SIGNS OF THE TIMES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16010, 31 August 1915, Page 8

SIGNS OF THE TIMES.

CIVIL LIFE IN ENGLAND. KHAKI EVERYWHERE. [feom oue own coreespondent.] Lo.siA>>, J-.-'y ?1 Though we are often told that there is no evidence in England that the country is at war, I fancy the Briton who has been abroad for the past twelve months and comes Home to-day would have no difficulty in detecting the tact. To any ! person who is in the least observant I there are a hundred signs of some very ! far-reaching social disturbance, and if he ,is at all logical he can interpret them . properly. The first most obvious sign of I war is the iibnormal number of soldiers about, the country. Coming through the ; counties in any direction at all you are i bound to see camp after camp and cantonment after cantonment ; you are bound j to have your carriage crowded with khaki, and to hear all the dialects of England and Scotland and Ireland. For though the old territorial basis is still observed • in raising the new armies, the battalions are training many miles from their own ! homes. One new "battalion of the Seaforth 1 Highlanders is at Bedford ; the Scottish : Horse are at Kettering, one battalion of . the Worcesters is in Dorset, and so on. j Officers All m Uniform. I Then, of course, the- soldiers are all in khaki— obvious sign of war. Even 'during the great autumn training in peace | times the depot trooDs always wear their ! parade uniforms. Now everybody, from I the Kir<g and Lord Kitchener, *to the cadets of the city schools, is in khaki. • But the most convincing of all the signs . of war is the fact that you see British officers in the streets in uniform. This is not a military nation in anv sense, and it has always been the invariable custom ; for both naval and military officers to wear mufti when off duty. " The officer . class would as soon appear in uniform as a leading surgeon would advertise his special style of skill. And, therefore, seeing the streets of London simply overrun by officers to-day, it is quite "evident we must be living under a revolution of normal conditions. Belgian Soldiers in Evidence. ■ Another feature of the metropolis today is the prevalence of Belgian officers . and men. , Their quaint uniforms are visible in all our streets, and at all hours By the courtesy of our Government, the , King of the Belgians has been permitted ] to infringe the Foreign Enlistment Act ; and to call his young men to the colours |in England. But there has been no • drilling of Belgian soldiers in this country. Kins Albert army has remained in the north-western corner o'f Belgium, and in I the adjacent parts of France, and the new formations have been vigorously , training there to take their part in the j campaign- Nevertheless, the Belgian soli dier pervades the land- ] The ravished resources of the Belgian I Army services have had to be made good Ito a groit extent in England, and it is .no uncommon thing to see their grey cars "Croix rouge do Belgique," and so on, ! threading their way amongst the traffic of London. French soldiers, on the other hand, are very rarely seen. j A pathetic sign of war that one cannot fail to note .s the i revaleneo of mourn- , ing in our streets. I believe that many j who have lost relatives in the war are | refraining from wearing black, but this ; sign of bereavement is, nevertheless, only ; too common. Mather a more cheerv evij nee of the same sad side of war "is the loyal blue hospital uniform won by the j wounded Motors taking them round the , sights of London are moving about everyI where, and the effect is rather pleasing ! than the reverse. " * No " Idle Rich" Visible. j In civil life, perhaps, the change that lis most striking to persons who know | London is the shrinkage almost to the , rcint of disappearance of the large class of young men known as the idle rich. Th« whole genus has been swept away end we know to what- an honourable puri pose. To-day they are scorching about i the roads of France with despatches, I studying the science, or practising the art |of armoured tars, or oven sweltering in : the trenches with infantry units Their ! flitting from Piccadilly is "entirely to their I credit. Indeed, it must be candidly ad- | mitted that most- healthy young men to- : day have either taken themselves into the 'army, or have become unusually modest. At any rate, they are not visible. ; On the other hand girls and women have become gradually more and more prominent in business spheres- Many turns which hitherto refused to employ women at ill have now been compelled to fill the places of men who have gone to the front. Lift boys and hall porters, railway porters, booking clerks, milkmen', messengers, and commissionaires are all giving way to gills- Even van boys, promoted to warehouse porters, are being replaced by girls, and one is rather astonished to find women with hand-barrows I warehousing heavy merchandise on the jwlarves on both sides of the River Thames Everywhere females are being employed, because there are no men to "do the work ; and patriotic firms are at length finding the courage, by a general un dei stand to ask their customers to cairy homo their own small parcels.