RETURNED FROM FRANCE.

Colonist, Volume LVII, Issue 13808, 1 July 1915, Page 2

RETURNED FROM FRANCE.

INTERVIEW WITH DR. MARTIN

Dr. Arthur Martin, of Palmerston North, has now returned to New Zealand for a brief rest to recuperate after^ liis trying experiences in France and Flanders. Twice his gallant conduct on the battlefield has been1 mentioned in despatches, but of. the circumstances attaching to these incidents Dr. Martin declined to speak.

Speaking of Tommy Atkins as he found him, Dr. Martin said that the British soldier was splendid. He was very cheerful; he was not.afraid to die; he could inarch on, although he knew that march led to certain death. The only thing that really upset him was the gas, and that was because he did not understand it. The British* Army was now supplied with masks, but these were not quite effective, although very near it. There was a great deal of doubt as to what the gas consisted of. Some supposed it to be a mixture of chlorine and bromine, but a famous Swiss chemist was of the opinion that it was azotic acid, made from ammonia, and that the Germans could produce any quantity of it very cheaply. He saw of the men die from poisoning, and it .was one of the most terrible sights connected "with even a military hospital. "It is just as though an asthma sufferer, while in his worst paroxysm, ■ were stranged by a cord," said the doctor. "Most of the sufferers j had died, and the survivors would be i crippled for life." Dr. Martin spoke appreciativ-ely of the magnificent work of the famous French 76th Battery, and of the reputation won by General DaviSj the only New Zealand General in France. Questioned as to what was -a fair estimate of the proportion of Kitchener's army now in the field, Dr. Martin . emphatically declared that, with the exception of a few companies, the:3 J 200,665''-men placed under train-j ing since the war began, were still in England. The first million was com-j pletely ©quipped for war, but were still in the Old -Land. It was called "Kitchener's Hammer." The hammer was supposed to strike at tho end of the spring. It had not done co yet. < One idea was that at the last moment Holland would come in, and the men would be landed there to strike at Germany. Another was that Denmark would declare war, and that the menwould be thrust through"'that country": to attack the Kiel Canal. Speaking of the munition question, Dr. Martin said that tho. shortage was most palpable while the army was on the Aisne and the Marne. Had it been possessed of big guns and munitions it could have got through. For the first time- in the war the Germans were then short. He gave general confirmation of the stories of German atrocities, and declared that after his experience of seeing harmless old French farmers lying with their skulls battered in at the doors of their cottages he could credit any story of .German "frightfulneas."