"ALIEN'S" LETTER FROM ENGLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 3309, 15 August 1917, Page 51

"ALIEN'S" LETTER FROM ENGLAND.

(Specially Written for the Ladies' Page). IN THE FOREFRONT. June 6. The Archbishop of Canterbury, who conducted the memorial service for victims of the Folkestone air raid, said: " We are not going to be flustered or frightened because in carrying our great cause through to victory we are ourselves among those who personally suffer. We in this corner of England on the Kentish coast have the solemn privilege of being the bit of England nearest the enemy. Some people must be in the forefront, and so far as English soil is concerned, the people to whom that special trust is given are those living at Folkestone, Dover, Deal, Ramsgate, and Canterbury. Of course, we want security and every reasonable precaution we can get for those who are not combatants. But war involves peril, and we are prepared to brave peril bravely and quietly. . . . This war has dwarfed even the darkest expectations as to its scale, its prolongation, its horrors, and the manner in which our enemies have waged it. We have all been apt to suffer 'in our tone and our mind. The sacredness and glamour of the first few months have with thousands of us waned. . . , We have had a terrible reminder of the tearfulness of war at first hand in the blood-stained streets of Folkestone, where our own men, women, and children were killed. . . . We are passing through at thi3 moment experiences of life none of us ever expected to see. No doubt there were those in England three or four years ago who expected war in Europe on some scale. I was not one of those. I was mistaken," said the Primate. The Archbishop walked in procession through the streets of Folkestone with the Mayor and corporation. All the shops were closed, although it was Saturday, and the streets were thronged. A good many people from the neighbouring towns had gone over for the service, the church being packed to the doors. A portion of the church was reserved for the friends and relations of the victims of the raid. One man had lost his wife and two children ; another his wife and only daughter; a wife had lost her husband and only son; an old woman her two grandchildren, who were out shopping with her at the time. In another part of the church were a number of wounded soldiers and nurses, some of whom helped to attend to the maimed who were sent to hospital. There is a strong feeling in the southeast coast towns about the enemies at large, naturalised and unnaturalised. A deputation of residents at Folkestone, including discharged soldiers, Availed upon the Mayor, town clerk, and chief constable on Saturday, and asked that enemy aliens in the town should be removed at once. A deputation of Mayors of southeastern towns will meet in London to-day to urge for better protection. Even as I write this on this glorious June morning "something is happening" close by. For the last half-hour guns br • exploding bombs have destroyed Nature's peace, and it is difficult to concentrate one's thoughts and sit quietly at the desk, not knowing what the death missiles are doing, and to whom. A syren on the Channel is hooting some warning to the shipping. Everybody goes about their usual business without a trace of fear till the actual thunderbolt falls. One is reminded of the prophecy, "Two women grinding at a mill; one shall be taken and the other left." Two people pursue their task side by side. One is smitten and the other not. "in "this bit of England nearest the enemy," as the Archbishop of Canterbury expressed it, the need of a "good nerve" is apparent. Now that the Whitsun brief holiday is over, the effect of the raids is apparent. At this season of the year before the war the watersido towns on the east and south-east coast were teeming with visitors. "White wings" of pleasure yachts, white dresses of girls fluttered in the breeze; hundreds of children played and paddled on every shore. But this summer of 1917 it is in vain that advertisements extol the tonic properties of the breezes blowing off the Channel. The war has upset all the organisation of private life and the home. The golfers and cricketers, the army of straw-hatted and flannelled men are in

laki, tramping the summer roads on route marches. From the Midlands and London the visitors express surprise at the war-like conditions of the coast, at the numerous small raids which are unrecorded, and the houses on the sea-front which are left vacant, or let here and there at £2 per week, where in the summer season they fetched £lO, £l2, and £ls. Hitherto there have been very few outdoor investitures. One on a small scale was when his Majesty decorated Australians and New Zealanders on the occasion of the review on Salisbury Plain • but on this later occasion 350 heroes and heroines of tho war were honoured before a vast and cheering multitude, who thronged the open space opposite Knight's Bridge Barracks, and spread far and wide through the park. Six hundred chairs were placed within the enclosure for the

accommodation of the wounded—there is no assembly of to-day without tii&t lina of hospital blue, —and special arrangements were made for the seating of 400 relatives and friends of those who received the decorations, to whom the proceedings had a very special interest, and for the representatives of the overseas dominions, and also for 150 wounued officers of tha armies of the Empire. It was a sight to make proud the British heart, and there were moments of deepest emotion when the crowd must either cheer or weep—and it cheered. The King left Buckingham Palace soon after 2 o'clock, accompanied by the Queen and Princess Mary, driving in semi-state in an open landau with four bay horses and postilions, girt on all sides by his army and his people. His Majesty on his fifty-second birthday was acclaimed to the echo by an amazing crowd. Many Royal carriages followed with attendants and members of tho Court. Among the Royal ladies (the men are serving the country) were Queen Alexandra, Princess Victoria, the Princess Royal, Princess Christian, Princess Henry of Battenberg, and Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyle.

A held officers' escort, with Standard, was furnished by the hue Guards. It was a simple but great pageant—greater for its simplicity, —an op port unity for which Lonaon has hungered since England's sorrow of war; an opportunity ot telling the King of a .great and how loyally tne hearts of his people are with him in the nation's mighty struggleBefore neon the people lined the route to the i J ark to cheer him as he passed. Tha Guards' bands, in their scarlet and gold, and busbies, were a'eminiscent of old times; their -music throbbed and thrilled,.and the thousands of ' all ranks cheered and' shouted. It was a picturesque sight within the enclosure: the simple pavilion beneath the plane trees, the rows of khaki, the scarlet and blue of the massed bands, the hospital blue of the wounded, the uniforms of nurses, American as well as English. Sixty years ago Queen Victoria had honoured the heroes of Waterloo in like manner, and, certainly, the enthusiasm which was displayed then was no greater than that which marked Saturday's investiture, which honoured! soldiers and sailors and nurses. Hyde Park swarmed with humanity. It was a marvellous scene in a June setting, and, although their Majesties had been cheered all along tha route, it was when they drove into the Park that they received the great ovation. The investiture occupied two hours, simple as is the ceremonial. One by one tha heroes of the Empire went up to have the medals of honour pinned upon their breast by their King, or some sadlyproud relative received it in the name of one who had gallantly paid its price. The Dominions —Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, and India—had many honours. You will have had the list of New Zealand men, and been proud of ife* The nurses who received the Royal Red Cross (second class) are Matron Elisabeth Wakeling (British Red Cross Society), Sister Amy Williams (Civil Nursing Service), Sister Mary Wright (Civil Nursing Service), Nurse Laura Willans (Civil Nursing Service), Nurse Marion Mole -(late Brunot Ambulance, Cambrai), Nursing Sister Grace Gray (Canadian Army Nursing Service), Matron Ethel Strickland (Australian Army Nursing Service), Sister Bertha Williams (Australian Army Nursing Service). Sister Annie Buckley (New Zealand Nursing Service), Sister Kathleen Davies (New Zealand Nursing Service), Sister Fanny Speedy (New Zealand Nursing Service), Nursing Sister Mary Barber (South African Military Nursing Service). Aeroplanes kept guard overhead during the investiture. The King spent his birthday very quietly with members of the Royal Family at Buckingham Palace, Queen Alexandra being one of those to wish her sen many happier returns of the day. There are no parties at Court during wartime. The Birthdav Honours make a long list this year—five new peerages, 25 baronetcies, and about 50 knighthoods. The Dominions figure among the honours. An interesting knighthood is that bestowed noon the famous "barrister, Mr Marshall Hall, and literature is honoured through William Watson, the poet. The glorious weather continues. It was broken on the clay after Whit Monday by a terrific thunderstorm that burst over London and other parts of the country, with hailstones as big as nuts, which broke several windows, and the ram came down in such torrents that low-lying