LATEST WAR NEWS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 186, 11 September 1914, Page 10

LATEST WAR NEWS.

RECRUITING IN ENGLAND A SPLENDID RESPONSE. FINANCE IN AMERICA. By Cable. —-Press Association.—Copyright. LONDON, September 10. Some of the large towns of Britaii kave.thus responded to the call for re cruits: — • ' London 60,000 Glasgow 22,000 <: Liverpool .. .. .. 20,000 Nottingham *.. .. 10,000 Crewe .... .. .. 2,00^[ Bradford 1,500 Chester 5,000 /Stockport .. .. . ' 1,500 Leicester .. .. 4,000 . Oldham . .. ... 2,000 Middleborough 5,000 ' Bury '.. . . 4,00.0 ■ These are under, rather than over " the actual figures. , . " ' 3 NEW YORE; September 10. ' Mr Pierpont Morgan is to confer vAtl the Federal Reserve Board concerning the formation of a gold fund of fifteei inillion dollars, to relieve the Interna tional' Exchange situation, and regulate - the £old outflow. TRAWLER FINDS A MINE. LIFEBOAT PICKED UP. . CROWDS OF AUSTRIAN WOUNDED! " (Received September 11, 1.25 p.m.) LONDON, September 10. ~ ; The trawler Agartha, in the North ' Sea, discovered a derelict ship's life : bosjt, and when she commenced to tovs it a terrific explosion oct , urred. / The Agartha . was not damaged. , The mine was. eyidently attached ii »••• -fprder-'to destroy the! finvjer of the life \ JfcJoat: . x ROME, September 10. A Vienna despatch states that all th< available hospitals, hotels, public build and schools are unable to accom >• ttodate the Austrian wounded iron Poland and Galicia. &v--C ; , t J " A SPY BETRAYED. |'j : MUTTERS IN HIS SLEEP. : . TREACHERY PUNISHED. . r , OSTEND, September 10. V A correspondent relates how a spj j. .Was betrayed by mufteriHg Germai •t- -while sleeping in a cafe. He states the "f -JBJitisk shot 75 Germans at Lagay be \' cause they continued-firing after raising )" their rifle butts in token of surrender.

FIJI PREPARED. POSSIBLE GERMAN ATTACK. MOVEMENTS OS 1 SHIPPING; \ r ' AUCKLAND,.September 11. News by the Waitomo, from Fiji/' . Shows that complete arrangements have >' been made for the defence of the town against possible German attacks. Prac- ; tically the whole of the male population < is under arms. The Japanese steamer Fukoko Maru, which was jjurned away from Apia by the German officials, after she has coaled the German warships at the . Caroline Islands, called at Suva for coal. She was allowed thirty tons for the voy- ' age to Newcastle. Leaving port, she ; struck twice on a coral reef, but sus--1 • tained no serious damage, and floated off. v After consulting the authorities, Cap- • tain Ross, owner of the schooner Ysobel, leaves for Tonga with food supplies, without being covered by war risk. He is satisfied there is no risk of an encounter with the enemy's ships. PRICE OF FLOUR. RISE IN. AUCKLAND. Press Association. AUCKLAND, September 11. jfloiv has. advanced £1 per ton, and is now £l3 10/-. Millers say this was necessa/y as the majority were short of wheat when the war broke out, and they cannot replenish their stocks at anything like a reasonable price. One local mill has closed down, and others are doing little work, finding it impossible to turn out fiour at a profit.

SOCKBURN CAMP. PROGRESS OF THE TRAINING. The health of the men at Sockburn is all that could be desired, and the numbers on sick parade each day are still decreasing. Two men in the Infantry Regiment developed "temperatures" and .were sent ,in to the Christchureli Hospital suffering from slight pneumonia. There has been no trace of scarlatina since the troops moved into their new quarters, and if no further outbreaks take place befpre Sunday it is considered that it will be unnecessary to keep the two regiments separate from each other. „ There are six cases in the Mounted Regiment's hospital, but all are convalescent and will be able to return to their lines shortly. No illnesses 'more serious than inbuenza and colds have occurred in the mounted, lines. The Infantry (less the 2nd Company) returned to camp about 10.30 this after having spent the night in the Teinpleton Domain under Actual service conditions. During the night two alarms were Sounded, and on both occasions were .promptly responded .to. The troops lost iro tinie on their return in properly cleaning up their lines and arranging-the tents neatly. Leave was then granted till 6.30 o'clock this evening, at which hour special cars will leave the Square to take the men. back to camp. The mounted men will be granted leave, from 6 p.m: till 9.30 p.m., a* which hour, the special cars will leave for the camp. . • To-day the mourfted rften Were engaged in field training at No. 10 Yaldhur§t Run. At 6.30 a.m. on Sunday Holy Communion will be celebrated by the Rev. 11. T. York for the mounted men in the Y.M.C.A. marquee. At 7 a.m. the Rev. T. F. Taylor will celebrate holy communion for the Infantry in the C.E.M.S. marquee. There will be a church parade at 2.30 p.in;y the preacher 'being the Rev. Mr Christian, Major-Chaplain. Mission services will be held in both marquees at 7.30 p.m. ; The camp will be open to , the pubiic from 2.30 p.m. on Suiiday till 5 p.m. - The Patriotic Fund Committee has presented each non-commissioned officer of the Permanent Staff with £5, to assist themun their equipment. ; The 2nd (Soutlji Canterbury) Company returned to camp to-day, after having spent the night at the Redcliffs rifle range; where they carried out musketry training. Colonel J. Findlay and AdjutantCaptain Blair returned to camp from Wellington yesterday. Colonel Stewart and Adjutant-Captain Critchley .Salmonson returned this morning. .: fence) will visit the camp 'on Monday, land will inspect the troops at 10 a.m. |He will probably inspect the coast de,i fence forces on Sunday. The-. Commercial -Travellers and Warehousemen's Association will bid farewell to-morrow evening to those members of the association. who are leaving with the Expeditionary Force. Thirty.,men, under Major Beattie, for the .12-gun battery, will leave to-night, en route to Palmerston North, and will form the Canterbury quota of the artillery. Major Beattie will' return to* Christchurch after taking the men to Palmerston.

The Imperial Army Reservists willleave for the Palmerston North Concentration Camp tb-night.

UNEMPLOYED DEPUTATION. MAYOR'S OFFICE BELEAGUERED.Anyone trying to interview the Mayor at 32.80 to-day would have found it somewhat difficult., for, from the main entrance of the council offices, up the stairs to th'e -door of the Mayor's room, the place was blockaded by a crowd of unemployed workers who were waiting without any very clear idea as to exactly what they were waiting for. There were between 50 and 60 of them, and at first it looked as though the Mayor was in a state of siege, but on making enquiries it was learned that the men were there because of an advertisement someone had seen, or thought he had seen, in one of the morning papers, calling a meeting of unemployed at the Council Chambers. In the midst of his midday business, the Mayor asked the Town Clerk to explain that if any such advertisement had been made it was not on his authority and must have meant the lawn opposite the Council Chambers as a meeting place, but he agreed to "receive a deputation of three representatives of the unemployed. The deputation accordingly entered, and the spokesman explained that evidently there was a misunderstanding regarding the place of meeting appointed in the advertisement. He asked what progress the Unemployment Committee had made in providing work, and if there was any work at present available. The Mayor replied that the City Engineer had been instructed to put on 14 extra men on municipal works on Monday, and the sub-committee appointed by f&e Unemployment Committee had made arrangements to give work to another six men on the same day. Preference would be given to married men registered on the Council's books. Asked if anything had been done with regard to starting work on the Road, the Mayor replied that nothing had been done at present, but probably the Public Works Department was making enquiries, as Mr Massey had promised. The Mal-

vern County Council, had called tenders for the construction of road works, to be by Monday, but lie (the Mayor) -had written to Mr Knight, the engineer, pointing out that it would be unfair to expect unemployed men to go all the way to Malvern on the off chance of having their tenders accepted, and had suggested that the council should arrange that the work should be thrown open 011 the same rate as the council paid for road work last year, so that men could take up a couple of miles or ten miles on contract, according to their need or ability. One of the deputation mentioned that over 100 men were leaving the works at Ashley Gorge shortly because the amount -of money they earned through their contracts did not suffice to pay their grocers' and bakers' bills. The Maj'or said he was sorry to hear it, and thought the men ill-advised, but the spokesman said it was impossible for the men to make a living wage, and in answer to the Mayor's statement that one man ,working on contract at Ashley had told him that he had been making an average of 17/9 a day, said that the circumstances were exceptional, and the rates for cutting the different faces of rock and rubble returned a much lower percentage of wages to the majority of workers. 'the Mayor suggested that under the present conditions the men should npt quibble as long as they were making a living, and the spokesman replied that none of the men had any intention' of doing so—they- would take any work tljat was obtainable as long as it returned tlieni a living. In reply to. a suggestion that representations on the matter should be made to the Minister of Public Works, it was stated that the secretary of the General LabouT-ers'. Union,: Mr E. Howard, had already done so, and had sent particulars. The spokesman and another member of. the deputation also said that a number of men who knew nothing about pick and shovel work, and /who were unable to do rock-chipping work, had been employed at Ashley Gorge as. general labourers at 9/4 per day, and made larger wages than the more experienced' men who worked much harder. Most of the men out of work, it was said, were married, and were prepared to take any sort of workthey had to pay their way, and the landlords were very quick after their rent in these times, much quicker than when a man was known to be in employment. The Mayor said that, ,with regard to starting relief works, tlie Minister of Finance (the Hon. James Allen) would arrive in Christchurch on Monday morning to inspect the Sockburri camp, and as he would see him then he intend'ed to put before him the necessity of Government .financial assistance, aiitf wotfld make the result known on Tuesday at' latest. *-

..; Tlie deputation then thanked the Mayor and withdrew. . OPEN-AIR MEETING. The gathering of unemployed opposite the Council Chambers to-day was rather larger than ufcuai, and when the speaker for the-day Called for a show of hands as to who were genuinely unemployed, about 9d responded. The Mayor was waited upon by a deputation, and he reported that he would interview the Hon. Jas. Allen in regard to financial matters on Monday. lie (Mr Holland) offered if any worker was really in distress, if they would interview him later, in the day and state their circumstances, he would see . that some relief was given. Mr Howard said this offer was a very fair one, and lie specially asked the men that it be not abused. The Malvern County Council has about 38 miles of water race cleaning to be carried out, and .it wafs suggested the unemployed might' tender for the work. It has now been suggested to the council that the work be let at prices paid formerly, and the work let

to the unemployed on this basis. This proposition the; council will consider on Monday. WAR PARAGRAPHS. Mr J. P. Bogel, of Hornby, lias written to the Mayor on behalf of a meeting Hornby residents offering a complete set of instruments necessary to equip a brass band, and suggesting that they should be lent to the Expeditionary Force, or, if not required, that they should be sold by auction and the proceeds devoted to the Patriotic Fund. A cheque has been received for £25 from the Vacuum Oil Company towards the Equipment-Fund, being the Canterbury portion of the £IOOO contributed to the various funds throughout Australasia by the company. A long awaited arrival at Lytteltou this morning was the second of the troopships to carry the Canterbury quota of the New Zealand volunteers — the Shaw, Savill, and Albion liner Athenic, now simply known as H.M.N.Z.T. 11. The vessel arrived at 7.30 a.m., and berthed at No. 7 wharf, in the place vacated by the Arawa (H.M.N.Z.T. 10); when she left for Wellington.

THE RUSSIAN ARMY. A RAPID REORGANISATION. LESSONS OF TILE LAST WAR. With the memory of her humiliating defeat by the Japanese in 1904 before them, those unacquainted with the vast resources of Russia find it hard to believe that, in the comparatively short space of time that has elapsed since then, the army of the Tsar has been completely reorganised. The war was not without its good results to Russia, for it taught her where her weakness lay, and as soon as the struggle was over she set about the correction of those faults in her military organisation that had been largely responsible for her defeat. Count Witte, the Russian Fiuauce Minister, in 1906 formulated a scheme

wlierebv each year a certain percentage of the steadily increasing revenue of the Empire should be devoted to defence purposes, with the result that in the present year a sum of £53,867,500 was available for military purposes. Under the influence *of the RussoJapanese War the reorganisation of the Russian Army began with a vigorous alteration in the higher commands. In the first year 26 of the 38 army, corps, and 38 of the 61 infantry divisions were entirety reorganised, and in the succeeding two years there were not less than 646 generals discharged, while at the same time considerable attention was given to the 1 work of the officers' training corps." By 3911 the officers promoted to the general staff included 35 colonels,. of whom four were 154 years of age, ten 35 years old; and twenty-one 36 '.years old. This, was not due entirely to a belief in the superiority of youth over!;more mature.age, but to a great extent it was the result of the heavy loss of junior officers during the .Japanese war. The salaries and pensions of the officers were increased, and yet it was necessary to , bring back 'on to the active list officers?who had been discharged or placed ;on the reserve list. DRASTIC CHANGES. This drastic . reorganisation of the army- extended to. tho rank., and file. tli£ .distinctive regiiiieiital ! uniforms hatl' ; '.b«<Bn\ab'^feheU:'in ; ;'iiivour. of oiio universal-pattern,"- the regiments j being' distinguished only by numbers and small badges. It had been found, however, that this uniformity was not conducive to strict discipline' or esprit de corps, and it. "was resolved to revert to the. old system of distinctive, uniforms, reviving the badges- commemorating the ;glofies of/the past; The universal, khaki uniform is used oh active service only. ' The reorganisation steadily proceeded until, in 1909-10, the reserve cadre' (or instructional) troops and; the fortress iftfantrydisbanded' because they had proved themselves quite useless during the war, while the officers' training corps had shown itself unreliable during the revolution. . ' Out of these troops the following new regiments were formed: —Three army corps (2.3rd to 25tli) in Europe, the 3rd Army Corps in the Caucasus, and the stli A fm y Cibrps. in Siberia. This brought the total for the Russian Army up to 37 army corps. The following important innovations were also made: —To the infantry and the cavalry \yfere attached machine gun commandos of - eight' gttns each; the cavalry regiments were strengthened with .intelligence and mounted pi'oneer detachments; the. first line of regular regimental cavalry was equipped with the lance; the field artillery was organised into divisions, after the' German system, and was equipped with a modern quick-firing gun; as a corps of artillery there was attached to every army corps a light field howitzer detachment of 12 : centimetre guns and a heavy artillery detachment of 15-centimetre howitzers and 10-centimetre field guns. MOBILISATION PLANS. , .'V The greatest improvement, was made in the arralageriients for mobilisation. in the -provinces'.- By the great expansion of the empire and the congestion of the population, and" the very scattered railway system, the concentration of the reserves occupied an extraordinarily long time. While the mass of the army was gathered in the unfriendly west frontier provinces, the great corn districts were protected with only a few troops. This formed the main reason for the establishment of the*interior military districts of Moscow and Kazan. Previously there had been in the military districts of Warsaw, Wilma, and Kief together 16 army corps and 16 cavalry divisions. After the reorganisation there .were in these districts 14 army corps and 14 cavalry

divisions. While there had been yet earlier in the Moscow and Kazan districts only .3A army corps and 1 cavalry division, there are now formed 7i army corps and 3 cavalry divisions. Great improvements were made in the organisation of the reserves. Before the 1906 reorganisation the men released into the reserves after a complete year's service were very weak, and the reserve divisions must have been driven back to some extent to very old '' one-year men.'' Under the 1906 scheme the period of active service was three years with the infantry, and four years with the cavalry. The annual recruiting contingent was increased from 300,000 to 455,000. The latest figures show what value was placed upon the last years of the training of the men. In 1912 the men to be released numbered 727,000, in 1913 797,000, and in 1914 900,000. Under the new system in the years 1913 to 1916 the previously existing force of 1,400,000 men on a peace footing will be increased by 400,000 men. In 1916, therefore, in the summer months there will be 1,800,000 men under training, and during the winter months, including the time-expired "one-year" men who have been held with the colours, 2,200,200 men. For the present year the recruit contingent will be increased from 455,000 to 583,000. This increase is in the first line.

GERMAN HARBOUR IN HOLLAND COMPANY OR GOVERNMENT? A few days before the outbreak of war it. was announced in England that the Dutch Government had granted to a German undertaking, the Vulkan Company, a license for the construction of a private harbour on the New Waterway, near Vlaardingen, a few miles west of Rotterdam. This harbour will be available for ocean-going vessels, and the space.ceded to the German company will be large enough to allow for repairing shops and a repairing wharf. The point at which the harbour is to be built is little more than 100 knots distant from the East Anglican coast. It will diminish by more than one-half the distance between England and the nearest German port. The Vulkan- Company is under the control of the Ger-

man millionaire Herr Thyssen. The concession is recognised as holding possibilities for German shipping development; and it is felt that large questions are involved. The announcement of the concession caused deep concern at The Hague. Commenting upon- the matter, "The Times" stated that the New Waterway was an artificial cut made about fifty years ago, and capable of floating the largest sea-going vessels. "The Vulkan Company builds Dreadnoughts • for the German Navy, as well as the great Atlantic liners which are the pride of the Hamburg-America Company and the North German Lloyd," remarked "The Times." "The relations between the company and, the German Government are so intimate that it is difficult to regard them x Mr Thyssen.bought the land for his harbour twoyears ago, and ever since has been urging the Dutch Government to permit him to cut through the foreshore. The public of Rotterdam protested against his scheme; the Ministry ' promised legislation placing all harbours under public control; and it was only when the Dutch Government-went into recess that the bargain was secretly completed. We are not surprised to learn thatv Rotterdam is furious, at the revelation now j made, and that tlie Chief Magistrate (Mr R. A. Zimmerman) should have taken the unusuail course invoking British- interest in the matter." ' Apparently, Mr Thysseii proposes to construct a - harbour..'capable ■s£ accommodating Preadnoughts, with a coaling station and the usual accessories, for purely 'private' objects.;. However engrossed the people-'.of- Great Britain may be just now in their domestic affairs, they are not so preoccupied as to ignore this or. to be unmindful of the significance, .of the moment chosen to announce'it."

TURKEY'S NAVY. NOT FIT FOR WAR. A COLLECTION OF OLD SHIPS.* The Turkish naval officers have stated that '' war would be inexpedient'' as far as the navy is concerned. An examination of the Turkish Fleet shows that their fears are well grounded. Unless it is true that Turkey has purchased the German battle-cruiser Goeben, which is still open to doubt, the Ottoman Empire lias not a single capital ship, not a single battleship that would stand up successfully before the oldest British battleship in commission. There is a wonderful array of old. iron armour through which modern projec'tiles would plump as one might throw a stone through cardboard; and the fleet is redeemed from utter antiquatioii by only a couple of decent cruisers and a few destroyers. Turkey had, at the beginning of the war, two almost complete Dreadnoughts, the Reshadieh* armed with ten 13.5 in guns, and the Osman 1., which as the Rio de Janeiro she purclrased from Brazil, and whirjh is armed, with fourteen 12in guns. These j;w'o ships, just on the verge of completion, would at least have; given the fleet a, backbone worthy, of some degree of; respect, but thtfy were purchased |>y Britain at the outbreak of hostilities.; Only three of the battleships, have guns over 6in calibre. The Hairredin,. Barbarosse, and Torgud Reis are sisteia of 9874 tons, built in 1891. They were originally German, and were bought by Turkey in 1910. They carry four lliu guns of 40 calibre, in bow and sterio turrets, and another pair of the same calibre, but sft shorter, in a" midships turret; and a number of 4in and smaller guns. The armour belt is from 12in to 15Jin thick, but it is of "compound" steel and iron, which is scarcely equal to half its thickness of Krupp steel. These ships were built to. fit the Kiel Canal before it was enlarged, because

the larger vessels in the German Navy could not negotiate it. From these two ships there is a sudden drop to the Messudleh (10,000 tons), built in 1874, carrying two 9.2incli and twelve 6-incli guns, and about 24 smaller ones. The remaining battleships are the Feth-i-Buleud (1870) 2806 tons,- Avnillah (.1869) 2400 tons, and 'Muin-i-Zaflir (1869) 2400 tons, each of which carries four 6-inch and eighteen smaller guns, and the Assai-i-Tewfik (1567.) 5000 tons, three 6-inch, seven 4.7-incli, and six smaller guns. With the exception of the Messudieh, which carries Yickers guns, all the armaments of these ships are Krupp weapons. Other than that on the two old Germans, their armour is all of iron, and none of it would stop a 6-inch shell. The fastest steam about 16 knots, and the others 12 and 13 knots. In cruisers, the fleet is a little more modern. The Hamidieh and Drama (1904 and 1911) are of 3800 tons, and are armed with 6-inch and 4.7-inch Elswick guns. The Medjidieh, a little smaller, has about the same armament, and the same speed, 22 knots. There the big ships end. There are a few fairly modern torpedo-gunboats • and gunboats, affair number of good modern and fast torpedo craft, including two destroyers of 25, four of 28, and four of 35 knots. The rest of the fleet is composed of negligible vessels.