WAR EWS BY MAIL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 13604, 9 February 1915, Page 3

WAR EWS BY MAIL.

LONDON, Dec. 17. A French naval officer states that mines have been found off cue Frencb> coast to which periscopes have been attached to give the impression that they are submarines. When they are attacked by French or British craft at close quarters the explosion is sometimes disastrous. "Tipperary" is now ao popular in Brussels, writes a Dutch correspondent, that small boys in the street invariably whistle it when they pass a German soldier. One of the Landsturm asked a boy the other day. what tune it was they were so fond of whistling. "Why, don't you know?" said the boy. "It's the National Anthem of your allies, the Turks!" BLUNDERING ON ST. HELENA. The New York Times publishes a most arresting leading article, in which it warns Germans that victory will not be theirs, and asks: "Will / the Germans ' blindly insist on having their Waterloo, their Sedan — and their St. Helena-, too?" I NO NEW WAR TAXES FOR FRANCE. The Matin says that revenue sufficient to, meet the opening of war credits Will be sought for only from existing taxes. No new taxes will, therefore be created. On the contrary, the income-tax law, which was to come into force on January 1, 1915, will be postponed, owing to the impossibility of collecting the necessary data. — Reuter. MEMORIAL TO A CAT. It is proposed to erect a monument at Newport, Pembrokeshire to a cat that saved the life of Lieutenant Lloyd, of the 2nd Grenadier Guards. Lieutenant Lloyd is the son and heir of Sir Martin Lloyd, who traces his descent from Martin de Tours, a Norman, who came to England with William the Conqueror. SAVED BY HIS HORSE. Trooper W. Green, lying wounded at York, tells the following story : — "There's a horse of the Royal Irish Lancers that ought to have a Victpria Cross if ever anybody ought. One day in a hot action, its rider was sent to <-arth with a bullet wounu between his ribs. The troop was charging at the time, but as the man touched the mound his horse, which had got out of liio ranks, picked him up in its mouth by his clothes and carried him to some men of the regiment who were resting their horses while awaiting orders. He will pull through all right, but the doctor said that had he been forced to lie there all night he would have been dead in the morning." MECHANICAL BUTCHERY. This modern warfare is nothing but a cold-blooded, methodical, mechanical, butcherw. Just think of it! Here was a man, probably five miles away, out of sight, directed to lay bis gun at such

and-auok an elevation, to point it at such-and-such an angle, and pull the string of the trigger. That is all he knows about it. The observing officer who telephoned the direction registers a< hit on the house and turns bis attention alsewhere, and that is all he knows about it. Six sorrowful homes in England know all about it on our side — and there we are. The gunner doesn't know who or what he has hit — our. poor devils don't know who hit them — and that is modern warfare. COTTON KHAKI FOR THE NEW. ARMY. A Preston telegram states that the War Office consent has been obtained to an important experiment in the clothing of troops. Among the forty thousand men in the area of West Lancashire Territorial Association, suits of cotton khaki fabrics of different textures which are being tested are to be worn as overalls over the ordinary clothing clothing of recruits, and as additions to summer uniforms until the time arrives to equip the men for service. Apart from securing uniformity of attire, the suits will be welcome additions to the men's clothing until the woollen khaki is available, and the experiment, if successful, will have an important bearing on the Lancashire cotton weaving industry.

SAVED BY A VOICE IN THE WOOD

During the battle of Ypres Sergeant J. Harris.- a Liverpool man, went forward to make some observations, and ■was surprised by German cavalry. * They were taking him through a wood when he heard the command, in a Scottish accent, "Lie down, man." He fell on his face, and immediately there was a volley, and the German saddles were all emptied. Harris rose and joined his rescuers, a, company whose presence was unknown to the enemy.'s scouts. ' FRANCE'S NEW ARMY. Scenes of tremendous enthusiasm marked the departure from Paris on December 20 of the 1915 class of conscripts.

- Accompanied by their womenfolk they marched to the stations amid tremendous cheering and singing of> the "Marseillaise." One group passing the Strasburg statue in the Place de la Concorde halted while a youngster climbed on the parapet and made a stirring speech urging his comrades to win or die for Prance. ' 'FLYING THE WHITE ENSIGN." Fishermen who were off Hartlepool when the German shipß steamed in say there were three battle cruisers, and thev got comparatively close inshore, within, say, 4000 yards, ■. by flying the white ensign. The Carnegie Free Library was struck and considerably I damaged, and a large number of the books were rendered useless for any- [ ; thing except, as the librarian suggested, (examples -of German "Rultur."

THE FOREIGN LEGION. It is tHe boast of the Foreign Legion, which has distinguished itself in the fighting at Soisson, that it can provide men from its own ranks to meet any contingency. Its commander once said his men were capable not only of winning a war, but of writing its history. On one occasion when a< new barracks was being erected the Legion ranks supplied, hall, a dozen qualified architects ; arid time and again on the battlefield, when the call has been for doctors, Legionaires have stepped forward and acknowledged their medical qualifications. Once, says tradition, . when no padre Atyas available to conduct a burial, the commandant appealed to the ranks. A man stepped and saluted. He had been a bishop. v AMAZING GERMAN LECTURE. Signor A. Morandotti, the Berlin correspondent of the Gorriere delta. Sera, Venice, sends an interesting account of » lecture he attended in the German capital by Father Samuel, on the subject, "Is God Neutral.?" Three thousand people attended, and heard Father Samuel answer that God was on the side of the Germans. It was not for nothing, he said that they Tiad been •riven the chosen position in the very centre of Europe. After the Avar the Germans would be the greatest people on earth, but on condition that they abandoned materialism and returned to Christianity. As to the result of the war, Father Samuel said that the victory of German arms was certain, Frederick the Great had said that God always Bides with the stronger. SAVED BY HIS VALET. Lieutenant the Earl of Dalhousie, of the Coldstream Guards, probably owe.s his life io the devotion of his private valet, who accompanied him on active service in France. The Coldstreamers were recently engaged with the Germans at the Yser, fvhen a shell exploded in their midst, killing twenty of the rank and file and wounding a number of officers * and men, including the Earl of Dalhousie. When the regiment returned to camp, Lord Dalhousie was reported missing. Despite warnings of the extreme risk he ran, his valet made his way to the firing line* After a long search, he discovered his master lying seriously wounded. Be was unconscious, owin<r to loss of blood and if it had not been for the arrival of his valet, lie would have died from, exhaustion. The valet bound up Lord Dalhousie's wounds with the scant material available on the battlefield, and then conveyed him to camp with considerable difficulty.