WAR CONDITIONS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 13601, 5 February 1915, Page 4

WAR CONDITIONS.

PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS.

Mr M. Ziman. well known for many years past, m connection with New. Zea-i land mining matters,. has T! returned ~. to! New Zealand, after an extended' absence*. "In .London," lie said, .''yousee nothing but crepe • and, , khakiv khaki ,■ and^ crepe, wherever you gp. ' The people of this country •, can 't appreciate :; jn tiie slightest ,sne condition -0f,, -tilings . that' exists^, at.t [tike . other end ; ,of the ; .world. Almost. everyone hats a, near or- distant relation j afy, the-, , front,' : py. , ip, ; hospital; -or • m th^ <»mete.ry,:pr. 'missing r '-<ond. pri-i vate^ .letters describe ihe ;;i pondi|ion .oft affairs m the %btir»g .line, a$ (Something! awful. On i% vContinent,'-, Mr, Ziman' continued, "things ar« worse by far. Belgium and France are bad, e,nc>ugh, but m Poland the qondisan of i things is far worse. Tens of thousands have left Belgium, --but ,. in .Poland ther§ is no . place' for them to go; tne./su i 'p t plies of food are practically exhausted ; 'those Tvho have not died by the bullet are dying, or have died, from starvation. Where 3J was born (Russian Poland) country is practically devoid%>f human jiy; those who,, are left alive-are. starving, arid m .sdme'jparts the ground is. Covered by 20. feet, of snow.'' . -: ".•'.' - ' :'.;

Letters from Berlin, Hamburg," , aiid otheir places Mceivfed m London, stated that, there is ,' scarcely -a family there that is not m mourning. One letter cpntained the particulars of a very^ sad case. , ,& ■widow -had -five sons, all qf w^iqm. w.ent to the fronfc.-Four were .Kitted, and fibs' wrote >to Jhe- Kaiser beseecl>ing him to release the fifth -from service. The Kaiser # issued . the necessary order, but before it reached the authorities her last son was killed. !

"This is the brightest - spot on- the world's surface that I have seen," said Mr Ziman m conclusion. "I. : am astonished to find tEat. there is one part of the world 7 where people ate Hying their ordinary lives^ carrying on their ordinary business^ and evidently tfnjojring'a,,considerabie degte^i of pKosperityJ'.':;