ALLIES CAPTURE LILLE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14738, 18 October 1918, Page 5

ALLIES CAPTURE LILLE.

NAVAL LANDING ON BELGIAN COAST. jdSTEND CLEAR OF THE ENEMY. (Press Association — Extraordinary) (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) (Received October 18, 8.40 a.m.) NEW YORK, October 17. The United Press' London correspondent learns that the Allies have cap* tured Lille. , Liiie was a manufacturing towri and fl rst-olass fortress of ! France, -sittiate on a. sub-Tributary of the Scheldt, oo miles by rail south-east- : of 'Calais, it jaemyes its name from tlte > cieiitury castle of the Countess ... of Flanders, around which it arose, and which, ; from its position m the midst of marshes was railed L'lsle. Burgundian from 1305, Lille was,. captured by Louis XJV. m 1607, ,and finally, handeel .: pver to France m 1713. Its ? Uefences consisted of Vanban's peniJigonal citadel, and a series nf seven forts encircling -tfto town. The old fortifications wore mostly , leyeUed from 1858 onwards, -.The .town possessed jfew.Jiotable buildings, except the Church 'of Notre Dame (1855) , and Town jlall with n museum, the famous Wicar collection of drawings by -the old mdsters, and a library of 41,000 vbluines. It had a Cathplic .free, , .uniyers jty, , indcßendent faculties of meciicirie...fiiitl science, nical schools, a music school, and an Academy of Art. It was the great centre of French textile industries,: the. spinning bt- linear and; cotton, the,.manufacture vof thread, damask,^ xloth, tulle, tickings, etc.—these..textile-ind.us.triesr.em-ployed:, 20 ; 000 work people— as , also .tobacco, beer, papef, sugar, machinery, otc. The population before the war was 220,000.

The High Commissioner cables :—> EONDtKN, October 17. ; The Admiralty reports that Vice-Ad-miral Keys j tilts aiternoon' landted at Ostend, which is clear of the enemy. ; Ofitend, prior to^ the war, was a fash-; ionablpi watering plticc lor the Belgian; nroyince „.pf. West . Flanders .',,pri'.'. the: Nlprtii Sea, v 77 .mjleg By ij^l, \yefet-n6rfli-| w^st of Brrtssels. its ctf&ne, Or sea, wail,! 1 inile.s long, /jOft higli,,_and 55yds broad,: formed a favorite pronienade, as also did? the two estacaoes, or wooden piers, pro 4 (ecting on both sides of the harbo* entrance. Ostqnd^ was; a, lively place of! trqasport , trafllc, and the resort m the season^- July to Septon^er ( . of 20,000 r to; 25,000. visitors from ,all parts. of the'.Contjnent.... II . \yj\s. an, .jniportant flshingi station. .Its manufactures included: linen,, sail cloth, candles,, and tpbafccqi The population was. 45,0,60, Dating fifem 1072, Ostend is "memorjiblo. for the-pro-tcacted ;si,egft - ; by the Spaniards, ' Which it! (inderweint .from . July. 7, 1001. to Sept. 20,, 1G04. ' Twice aga,in , it , surrendered to the Allies m .nog,, v anfl to the French m 17/55, The. fortifications have been dc-. molished .sinc<j r .lßps^ •\, -