THE ZEPPELINS

Otago Witness, Issue 3193, 26 May 1915, Page 25

THE ZEPPELINS

' LONDON, May 17/ A Deal pilot states that five Zeppelins were sighted steering north-westerly near tiie North Foreland. A Zeppelin bombed Calais, and some children were killed.. Dr Macnamara, in the House of Commons, said that a number of aeroplanes ascended in order to attack the Zeppelin at Southend last week, but clouds baffled the pursuit. The Zeppelin was observed flying over the vicinity of the North Goodwin lightship until towards 2 o’clock. The inhabitants of Ramsgate were startled by a loud report like a cannon. Forty or " fifty incendiary bombs were dropped •throughout the town, and considerable damage was clone to houses and to three fishing smacks in the harbour. A bomb demolished the front and every floor in the Bull and George Inn. An aged man and his wife were precipitated through two floors to the cellar. A waiter had a similar fail, and all three had to be taken to hospital. The Admiralty announces that British aeroplanes drove off the Ramsgate Zeppelin and pursued her to the West Hinder lightship. Eight naval machines from Dunkirk then attacked her at Nieuport with gun fire and bombs, igniting the ship. The Zeppelin ascended to a height of 11,000 ft, tail clown. It is believed she is severely damaged. The British machines were exposed to a heavy fire, but there were no casualties. It is reported at Calais that the Zeppelin raidav wrecked by gun fire off Cape

Griznez fell near Dunkirk. Seven officers and 33 men were taken prisoners.

LABOUR AND TillE WAR. LONDON, May 17. ! Sir John Jellicoe has sent a message to the Clyde employers and workers expressing the fleet’s appreciation and confidence that the Clyde’s magnificent resources will assure a high state of efficiency. Mr G. N. Barnes, Labour member for Black friars (Glasgow), has sailed for Canada to engage men to work in prodne- . ing munitions. f There is considerable public anxiety ' owing to several newspaper statements, apparently inspired by the military authorities, that our army is fatally short of ammunition. This conflicts with Mr Lloyd George’s statement, cabled on April 22. Mr Tennant (Under-secretary for War) to-day informed Mr Kellaway that the Government had ordered an inquiry. MELBOURNE, May 18. Referring to the Federal Government’s offer of munition workers, the Imperial authorities state that the question of transport and the testing of workmen on arrival made it difficult of acceptance. In view of this reply, none will be sent, though 600 applied to go to England. THE KAISER AGAIN. LONDON, May 17. The Kaiser, acknowledging a message of loyalty from Aachen, said: . We must meet the enemy’s blows with resolute will and assure the Fatherland that the future is with the mailed fist through the heroism of a self-sacrificing people. The war was forced upon us, but we have already gained such wonderful successes that they are a guarantee that, by the help of God’s grace, the ' heaviest affliction which has ever befallen Germany will be overcome. ANTI-GERMAN RIOTS. LONDON, May 17. Mr MTvcnna, Home Secretary, in the House of Commons, stated that 150 civilians and 107 constables had been injured and 886 persons arrested during the anti-German riots. IN THE CAMEROON'S. PARIS, May 17. Official: A French column under General Mayer captured Escka, in the Cameroons, after a brilliant turning movement. The enemy’s losses were serious, while ours were insignificant. THE LUSITANIA INQUEST. LONDON, May 17. At the inquest on the Lusitania victims, held at Queenstown, the coroner said it would not be prudent or politic to discuss the speed and course which, at the captain’s discretion and on the naval authorities’ orders, were taken. The facts were few but clear. Sucking? infants and old folk were hurled into eternity as the result of malignant design and deliberation. Germany could not excuse an act which staggered humanity. He hoped a memorial would he erected at Queenstown indicating the resentment of all lovers of humanity and freedom at the diabolical outrage. The verdict charged the Kaiser and his . emissaries with wilful murder, i The Times Shanghai correspondent says there is unbounded indignation at Germans publicly drinking to the loss of the Lusitania and the success of the German navy. The principal clubs have ordered the Germans not to visit them. Forty British firms are forming a separate Chamber of Commerce. SHIPPING LOSSES. LONDON, May 17. Dr Macnamara, in the House of Com- ’ mons, said that up to May 15 460,628 tons of British shipping had been sunk or captured exclusive of warships, and 1556 lives lost. We sank or captured 314,456 tons of German shipping, and no lives were lost. The Germans had destroyed by mines, submarines, or cruisers 74 neutral vessels. The Board of Trade states that 982,740 workers, from January to the end of April, secured rises aggregating £133,537 weekly. Mr Asquith, in reply to a question, ;said the Government was considering the question of prohibition of race meetings during the war, but he doubted whether legislation would be necessary;

DECEMBER MURDERS. ROTTERDAM, May 17. Mr J. Martin, editor of the Rotterdamach'j Nieuwsblad (whose sworn declaration of the confessions made to him by three Bavarian deserters as to the murder of many British pri. oners was forwarded to England by our Minister at The Hague), has since interviewed several German deserters. From what they say he concludes that most of the murders were committed on the night of December 26. The officers guilty in these cases include von Lassowit, von liering, Baumgartner, and Rosin ski. The last-named was afterwards killed by his own men. THE PHILOMEL. SYDNEY, May 18. Mr Hillyer, a Now Zealander, recently a seaman aboard the Philomel, has arrived at Sydney. He states that the vessel, after - escorting the troops to Samoa, formed part of the convoy to Egypt. She was thence ordered to Mocha, and bombarded the town, administering a lesson that the inhabitants will not forgot. She sank three dhows suspected of carrying rifles. Thence she went to the Tor quarantine station and hoisted the British flag. She returned to Port Said and proceeded along the coast shelling the Turkish trenches and forts. The Philomel and another cruiser attacked the Turkish fort Jonah’s Castle, 4-0 miles from Port Said, and a landing party took the fort, where Hillyer was wounded, and Knowles (of Lyttelton) was killed. GERMANY’S FOOD SUPPLY. LONDON, May 17. Germany has reassured the people respecting the food supply. There is great elation at the AustroGerman successes in Galicia, and over the increased output of munitions and submarines. There is altogether more optimism in Germany than during the winter. GENERAL ITEMS. LONDON, May 17. The Red Cross Fund has now reached £1,250,000. Amsterdam reports state that The Kaiser is striking 'off the British Princes from the roll of the Black Eagle. Sir Edgar Speyer offers to resign his Privy Councillorship and baronetcy. He declares that it is hard to bear unjust aspersions of his loyalty. The Transylvania, which left New York on May 10, has arrived at Greenock. The Times correspondent at New York says that consequent on the death of Mr Vanderbilt on the Lusitania a group of American capitalists controlling billions of money have decided actively to side with the Allies. They state that Britain has only to name the money she wants when she needs it. ATHENS, May 17. Official: King Constantine’s fever is increasing. NEW YORK, May 18. President Wilson, when reviewing the American fleet, said that America wanted no man’s territory and questioned no other nation’s honour. America stood for humanity and for things that humanity wanted. America’s force was the force of moral principle. Nothing else existed for which she would contend. AUSTRALIAN NEWS. MELBOURNE, May 18. The postal officials have been advised that no Australasian mails were aboard the Lusitania. Mr Fisher has wired to General Botha Australia’s congratulations on the entry of the Union forces into the enemy’s capital in South-West Africa. The committee of the Deutscher Turnverein, one of the closed German clubs, has offered the Federal Government the club’s premises as a hospital for the wounded soldiers who are expected to return from the Dardanelles. SYDNEY", May 18. The miners in the Nevvcastle and Maitland districts have brought pressure to bear, resulting in all German and Austrian employees leaving the pits. In connection with the movement against the Germans, a well-known German resident writes: “ It is not a fact that every naturalised German owes allegiance to his native country. Up to the age of 17 a lad born in- Germany can renounce his nationality, conditional on his emigration, and the German Government in its turn renounces him as a national and all claims on his military services or allegiance.” The writer adds that he, like many others, availed himself of this law. The New South Wales State Government has to date shipped 16,600,0C01b of meat for the Imperial army, of a value of £371,836. With a view to assisting enlistment, Mr Holman is circulating portion of the French Commissioners’ report on the German atrocities in Northern France. He says it is a horrifying document, and none reading extracts from this report will oppose any steps calculated to bring the authors of tho outrages to justice. The number of Rugby Union footballers who have enlisted is 740 Madame Melba is organising a Polish relief fund KILLED IN ACTION. LIEUTENANT CHAPMAN. WELLINGTON, May 18. Private arvices received here to-day announce the death of Lieutenant George

Martin Chapman, a son of Mr Justice Chapman. The deceased was killed in action in France. EXPRESSIONS OF SYMPATHY. AUCKLAND, May 18. Reference to the blow tnat has fallen noon his colleague Mr Justice Chapman was made by Mr Justice Cooper this afternoon. Mr Justice Chapman had been presiding at the criminal sittings and Mr Justice Cooper at the civil sittings, but the latter took over the criminal work this afternoon until other arrangements could ha made. Mr Justice Cooper made an announcement regarding the death of Lieutenant Chapman. On behalf of bench and bar and the community he wished to express the deepest feelings of sympathy with Mr Justice Chapman. “ Lieutenant Chapman, ’’ he said, “ was a doctor, and held a commission in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He has fallen as a noncombatant while doing his duty nobly in tending the sick and wounded in the firing line. I am sure that the sympathy of the whole community will go out to my brother judge Chapman at this time.” The Hon. J. A. Tole, K.C., and Mr J. C. Martin expressed the deep sympathy of the legal profession in Auckland to his Honor in his affliction.

THE DECEASED OFFICER. Lieutenant Chapman, the second son of Mr Justice Chapman, was a young New Zealander of great promise. He was educated at Wait-ala High School, and subsequently at Cambridge University, where he graduated, and at London Hospital, where ho completed his medical course. He gained his “blue” at Cambridge as a Rugby footballer, and he also established a considerable reputation as an amateur boxer. He joined the Army Medical Service Corps upon the outbreak of war, and was almost immediately sent across, to Franco. One of h : s first experiences in that country was to save the life of a Frenchman who was in danger of being drowned. For this he was awarded a gold medal by the French Government.

HIGH COMMISSIONER’S CABLES. LONDON, May 17 (3.20 p.m.). In the region of Hetsas the advances of the French continue. On Sunday evening the French took a house strongly fortified by the Germans on the east bank of the Yser Canal, and advanced beyond the first German line, taking 145 prisoners and four mitrailleuses. German counter-attacks completely failed. A very violent artillery duel is raging in the region of Notre Dame de Lorette. A sanguinary blow was inflicted by us in this region during four attacks by the Germans, who suffered heavy losses. Following are the latest casualty lists: Army : Officers—Killed, 50 ; wounded, 40; missing, 9. Men —Killed, 103; wounded, 332; missing, 17. Naval; Officers —Killed, 3; wounded, 3. Dardanelles Naval: Men—Killed, 48; wounded, 220; missing, 26. In Belgium the enemy, threatened by the recent successful attacks with complete envelopment, evacuated on Sunday