GENERAL WAR NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16372, 28 October 1916, Page 3 (Supplement)

GENERAL WAR NEWS.

SWEDEN AN ARMED' CAMP. Sweden is now an armed camp, with 300,000 men ready to take the field at a .moment's notice, says Mr. Nels Krogea Wattson, on his return to Butte, Montana, after a visit to his old home at Gothenburg. WHEN THE SWISS CHEERED. The Basle correspondent of La Suisse states that at one of the largest cafes in that city the orchestra played "Tipperary." Immediately everyone present rose, joined in singing the air, and cheered the allies till they were hoarse. CHEAP UMBRELLAS. The League for Repressing Luxury in Dress, which has its headquarters in Vienna, is organising an exhibition of cheap and tasteful clothing of all kinds, including even hats and umbrellas. 3t is stated that 'the propaganda is making considerable progress. GIRL BANK MANAGER. Miss Pearl Heavers, an American girl, has realised her ambition by becoming a bank manager. Miss Beavers, who is only 22 years of age, has been appointed manager of the State Bank at Jefferson, South Dakota. She is the only woman bank manager in the Middle West, and has already proved a success. UNABLE TO LEARN DRILL. A deserter, 40 years of age, and unable to read or write, told the Willesden magiss trate that he left the army because he was so sorry for lib officers. A captain, two lieutenants, 11 sergeant-major, two ' sergeants, and three corporals had* tried to teach him the drill, but he was absolutely unable to learn it. The magistrate told him that he must go back and try again. SERVIA'S COPPER. When the armies of the Central Powers overran Servia a year ago the most important Servian copper mines fell into the hands of the Bulgars. The latter handed over these mines to the Germans for exploitation, and the Germans naturally sent officials and miners at once to put them in working order. The yield of copper apparently promises to be very satisfactory, for the Neue Zurcher Zeitung learns' from Eisleben that a still larger contingent of miners, recruited from various towns in the Hartz mountain district, is about to be despatched to Servia. WOMEN AND DOCTORING. There is quite a rush of women this year to study medicine. Figure? indicate that the autumn term which began in October is likely .to be a record. Curiously enough, Glasgow is leading the way so far as women students are concerned. It certainly seems as if a new problem will arise, for it is hardly likely that many of the women will get their degrees until after the war, nor would • it be reasonable to expect a woman who has spent time and money on study to refrain from working at her profession merely because the men are back. Perhaps doctoring will become a State profession. THE BLACK WATCH. The Black Watch either find the hottest corners or the hottest corners are found for them by reason of their valour. Their sacrifice has been so great that the women at home— there can be no wonder at it—have taken fear, brave though they be, and in some parts you hear the Black Watch described as "The Suicides' Regiment." The lads joining the new army have been urged to join other regiments. Some of them have; hut the spirit of the bulk is emphasised - ,in the declaration of one who said, " The Suicides' Regiment, ye say they ca' it, 'eh? Then it's me for suicide!", ' GERMAN FACE SHIELDS. After the burgonets—as the helmets now being worn by the French poilus used to be called in the middle agescomes the vizored casque. A Christiania newspaper announces that the Germans 'n the trenches are now wearing shields to protect their faces against projectiles. The vizored helmet is of steel, fastened by two belts of leather crossing behind the head, one going around the neck, the other over the temples. It is pierced by two small holes at the height of the eyes, and its lower edge is rolled over to the right, so as not to get in the way when firing their rifles. SUBALTERN IS ONLY "MISTER." Every man in the army, from the smallest drummer to Lord French, may describe himself on his visiting card (should he choose to sport one) according to bis military rank, save and except the subaltern. The gallant subaltern is lieutenant only in official documents. On his visiting card he is plain civilian Mist-:**, and so must he invariably be addressed. He may have the V.C. and the D.S-Q. and the Military Cross, be mentioned weekly in despatches and regarded as the hero of his regiment—the adjutant's idol, the colonel's great hope, the battalion's salvation. He/may be covered with ribbons and a-glitter with gold stripes, gut lie must never, never be anything but plain civilian Mister on bis visiting card, and to address him otherwise argues oneself unlearned. WAR WEDDING STOPPED. A dramatic appearance by detectives, in a style that would have been worthy of a film drama, has saved a French girl from marrying an undesirable. The bridal party had assembled, and. contrary to ~ peace-time custom, the bridegroom, and not the bride, was the centre of attraction, for he wore the uniform of an officer in the French Plying Corps, and sundry decorations. Unfortunately for him, the Police had identified him as a man whom t thev wanted on a charge of embezzlement, and a few minutes before the marriage ceremony was to have begun they .arrested him. . He was obliged to admit that the warlike exploits with which ho had dazzled his fiancee and her parents were purely imaginary and that he had faked" his military record. BUTTERFLIES WORTH £50,000. Conditional exemption from military service has been granted to the curator of a butterfly collection, said to be worth £50,000, and destined for the nation. The collection belongs to Mr. J. J. Joicey, a wealthy coalowner, living at the Hill, Witley, Surrey. It was described by General Sir J. Wodehouse, a member of the Hambledon Tribunal, who granted the exemption, as probably the finest of its kind in England. Mr. E. B. Poulton, Hope Professor of Zoology at Oxford,, wrote that to leave the •ollection witnrit a competent head would be a rational disaster. HUMOURS OP SURRENDERS. Stories, some pitiable, some absurd, of the Germans' behaviour on surrendering, are told by a correspondent in Picardy. One major who was taken said that he hoped lie would be allowed to have his servant with him, as the servant was with the next batch! Another German fell on his knees and offered his captor a 3-mark note if he would spare his life. " And I hadn't the heart, when I took the note," said his captor. " to tell him that it wasn't worth a three peine'." A batch of five prisoners pressed their watches in unison on the private to whom they surrendered. 'Hie same kind of thing happens in almost every operation, for the German soldier . still believes that the British will kill I • him if he is captured, and still has a hazy notion that perhaps he can buy his ■ life with such valuables as he has about ,•• him. When one sees the same prisoners - a few days later, well fed and decently treated, the increase, in their self-confi- • *:? ' dence is amazing..

TEUTON BRIBERY, Investigation into a German army scandal showed that a t.imbcr merchant at Mains had paid £50.000 in bribes to army officers in order to secure contracts. MASS MEALS. Ten millions of Germans, or practically one-sixth of the civilian population of the country, are, according to Heir von Batocki, being fed by means of the "mass meals" now served to the needy classes in ail German towns and many* German villages. 4212 WORKS. The Minister of Munitions announces that he baa made further orders under the Munitions of War Acts, 1915 and 1916', under which 161 additional establishments have been declared controlled establishments. The total number of controlled establishments under the Munitions of War Acts, 1915 and 1916, is now 4212.

300,000 ENEMY PRISONERS. More than 300,000 German, Austrian, and Turkish prisoners of war are being cared for in prison camps in the interior of Russia, according to Herbert de Peirce, Minister Plenipotentiary to Russia, sent abroad to investigate prison conditions on behalf of the allies. Mr. de Pierce said that the Russians showed the same care to the prisoners as they gave to their soldiers. The food and sanitation conditions were good in all the camps he visited, and the majority of the men appeared in good health and in as high spirits as could be expected. ZEPPELIN FRAGMENTS. The airship which was destroyed near London on September 3 came to earth with such force that much of the machinery, including the engines each of which weighs a quarter of a ton, was deeply buried in the earth. As each piece of machinery was recovered it was carefully inspected, and, in a large number of cases, photographed from different angles by a special staff of official photographers. Afterwards it was carefully placed in one of the motor-lorries for removal. A great deal of the machinery was splendidly preserved, and will be of great value to the experts. GERMAN TRICK THAT FAILED. German espionage has penetrated to the confessional. The Belgian Government learns that in its eagerness to track down the producers of that wonderful little sheet, La Libre Belgique, German administration in Belgium has sent piouslooking females to the confessional with instructions to slip a bank-note on leaving into the priest'.-, band with the words, "To help carry m the good work of La Libre Belgique." The Church is as clever, though, as the Germans are cunning. In each case the money has been promptly turned over to a Germansubsidised paper, and dice again the enemy's craftiness has overstepped itself. PALM KERNELS. According to a Colonial Office report just published, the whole, of the palm kernels exported from Sierra Leone last year came to the United Kingdom for crushing. The total quantity exported amounted to 39,624 tons, valued at £504,053. an increase of 3709 tons, but a falling-off iii value of £55,280, due to a decline in prices in Europe. In 1913, Germany secured 43,016 tons of this commodity out of a total of 49,201. tons exported. Tho exports of piassava reached 1283 tons. Before the war, Germany took the greater portion of the product. In 1915 the whole quantity went to the United Kingdom. WOODEN SOLED BOOTS. Owing to the scarcity of leather and the enormous cost of boots, the Munich authorities have arranged to supply the poorer classes with boots with wooden soles. Children under five, and others having weak or deformed feet, can have leathersoled boots. The municipality will buy boots from the factories and distribute them through various relief organisations. Arrangements are also being made for the repairing of the boots. The local shoemakers will be supplied with leather and permitted to charge the actual cost of the labour plus a nominal profit. Only families with incomes less than £100 a year will be supplied with these " municipal boots," which will be sold at cost price. The very poor people may have them gratis. THE ONE-SHAPE LOAF. A baker in the A.S.C., home from the front on sick furlough, writes :-It astonishes me, after 16 months' absence ,11 France, to find the bakers' and confectioners' shops of London, and presumably the rest of the country, still exhibiting all the pre-war fancy shapes, sizes, and varieties of bread, and also super-decorated cakes and confections. Why not adoot the sensible and uniform shape of loaf as made in the army bakeries, which ja known in the trade as the "Coburg"? Merely from the labour-saving point of view the operation of moulding one halfquartern cottage loaf involves the same time and labour as the moulding of two similar loaves of the army type. ARMY TRAINING. Army training develops and hardens the muscles, but it is doubtful whether constant physical exercise promotes all forms of athletic fitness. One notes in the case of the footballer that his loose, I sloping shoulders are becoming squared and stiffened. He is Jess supple and has lost some of his quickness of movement. The golfer complains that his freedom of swing is restricted, while his strength is a danger in a game in which strength is only an advantage when properly applied. That drop of the right shoulder which comes in stooping to address the ball will also be straightened if the drill sergeant can correct a habit of long standing. But a crooked shoulder is better for golf. Then there is the case of the billiards professional who pleaded in his application for exemption that army work would ruin his " touch." Most men who •depend on sport for their living shrink from tho change to army life.

i "Why should she be first Janet gasped." It's not fair. She has no life before her. Whatever happens, she can't be happy. I tell you it would be better for to die now than face what she'll have to face if she lives. I know what I'm talking about. Let me go first." "Be still!" Michael said fiercely. " You're out of your senses. You—" "Let her go first!" Pearl spoke with calmness which was like a breath of cool air in the furnace heat. " It's true. My life is nothing to me." "To me. it's everything!" cried Michael. "I'll not stir, till she's safe." the girl said. "At least, if we die, we shall be together. Do you mind much? 1 don't." Without another word. Michael knotted the rope round Janet Rhodes' waist, and lowered her. whimpering with fear, out of the window that looked from the side of the house. As ' she dropped, jerkily, O'Donovau paying out the rope of linen and wool, Janet was dully conscious that she had shown herself a coward. Not many weeks ago she had been ready to end her life, and she had not been afraid then; or if she had been it was with a different kind of fear—a dread of the unknown.-the mental horror of a break in the thread that bound her soul to life. If .-lie had not been stopped by fate knocking at her door—fate which had led her straight to this'house- -she believed now that she would have drunk the poison and ended everything. Hut the tear of fire was physical. It shrivelled her flesh and chilled her blood, and blotted out every instinct save that of self-preservation. She had never known before that she was utterly selfish, but now that she saw herself she did not soMiiucli hate what she bad seen as those others who had seen it. She had never loved Pearl. Now she disliked the girl heartily, and disliked Michael o'Donovan. who would despise her cowardice. She felt that she would be glad to have some power which she could use to hurt him. These thoughts crowded into her mind even before her feet touched the grass, and she was safe —saved by Michael. He called to her from the window above to hurry and untie the sheet : there wasn't a. second to lose. "I am hurrying she cried; but her hands fell weak and stiff as if—she thought—they were made of wax. As she fumbled with the knot O'Donovau had tied, the sound of a motor caught her car, through the roar and

crackle of the fire. Though it was on the other side of the house The library side —where the flames had gained headway, the whole landscape was now lit up as by Bengal fire. (ira.ss and shrubs and trees and sky were burnished copper; and Julian Ferrier's car, which leapt like a live thing round a turn of the drive was no longer grey but red. Two men sprang out and rushed to Janet, whose white figure in its nightdress was outlined statue-like against a dark background of low-growing young cedars. " You!" Julian seemed to think aloud, as he untied the knot she struggled with iii vain; and Janet knew with a sick pang that he wished she were Pearl. Who is that—what man is up there helping? Is it old Parsons?" stammered Judge Paget, panting as if from an exhausting run. " No," Janet answered. " Don't you see—it's Mr. O'Donovau?" She spoke the name loudly, so that Julian could not fail to hear. She wanted him to understand that O'Donovau was with Pearl, and not to understand how or when he had come to tho house. He did not speak, but she heard him draw in his breath as if she had touched a nerve, and she saw a look on his face she had uever seen before.

thought of the power he had was satisfying as the promise of water to a thirsty man. before starting the .car he took time to whisper a warning to the girl's father. "O'Donovau may try to work on your gratitude,'' he said. Hut for her sake, be careful. This lire gives you the best of excuses for coming to me. You've no house to live in. If he presses yon for a decision, here's a suggestion for. sir. Can't you put him on to buying tin's place from the owner, now it's no longer of use to you. and building the finest house on Long Island to be worthy of the bride be asks for?" " He'd like nothing better," answered Judge Paget. '" He wanted the place, it seems, before he knew I had it: there are associations which endear it to him.'" "Oh, there are!" echoed Ferrier, taken aback. Vet his ideas still seinied too good to throw away "All the. better!" lie went on. " Put the man on his mettle to build a sort of palace. It will take him at least a year to get it ready. Before that we'll 'hope to have Miss. Paget in perfect condition mentally and physicallyThen you can give the pair your blessing, and neither need ever know the real reason for the delay."

plisli by its power. Already he had done a good many things that weaker men would not have been able to do. but he could do bigger things yet. incomparably better things, lie told himself, when he bad reached his understanding with Pearl's father. There was no chance that night to talk of details. The prospect of building a "palace" for Pearl contented Michael. He was confident he could do in four months what Judge Paget had thought would take a year. "With money enough, anything can be done." lie thought, and he bad money enough, and to spare. "I'll show them how soon I can take the curse off Fountains Manor!" he said. "And then she will come to bless it." He stooped till dawn helping the firemen: and in his mind the new home was already rising mi the ruins of the old. Dr. Ferrier had conic back in the motor and taken Judge Paget, tired out. to join his daughter and Janet Rhodes at Pell Harbour [1111: but Michael, hopeless of seeing Pearl until morning, stayed on, boiling with vitality and glorying in the work of salvage. Parsons also remained. Ann having been mercifully carried away to the hotel when Judge Paget went.

little of young people, though he took a young wife, hardly more than a child. Scarce sixteen she was when he married her. She had been his ward." "All! I've heard that Mrs. Thorpe was a saint!" Michael tried to draw him out. but the old man looked surprised. "A saint, sir!" lie repeated. "Well, there were some thought that!" , "A man called O'Donovan. for instance." Michael suddenly suggested. (He was sine that Parsons had not yet heard his name. l "Do you remember Reardon O'Donovan?" " Why. yes, indeed, sir. now you speak of him, I remember well," said Parsons. '• Him as came back sick, most ready to die. it seemed, and lived in the lodge that's shut up now— been shut these many years. A mightv nice man he was. I recollect him well, when you bring him to my mind; fine-looking as he got better in health; about 32 years of age. But that was the first year we was at the manor. Ann and mo; the year the mistress was a bride. She was allowed to have her own way at first, or 1 guess the master wouldn't have been so easy about Mr. Reunion O'ltonmm He wasn't what you might call 'folksy' even then." "Do yon know how it was Mr. O'Dolloviiu came l> stay here?" .Michael asked, a slight sharpness i" look unci tone. " No. I don't, sir. I was never told. But 1 understood from a tradesman at 1-ell Harbour Bay that it was the same O'Donovan, an Irishman by blond, who'd had a big new idea for starting a store in New York, and pretty near brought it to success. There was a scheme for the benefit of everyone working in the store; they was all to share, and vet there was somehow what you might call a practical basis. There was another man with him who had more money, though, a smart, tricky chap named Rhodes, the storekeeper at Bell Harbour Bay. In one way or another this Rhodes contrived to squeeze O'Donovan out of the business, which afterwards grew to be one of the biggest i" the city, though I did hear Rhodes himself went wrong not many months ago; anyhow he's dead; and Ann was saying to me only the other day, could it be that our Miss Rhodes here is his daughter'.'" " Great Scott '." broke out Michael. For an instant all his interest veered to Janet. He had disliked her at sight. Even at the moment when he had spent his strength to save her, he had almost loathed the girl. He had thought then he

i hated her. because she cared only for herself, not at all fur Pearl. Now he wondered if instinct had not waked against the flesh and blood of Richard Rhodes, the traitor. " What would mv father fay if he knew I'd saved her life?" he asked himself. Hut the answer came to him clearly that Reardon O'Donovan would /Say " well done." " Poetic justice" was one thing, revenge another. It was poetic justice that the " curse" should be lifted from Fountains Manor by Reardon O'Donovan's sun, It was poetic justice that Richard Rhodes, should lose all he had virtually stolen from his younger and poorer partner who trusted him, and lose his life as well: noetic justice also that he—Michael -should now be negotiating to get the old business into bis hands, with a prospect of success. Rut if he had left Janet Rhodes to her own resources in this burning house, the drama of the generations (almost Greek in its tragic sequence) would have been debased to vulgar brutality. "If I'd thought who .-he might be, I'd have acted just, the same—or better, I hope." he said, not to himself, but to his father, who seemed near at that moment. (To be continued on Saturday next,)

" Rut goodness gracious! It shouldn't take for ever, should it? Where does, the woman live''" " 1 don't mean that," he interjected, jerking a corner of his month impatiently. " What do you mean?" "One of the unpleasant duties of my office," lie said slowly, frowning at her, "is the prosecution of men who have done wrong in the heat of sudden and violent passionsuch as, for instance, your father—'' " Grant!" She fell back, her hand fluttering blindly, eyes round with sudden honor. " You don't mean— You can't intend—" She groped for words to complete the sentences, but, finding none, left them unfinished, and stood staring at him inar- j ticularly. | " 1 have no choice. Virginia. My duty is plain. I must fulfil it." " And—that means':" ■ "That 1 shall have to prosecute your .! father." " Grant! You won't!" "There is no alternative, Virginia." "Think of me. Grant. You love me. You have often told me so." " Love you? I love you with all my heart, with every fibre of my being. But the pledge to my office, to the people who placed me in it, comes first of all. " I wish to Heaven I had never been elected—that I had never entered politics. As it is, I have but one course. My oath of office conies first of all. I can allow nothing under heaven to turn me traitor-not even you!" As the State's attorney spoke there shone in his slate-coloured eyes that peculiar, intensive gleam which gave one the uncomfortable impression of cruelty. His wiry body was held very straight and erect, his head rigid, somewhat as a martyr might hold himself when facing death for his cause. " Grant, you don't realise what you are saying. You are too excited. Take time to' think it over. Won't you, please? Come in to-morrow, Or the day after. Give me your final answer then.'' "Do you imagine I have not already thought it over, viewed it from every angle, picked it apart, argued, and reasoned with myself until my brain ached ? Last night I paced my study for hours. I was fighting the hardest battle of my life. "My stronger self triumphed at last, thank Heaven ; and now my mind is made up once for all. To-morrow, next week, next year, will not change it." Virginia's gloved hands clenched suddenly. " For the last time—what are you going to do?" Her voice expressed repugnance withheld tentatively, pending his answer. "I have told you," ho said. The girl's pliant body grew rigid. "You know what this means? Mattock bowd. He did not speak. His mouth was drawn as if in pain. When, moving toward her, he held out his hand, she recoiled from him as she would from something loathsome, unclean. "Don't touch me! Don't come near me!" She stopped, breathing rapidly, her nostrils dilated. For an instant she appeared to stand poised, like a bird on the point of flight. Then she sped to the coupe awaiting her at the curb. As she placed her foot on the step he saw her pause, strip the glove from her left hand, remove their engagement ring, and hold it toward him. He followed her, proudly waiting-, and I took the ring without a word. Some while after she had passed beyond ; the arch at the end of Westmoreland ' Place he remained as she had left him, the diamond, held between thumb and forefinger, sparkling prismatically in the spring sunshine. CHAPTER VI. j A GENTLEMAN OF THE PRESS. Through the city directory Virginia learned -Mrs. Schmitt's address-—it was ' in a south-side street unknown to her— ; i I and started for it. ! She refused to think of Mattock, pro- ** testing to herself that her father's trouble ! eclipsed her own. Yet, guiding her car ] southward, she knew her brain had disobeyed her will; memory of the scene lin- ' gered like a bitter taste. She was con- ' scions primarily of humiliation. 1 Her self-esteem had been dealt a crush- ( ing blow. Try as she would she could not alleviate the pain of it. The grotesque ' situation wrought by time impressed .her , as so theatrical that she could have " laughed mirthlessly aloud. 1 When she knocked at the door of the ' yellow frame cottage, she had formulated 1 no definite plan of procedure; but when ' Mrs. Schmitt appeared, obviously fresh from her wash-tubs, she at least divined ' that several things she had vaguely thought of saying were better left un- < uttered. 1 Mrs. Schmitt, a thick, flaccid woman of the blond Teutonic type, with china-blue eyes, offered no compromise—only a deep- ■ rooted pessimism. Her arms, bare to the shoulders, were red, fat, flabby, and her hands, cracked open here and there, were short and leathery. She held the door ] ajar, barely sufficient to see her caller. From the beginning her attitude sug- I gested that sho might closo it any moment, i , Introducing herself briefly, Virginia i saidi * :