STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 462, 3 August 1915, Page 12

STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR

WIGHT ON A FLANDERS ROAD. > LIFE IN A TRAVELLING WORKSHOP. DOCTORING DAMAGED MOTOR : TRANSPORTS. IBy Valentine Williama, Special Cor- - 1 ' resDondent to th? "Daily Mail."] ' / .The workshop officer was sitting <lown to his dinner amid the waxand plush finery of the parlour hectic red brick cottage. He «*. was very young, very charming, : : and very efficient. Tlie travelling .! "workshop was down at the railhead, :?-he said, and he would take us along * and have our trouble put right. His >' Attitude as he sat beside tlie driver • of our wheezing; asthmatic car was that of a West End physician. Posi- , lively' he had a bedside manner. . Tlie travelling workshop was • "'cleaning up." The evening sun ' glowed red through the rolled-up canvas flaps of the lorry on to bur- , nisUed tools, mechanical drills, and all "" the paraphernalia of a repair >- shop. Lorries lined up all J "along the, fence ofJlhe railway, and . about each groups of men with barcd chests were vigorously soaping f liands and necks over wash-basins / improvised out. of empty till teaLoxes Long goods traihs were ' shunting in leisurely fashioji about the station ' amid the clanking of -couplings and the squealing of lirakes, with now and then a gruff - shout of "En arriere!" (back) or ""Avanccz!" (forward) or the shrill toot ,of a French shunter's horn. The : silhouette of a soldier seated in the ,' travelling workshop, his back to lis, his face to the sunset, stood out £•. .black against the evening glow. He Was quilp alone; and was softly play--7 ing little tunes to himself on a mouth J -Organ.. , I suddenly found myself 'y thinking of Pan playing his pipes r Jto'the " The Diagnosis

11 At a word from the workshop offiu Cer- two men who, to Judge from t ' their-'burnislied faces, had completed .their "cleaning up" detached tHcmselves from the group about "T the lorry. One was a sergeant-fitter l _with a cap and unbuttoned tunic, a , sunburnt, silent man, the very best • type of British foreman; the other, a studious-looking young man with tousled hair and spectacles and an Inquiring air. "Open her lip, George," said the sergeants a doctor might say, " 'Take off your coat and vest!"—and - the examination began. During, the -diagnosis scraps of conversation : reached me. "Dear, dear, fairly cryA ing out'for air, she is!" "Hark at - her coughing; she's just stifling!" ' * ""No wonder she don't pull, she's that ' ' choked!"

V For wer two hours they wrestled j--.-"With that engine, "She" had made ?; tip "her" mind to go wrong and showed "her" opinion of these pati- - -ent, skilled attempts to set "her" right by-wheezing and barking and ~' roaring with the utmost regularity. ■klNight fell swiftly on the little sta?V lion and the puffing trains, a .'moon--starry night, and lights began 5" to appear in the long lifie of lorries along the dusty road. Sf 'Night of Song and Toil. k. The travelling workshop beguiled night with song. Behind the canvas flaps, which had been let down to keep out the heavy, soaking dew, a concert was in full swing. I should think that every song sung in the .music halls of England the ■ " past two yeiu's went rolling out into - the silent countryside from the lusty throats of the travelling workshop. j. One number was of an "In-di-an" \ and the chorus was a jingle of gibberish which the travelling work■i Shop roared out sonorously into the L night to the accompaniment of * empty petrol cans beaten in tomtorn rhythm. The song ran on, verse after verse, while the frogs i croaked in hover-ending chorus in the ditches, and now and then an owl went hooting over. By and by the M.T. sank to rest. "" "Tfre canvas flaps were pulled, the last light inside a lorry was ex- ■■ tinguished, and now the only sound " was the tramp of the sentries past the long string of red lamps marking the line of' lorries on the road. Our stood ready, patched up with ends of "32" wire and scraps of rag / lor the long run home, the young officer, dinnerless but still charming, the two consulting specialists, begrimed once more but still un- ' , ruffled, regarding "her" with a criti- ✓ cal'eye. I heard many stories of the Travelling Workshop that night, of brand * new lorries cruelly torn from the v M.T. section after every little eccentricity and caprice had been mastered and replaced by the hideous wrecks into which the Flanders roads convert some of the cars in a -* few months, of sudden calls by night, after a long day's work seemed done, to distant points where cars ' * are in trouble. There were tales of ■ emergency jobs, brought in late and requiring, instant attention, over ~ which these skilful mechanics, many of them enlisted for the war from the great British motor works, pored with their officer far into the night . heedless ot fatigue, unbaflled by difficulties. If you want a short ' ' word for efficiency you can spell it ' M.T. -'

THE ARGENTINE AND THE WAR. SYMPATHY WITH THE ALLIES. MACHINATIONS OF THE GERMAN ELEMENT. The opinion of the Argentine on this tremendous conflict first manifested itself on the night of August 4, 1914, when the news reached here that England had declared war oil Germany. Great crowds of excited students paraded the streets cheering madly for England, France, and Belgium—"Viva Francia! Viva Inglaterra! Abajo Alemania!" .says a correspondent of the "Manchester Guardian." Processions were speedily organised and made their way to the offlices of the English and French newspapers, continually repeating demonstrations of sympathy to the countries of the Triple Entente, and displaying their hostility to Germany at every step. By the end of August public opinion here had pronounced its verdict: Germany has committed an abominable crime by its brutal invasion, of Belgium, and should therefore be held up to the execration of all civilised countries. The Press, also, soon showed that German excuses and explanations would receive a very unsympathetic hearing, as Teuton residents here made frantic efforts to explain away the outrages. A German newspaper was started, printed in Spanish, to convince the Argentines that they were all wrong in'siding with the Allies, that Germany was only fighting because it had been attacked by jealous neighbours, and that the two K's, "Kaiser and Kultur," meant the salvation of all neutral countries. This paper, said to be subsidised by the German Government, was sent out broadcast to prominent Argentines, to judges, senators," deputies, lawyers, doctors, but all to no purpose. The Argentine is, above all, a keen politician, and already has a vote when he is only 18, so that it was easy for him to judge the European crisis with an open mind and so form an opinion as to which side the truth lay. Horror at Belgium's Plight. The principal morning newspaper, "La Nacion," published a series of articles from its correspondent in Brussels, Senor Roberto Payro, that sent a thrill of horror throughout the whole Republic. His description of the destruction of Louvain, Malines, and Dinant were most remarkably vivid. What made his writings doubly interesting was the fact that he had always been known,' as a great admirer of Germany—so much so that he had brought his two sons from Buenos Ayres, intending to place them in a school in Germany, and was on the point of continuing his journey from Brussels when the war broke out. These articles were not at all to the liking of the Teutonic element in Buenos Ayres, and the German Bank thought that "La Nacion" deserved a lesson for its temerity in publishing statements about the cultured Prussians having burned down cities and murdered women and children. The manager of this establishment sent a pompous letter to the newspaper in question, saying that they would no longer subscribe to it and that all advertisements would be suspended. Strange to say, "La Nacion" did not apologise for having published the facts, nor did it seem greatly upset by the terrible punishment meted out by the angry Teutons. Its only answer was an announcement in thick, bold type, printed in the paper for several days running: "'La Nacion' does not accept cheques or drafts drawn on the German Bank."

German Influences Discredited.

Another very popular morning paper, "La Argentina," has in unmistakable terms shown its sympathy for the cause of the Allies and, together with its evening contemporary, "El Diario," effected a stirring campaign as a counter-attack to the attempts of the German colony (very rich and influential and three times as numerous as the British) to poison the minds of the people of this country with stories emanating from the Wilhelmstrasse that England and France had violated the neutrality of Belgium before Germany, as well as furnishing certain organs of lesser importance with scores of fantastic telegrams from the Wolff Agency. In fact, German residents in South America have tried to influence public opinion in the same way as their compatriots in the great Republic of the North, and with the same lack of success. Celebrating King Albert's Birthday. In addition to the Press, sympathy for Great Britain, France, and Belgium is shown at all times by all classes of society. On April 8, the fortieth birthday of the gallant King of the Belgians, the city of Buenos Ayres was decorated as if for a national fete day. Argentine, Belgian, French, and English flags were seen flying from the balconies in all the principal streets. Everybody (except the Germans, of course), high and low, rich and poor, was seeji wearing a badge with a miniature of King Albert and the Belgian colours. The Belgian Legation was crowded from morning to night by throngs representing all classes of society, eager to express to M. Charles Renoz,

Belgium's representative in this capital, their friendly sentiments to that gallant little country. At night the Teatro Golisco was the scene of a most brilliant patriotic festival in honour of King Albert. At the entry of the British, French, Belgian, and Russian Ministers there was an outbreak of enthusiasm such as I have rarely witnessed. Argentine Against Militarism. The most backward and least prosperous States of America are those in which the * cloven hoof of militarism has shown itself, only to produce a series of revolutions to gratify the ambition of this or that general who aspired to become a dictator. This lesson has not been lost on Argentina, which has a small but efficient army, and militarist political parties, as in Paraguay and Mexico, do not exist here. The Argentine Republic is not, so as many people in England seem to think, a nation famous only for the enormous quantites of cereals, wool, and frozen meat it exports to Europe. It has its thinkers, its poets, its scientists. Mitre and Sarmiento are two writers whom any country would be proud to own. Its beautiful capital has splendidly equipped schools and universities, crowded by thousap'&s of eager students, descendants of a dozen races assimilated into a homogeneous whole. The people of this country, unbiased, critical, keen of judgment, with a strongly developed sense of perspective, have come to this conclusion: Germany must be taught a severe lesson. The Prussian military party will receive its death-blow, even if the whole world has to unite. Civilisation in the twentieth century cannot tolerate the idol of brute force to be placed on a higher pedestal than justice, equity, and reason.