them, although we may salute '■:■■■ the former kissing them. .Kissing, as f&'fv'ft form of salutation, is not as common as |?> '. it was 100 years ago, and, although it is '.% still prevalent amongst some nations, it is »::.-.; gradually ; being abandoned. / Kissing is \S t. more common in Russia, apparently, 'than to any, other country in the world,. ' ;, W0 • ' ~•,',,' '■■■■ ;■■ ■;:.-'..vv-v^-'v■•■•;■/■ ■■-■

1 C ; THE SHIRKER-AND OTHERS. " ; 'No'"one wishes to defend the shirker— r the real shirker—the man whoso "soul is so dead that he never to himself hath said, . 'This is mine own, my native 1 land.'" The less said about him and - the less notice taken of. him tho better. 1 Fortunately the British Empire is not in (.'■ such dire straits that she requires the , services of every single able-bodied man, nor is she ever likely to be. In the meantime _ there are sufficient volunteers only too willing to take up arms and fight for their freedom aud liberty. Let theirs be i the honour and glory- The si irker, were i he compulsorily made a soldier, would be ! but a poor one and hardly an asset to" his side. Ho can bo done without, and it would bo far better to let him go his own ' way. If he lias a conscience it may prick him. If he has not, words are wasted on him. But there are apparent shirkers who are not shirkers. The fact that quite a number of ycung merit of military age and physique may bo seen in our streets prompts some individuals, who do ' not consider what they are saying, to term them all shirkers. To abuse a young . man for not being in the firing line is , manifestly unfair, unless all the circum- ' stances are fully known. To start with, only a limited "number of men are being taken from New Zealand. Therefore everybody cannot go to the front and some must be left behind. At present . there seems to bo no difficulty in getting the required number. Again, for the defence of our islands it is necessary to have some able-bodied young men left within them, and for the country's welfare the business houses must continue their operations, a certain number of men being essential for this. Thero are possible family reasons, too, which keep a young man at home. He, may be the only support of a widowed mother or of several sisters- Still moro unfortunate is the case 0 of the man who volunteers but who ia rejected for some latent physical defect. Naturally he does not like to tell every* one "fact of his rejection, yet if he does not his acquaintances may term him a shirker. Let them remember that there are more ways than by fighting of serving the Empire. If, instead of finding fault with tho young men of the country, the vast majority of whom fully realise their responsibilities, tho young ladies would devote their superfluous energy to relieving distress caused by 4 the war and to helping to brighten the lives of the dependents of those at the front, more good would be done and less ill feeling engendered. .» « ; The Gexwui,.