THROUGH GERMAN SPECTACLES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLVI, Issue 12998, 10 November 1916, Page 7

THROUGH GERMAN SPECTACLES.

GUIDE TO ■ LONDON. ' ANTI-ZEPPELIN BARS AND MUSIC-HALLS, .It was recorded of the.immortal; Siam Weller that liis knowledge of London was extensive arid peculiar -That wasa long time ago, and London _K*s grown considerably since Mr • Pickwick's day. Big as it is, however, :its ramifications are an open book to; the German newspapers; Sam \\ eller s encyclopedic grasp of its highways ana byways pales into insignificance compared with the acquaintance with its conditions wliioli is displayed, even; in war time, by these familiar demons of the All-Highest Hun. • THEATRES FOR TROGLODYTES!; Here is a specimen extracted frpm_ the Berlin Lokalangeizer which fits iir prettily with the dramatic story of the destruction of two of the Kaiser-? latest and largest Zeppelins:— "Practically London has been corirerted into a subterranean and warehouses have now beeij' transferred/ to "the cellars that in cverv district, and these have; come tiio centres of the business '.life of London. "Others of these underground premises are utilised as refreshment bars , and others as music-halls, . Which,-' owing to tho 'safety against Zpppelins' which they claim in tho staring posters that arc placarded all over London, do a splendid business, whereas rival "houses of entertainment the surface, are nightly playing to. empty houses. . "Munitions works, too, have been transferred to the re-., scions. Tremendous activity prevails iiu the workshops beneath Strands, street. Fleet-street, and Holborne? street. People who formerly trap* ficked in herrings, cocoa, or cotton now grow rich in munitions. ' " -' % i "London, indeed, now represents but one gigantic arsenal. There, is scarcely a house without its war and even the underground vaults "of' the churches are used -by the War Office for munition making. "To one of these places, the crypt of a church in the Regent-street, Lloyd George, the Bishop'of London, and the French Ambassador recently naid a surprise visit, while the members of the congregation, male,- and,, female, were engaged, after prayers,'/ in making shells. Lloyd made a fervid patriotic speech in which lie exhorted them as Britons and. _.as Christians not to confine their energies to the singing of psalms, but to translate their patriotism into action by_ turning out shells day and night ti)" kill the Germans. "The discourse concluded, all "prey sent, at the instance of the Bishop of, London, sang the English version of. Luther's hymn, 'A strong ■fortrcsa.isi our God.' " V

"VERITABLY IN HELL.' 1 - - .Still, despite all this nonsense, which tho Gorman people are supposed to accept with joy and rapture, there are some newspapers which contrive now and again to throw a gleam of -trutlr through the veil hy means of which journals like- the Lokalanzeiger strive to blind the people to the truth. One of those is the Frankfurter Zeitung,; whose military critic- writes: — "Tho British and the French have now an overwhelming superiority over our artillery on the Sommo. T4ioy also outnumber us, a fact to which it in fo 11v to blind ourselves. •'lf. nevertheless, the Germans prevent the French and English forces from advancing, except by exceedingly slow progress, it is a success for us. Our soldiers fighting at the front are_ veritably in hell. Their sacrifices are enormous.

"Our task is formidable. We ,must defend the immense eastern front; wet" must help our allies in the Carpa-_ thians ; we must lend' a hand in Transyl-. vania : we must aid the Turks and Bulgarians in the Balkans. conditions not to be vanquished is in itself a gigantic victory." ; "SPEEDY DEFEATERS" SNUBBED. .Meanwhile tlje great Bavarian 'People's Committee for the Speedy Defeat of England" causes the Berliner. Zeitung am Mittag (to use its own words) to shrug its shoulders in disdain. and pour contempt on _ CountPivyslng and' all the other Higliwelliinrii notables who are its founders:— "All of these are highly influential personages ill the Bavarian kingdom. All the more reason have we to shrug our shoulders in pitying disdain _at . :eli a. proposal. What do these gentlemen imagine that they will contriyei with their precious appeal? Isnofc everv creature of German race determined to put his back against tho wall and fight tooth and nail not only for tho preservation of Germany but alsoi for tho destruction of England? "Are we not :711 united to a man. on this principle? Can there he aught) in this war that lins the slightest- value-, to us beside this all-important object ?<•' Then why further contribute towards-, the nervous agitation of the Bavarian::' population by thrusting these sheets under their noses? "Who wants committees at tliis stage : of the war ? The only committees that) are able to promote the undoing.of the hypocritical English foe are the Germaii army and navy. They will see to iti that" Albion is crushed, and if they fail, _ no pamphleteering, be it of counts or' carpenters, will secure us our aim 9." OFFICER AS GRAVE ROBBER, An instructive story of a German officer who eked out his pay "by' robbing graves aud blackmailing women"; is told by the Tagliche Rundschau, of' i Berlin:—

"The widow of a wealthy merchant - of Kassel was the recipient of a' number of anonymous letters asking for considerable sums of money. The lady ' tor a time ignored this correspondence,-" but the letters constantly grew more menacing in tone, and finally one came in which -she was threatened with death unless she handed £6O to a boy who would, be at the Cologne bridge at ten o'clock on a certain night, adding that if she refused, 'even the dea.(l. woiid be made to suffer.'

'•She lodged a complaint with the police, who discovered that the marble tombstone of the husband's grave had been forcibly removed, the coflin burst open, and her husband's body plundered of the golden' ornaments with which he hail been buried.

"Ultimately, by means of a skilfully worded newspaper advertisement-, the perpetrator of the. outrage was discovered ji the person of Lieutenant Karl Eisler, of the 34tli Regiment,who, with the aid of a gang of accomplices, had for several months carried on a systematic blackmailing campaign. "Eisler, in a full confession in court, declared that he had acted out of. sheer distress, his army allowance noting sufficient to maintain him." OFFICIALLY DEAD. " r

The German military authorities baye£ a happy method of ridding themselves) of liabilities. It is thus explained by tht Hamburg Fremdenblatt "Fran Schwartz recently received, from the military authorities the notification that her husband had been killed at the front. "Soon, after the woman received a let-;. ter informing her that it was not her* husband' who had fallen, but • another soldier, who had 4 norn her husband's coat. . . . " .. . " "Subsequently Frau Schwartz' 're-'" eeived another official statement from" her husband's regimental confirming the, news of his death in' battle. By the next post a card came to hand which was written by Schwartz • nd; ini '* wife that he was aT'prisoner iri'Franee. fr. "The woman sent the military authorities,' and'in. Tepl£ *she' was told': 'Your husband has twiceTbefitt.-: officially declared as dead. He is'thecei. fore officially regarded as dead l , , arid "no further communication on the subject can bo received.' " ' -----