WAR TROPHIES.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 August 1921, Page 6

WAR TROPHIES.

EXHIBITION AT NEW PLYMOUTH. OPENING TO-NIGHT. The exhibition of war trophies, which will be opened at the Coronation Hall, New Plymouth, at 7.30 to-night, is a wonderful display of sauvenirs from every theatre of i be late European War, from a German aeroplane right down to a soldier’s button. To everyone connected with the war the war machines that were the daily environment of our boys for five unforgettable years, will have an irresistible attraction. With many the great European War is slipping back into the realms of history, and some are inclined ip view it, not as a long series of individual events, but collectively as a great struggle of nations. Whether or not it. is well to bring back the incidents of the years that stretched their awful length between 19.14 and 1919, who can say? Certain it is that this exhibition o. trophies wrested from the enemy from time

to time throughout the long campaign leads us step by step from one event in the great struggle to another, until it unfolds a. connected history more eloquent than words can describe. To those who were not at the fighting front it brings home the seriousness of war. its waste and wanton cruelty. Yet those grim engines of destruction are. divided into two distinct classes, and it is our patriotism that divides them. The implements of war that ‘’our Loys” used seem eloquent of friendly strength and protection, while grinning their malice against them because their presence brings the war so near, the enemies’ weapons speak of hate and the lust to kill. That is the first involuntary impression on entering the exhibition. The most prominent object to arrest the attention is the great German Albertross aeroplane that stretches almost the full width of the building. The dis mantled engine, a six'-cyUnder 220 h.p. Berz, is standing nearby. The pilot of this machine was shot on the .Sinai Peninsula, and the 'plane was afterwards used by the British troops. Next in order is a formidable line of shells and bombs, -from a mighty 18-incli shell weighing 14 tons and standing as high almost as a man. and heavy aerial torpedoes and bombs, down to shells of very small calibre. An imposing qrnioury of rifles, an- ! eient an a modern, is an interesting exhibit. and there are long tables of innumerable trophies from every theatre of war that should hold the interest for ■ hours. Many ingenious German inven- ' tions and substitutes appear prominently in the'display, notable among which; are two ‘’bicycles.” Ono is a push-cycle ! used for the ordinary purpose, but for . the pneumatic tyres steel springs have ! been substituted owing to the scarcity of rubber in Germany during the war. The other “bicycle built for two ” might have been peddled for hours without making any headway except in the direction of generating electric current. It is fitted with seats and peddles for two, but it has no road wheels—only gear I wheels with chain drive on to a beautifully constructed dynamo. The ingenuity of this macliine is tempered with humor, and one cannot imagine British stolidity bearing up under the strain of seeing a pair of stout “Fritzies” peddling for dear life and for the Fatherland on this machine. Undoubtedly these “cyclists” often wished they could x ‘put the clutch in” and light out for the Fatherland when the retreat set in, instead of remaining behind to peddle for power. But it was well for the troops that humor could be found, even in the war, for most of the trophies themselves alone are too serious for humor. Not the least interesting are a large number of photographs by the official war photographer, and in these a number of returned men have already recognised themselves snapped while in the i trenches under fire, feeding the guns or

laboring under “the whole constitution of the war—digging.” The official opening' will take place at 7.30 p.m. to-night, His Worship the Mayor presiding. The following programme has been arrang ’d To-day: Central School in morning. W es t En?i and \ og.-lrown in afternoon. To-mor-row: I’itzroy in. morning. Monday Country schools. The Boys’ High School i:a-: already broken up, and the boys will be admitted in squads in the charge of prefects, probably on Tuesday liie exhibition will be open from !> a.m. till .10 p.m. on each day next week.