GENERAL WAR NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16621, 18 August 1917, Page 2 (Supplement)

GENERAL WAR NEWS.

8800 ARTIFICIAL LIMBS. About 8800 artificial limbs have been I made for soldiers by private firms at a cost of £127,290, and over 7000 crippled men have still to be supplied. THE GREAT EXPLOSION. The late Dr. Milne's earthquake observatory at Shide, Isle of Wight, obtained what "is presumably a record of the greatexplosion of mines on the western front at Messines. GERMANS AND N TURKS. In spite of official outward show of respect for Turkey, the Germans in conversation do not scruple to express their contempt for their Turkish ally. " Die Turkei vvurden wir billig abgeben !" ("We'd let. Turkey go cheap!"—is the opinion even in Government circles). RECRUITS FOR CANADA More than 2000 British and Canadian subjects in the United States volunteered for enlistment at the British recruiting station, New York, to June 23. While all these men were not accepted,, enough qualified to form a battalion and a-half and they have been sent to Canada for training- , DEFEATED GERMAN COMMANDER. It is the Fourth German Army which suffered such a heavy defeat at Messines, and its commander is General Sixt von Armin, who in the famous report upon the Somrae fighting—in which ho commanded the Fourth Corps—showed a sagacious appreciation alike of British methods and British courage. It is rather interesting that this veteran, who fought against the French at St. Privat in 1870, where he was severely wounded, should have succeeded Hindenburg in his last command.

SHELLS PROM CHURCH BELLS. A letter found in a raided German dugout, written at Erfurt, in Saxonv, on May 28, says:"The church bells have pealed a farewell. This week all of them will be taken away to be smelted down and turned into shells. No eye remained dry when the pastor mentioned that instead of ringing out the tidings of an early peace they must now cause death and destruction." ■„.j GREEK WARSHIP BLOWN UP. The Greek destroyer Doxa, manned by French officers and crew, was blown'up in the Mediterranean on June 28. Twentynine men, including all the officers were were lost. The official announcement of the loss of the Doxa, says that the destroyer sank as the result of a double explosion. The Doxa was then within 100 yards of a merchant vessel which she was convoying. A GROSS INTRUSION. An officer home on leave, tells that among the German prisoners he took recently was an elderly, bearded, spectacled. and greatly depressed man'of learning, who said in perfect English, when they had rounded him up :—" Please don't ask me about the war, I am quite indifferent to it, and I have no idea what it is about, and I don't care how it ends." It seemed that, being still just of military age, he had been torn ruthlessly from a professorial stool in a- neutral country to which he had migrated, and been compelled to go fighting with the rest. He regarded the whole affair as a gross intrusion on his ordered life, and my friend adds that his pathetic appeai excited universal compassion.

NO FANCY BREAD IN AMERICA. American bakers recently voluntarily placed their industries under the food administration, and assured Mr. Herbert C. Hoover, the food administrator, that they would carry out all directions issued by the administration as to the conduct' of their business. A representative of the industry will be chosen to serve as a voluntary aid to Mr. Hoover and 200 local committees will be named to- carrv out his instructions. One erf the first moves to be made at Mr. Hoover's suggestion will be toward standardisation of loaves. The number of styles and sizes will be. reduced considerably in the immediate future. DEMAND FOR ORIENTAL RUGS. Turkish sellers of Oriental fancy wares seem to have multiplied in Berlin since the beginning of the war, but the articles they sell are of little importance. priced goods, such as Turkey carpets, are no longer allowed to be imported, as their purchase would unfavourably affect the value of the mark. Oriental rugs and carpets consequently are now at a premium, and cost three times as much as thev did before the war. •On selling m >' furniture just before leaving I was besieged bv dealers. Germans. Poles,. Galicians. all agog for my Afghan carpets, writes a cor respondent in the Morning Post. Their ; first breathless question was invariablv ''Have you any real carpets?" It i 3 sa 'id that these dealers are buying them up in anticipation of a great demand in Belgium Poland, and East Prussia when the houses destroyed in the war are rebuilt.

£4 A MINUTE.

Red Gross work costs over £40.000 a week, or £4 a minute, states an appeal by the British Farmers' Red Cross Fund, which has raised £601,568.

CANADIAN DESTROYS A ZEPPELIN. The German Zeppelin brought down on May 22, off the coast of Holland, was felled by Flight Sub-Lieutenant Robert Leckie, of Toronto. He is a native of Glasgow, but had lived in Toronto 10 years and secured his preliminary training at Toronto Island in the summer of 1915. LONGBOAT STILL WINNING. Sports held by the army with which the Canadian corps is connected resulted in the ' rediscovery of Tom Longboat the famous Canadian Indian runner. In a, three-mile cross-country race, Longboat won well in advance of some of the most famous British and Canadian runners without even extending himself. He had a great reception from his regimental comrades. AMERICAN OFFICERS' UNIFORMS. Easy recognition of the different ranks of the American Army is helped by the following list of markings:—Brown or black band on sleeve. The black 1 and is for the General Staff, and the brown for all others. Second lieutenant. plain uniform; first-lieutenant, one bar: captain, two bars: major, gold loaf; lieutenanteoloncl. silver leaf : colonel, eagle: liriira-diei'-gfiieiMl, one star; major-general, two stars. THE STARCECLESS DAYS. At Grosvcnor House (says the Fall .\iall Gazette) they have no exact figures of the amount of starch still in possession of the laundries, but when present stocks are worked out, ,imp collars and cuffs will become pretty era). For months past Captain Bathurst himself, . who warned us of the (tuning disappearance of starched linen, has abstained patriotically from starched collars, wearing instead a neat collar of soft linen. Many M.P's are following his example, i _____________ A MINISTER WHO CONJURED. Canon Parfit, of Bagdad, speaking in London, said that what impressed native rulers in the East was the scrupulous honesty of the English officials. The Sultan of Turkey on one occasion was , watching a conjurer. The British Ambassador, who was present, remarked that it was ''wonderful." "No," said the I Sultan, " not so wonderful as all that. I once had a Minister of Marine who swallowed a battleship— ieast he had I the money for it; and I've never seen the I money or the ship since !" j REFUGEES FROM ST. QUENTIN. The inhabitants of St. Q.uentin who were 1 expelled by the Germans are arriving in Paris, having travelled by way of Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland. Late arrivals say that the town was finally evacuated by the last of the civilian population on March 18, after a long period in which tnev suffered from lack of food. Supplies from the relief commission had been entirely suspended for that region and other parts of Northern France, and the refugees subsisted during their passage into Belgium and Germany on soup from dandelions and nettles. PRONUNCIATION OF "RATION." A correspondent, says the Globe, is much exercised in his mind because some saj "ray-shon " and seme say " rash-on." Ihe traditional pronunciation in general English speech is undoubtedly "ray-shon-" The word, however, is pre-eminently regarded as a military term, and civilian use is over-borne by the way they have in the army of saving " x-ash-on." A very large proportion, if not the majority, of tne technical terms used in the art of war, were copied from the French, and in this instance the army has faithfully adhered to the French pronunciation. DOUKHOBORS IN CANADIAN ARMY. Although the Doukhobors, the Russian tribe who settled en masse in Canada some years ago, are recognised as immune from military service, over 100 of them have joined Saskatchewan battalions. This is the more remarkable when it is remembered that they left Russia largely on account of their rooted objection to military service. Many of them still maintain that attitude, and the Canadian Government has recognised their scruplesi- is also remarkable that they should now be fighting in a cause which so largely concerns the land tliey migrated from.

BOY REARED AS GIRL. A novel case of a boy being brought, up from infancy as a girl came to light at Carnarvon. While looking for an army absentee who was supposed to be masquerading in female attire, Sergeant Owen noticed a young woman who betrayed certain masculine pecularities. l)pon being challenged she denied that she was an absentee, and gave her name as Dora Lewis, residing at Byrnefail, near Llanberis. The police doctor, however, established the fact that " Dora " was a male. Inquiries show that the young man, who is 20 years of age, has always been treated by his grandparents as a girl. THE DIVINER IN THE DESERT, Modern engineering with all its devices, says a writer in the Manchester Guard-, ian, cannot improve much on the ancient ways of finding wells in the sand. A diviner with his rod regularly accompanies the troops at each forward move, and where the rod bends in his hands the sappers dig. A continuous string of camels proceeds from the bourne of civilisation, as represented by pipes and a filtered water supply, into the depths of the wilderness, loaded with trucks of fresh water for the troops beyond Before the campaign is over the desert route from Egypt to Syria will be lined with pipes below and wires above the ground, and a railroad running between them. ' GENERAL BRUSSILOFF. Mr. Hamilton l'yfe, giving his impression of General Brussiloff, says that for ins age, which is sixty-four, he looks marvellously active. He eats little. Twenty minutes for dinner he considers more than enough. He is never Hurried, never worried. He makes his plans and applies all the force of his character to getting them carried out. He inspires trust in good men, fear in others- His orders have got to be obeyed; everyone knows that. Brussiloff is eager for action, eager to end the war. If any man can pull Russia together and make her see which way the parallel paths of duty and self-interest lie, that man is Brussiiotf. His universal popularity i s a very valuable asset. REORGANISING THE GREEK ARMY. Following the announcement that the Greek Government had broken diplomatic relations with Germany, Austria-Hungary. Bulgaria, and Turkey, the Prime Mliii-t>-i. M. Yenizelos, in his speech to th'e people after taking the oath of ottice. said tli.it Greece's place was beside democracy. The nation was struggling for freedom of the world against the "two Central rowers with whom Greece's hereditary enemies were allied. "We realise that unless we drive the Bulgarians from Eastern .Macedonia. that part of Greek territorv will be always exposed to great dsnsier," he j said. •' Before, however, thinking of | mobilising that part of Greece which has ; not shared in our movement, we must vitalise its military organisation which has fail en to such decay and bring about a fusion of the two armies. In" brotherly co-operation, therefore, we shall now call out the untrained classes of 1916 and 1917."