THE GERMAN CIVILIAN.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 145998, 3 December 1917, Page 5

THE GERMAN CIVILIAN.

CONDITIONS OF LIFE TO-DAY. A NEW SUBMARINE. AMSTERDAM, Sept. S. A neutral recently returned, from South-West Germany gives an iiulepeudeni account of conditions prevailing Uicrc. i he nrst thing that struck him after crossing the Oerman frontier was the Large number of soldiers wearing hoots soled with wood. Of every 100 soldiers 30 to 40 were shod in this way. Ho also spoke of the inferior quality of the lood, declaring that it is impossible to drink the beer now provided in. Germany—if you enter a beerhouse in. the ordinary wav. If, however, you approach it through the back door, you can get for a mark a glass of fieer tltat is tolerable. The supply of food officially sanctioned is wholly insufficient; indeed one could consume the whole of a week’s rations with ease at a sitting. A, further indication of the shortage of food is the spectacle, common in restaurants, of well-dressed visitors bringing their own provisions with them. Seating themselves at tables, they take from a bag or other receptacle such things as potatoes and other eatables, and hand them to the waiter to he prepared for the meal. A rich man of Ids acquaintance explained that the daily supply of milk for afternoon tea was obtained at a cost of 10s. This sum was paid for loss than half-a-pint, obtained in the following way. A girl employed as a hand in the works of the man in question and paid Is 6d an hour for her duties was sent every afternoon to a farm at a distance from tho town. This necessitated a journey of an hour by train each way and an hour and a half on foot. The trains cost 2s and the milk 2s, while the balance was made up by the time taken by tho girl in going from tho station to her master’s house. On one occasion when this traveller was visiting friends the mistress of tho house said to her husband that they must give their guest something special. Tho special tiling thus provided was a tin of condensed milk, which bad boon bought the previous year at a high price and concealed in the collar until it was thus brought forth to regale an honoured visitor.

THE PUBLIC AND THE WOUNDED

Tile number of wounded men my informant saw in Germany waa very striking, and not less striking the difference in the reception accorded the wounded on their return to England and Germany respectively. Ho had seen the welcome given to British wounded on their arrival at Charing Cross, and was mnch touched by the sympathy shown for these bravo men, and struck by the admirably litted-up ambulance cars in which they were conveyed to their destinations. Ho contrasted with this the scene at Dusseklorf after the battle of Langomarck a few weeks ago. Large numbers of severely wounded Germans, mostly of JL7 or 18 years of age, were brought into the town. Their arrival proved that all the military hospitals in. Belgium were overcrowded, for severely wounded men are not'sent to Germany if it is at all possible to treat them in Belgium. These soldiers, many of them wounded in the legs, were conveyed from the station in tramoars. These cars had been specially prepared for the purpose by the removal of the seats and the substitution of arrangements for the reception of wounded. Three cars wore linked together, thus making little trains, of which there wore seven or eight. The men did not present at all a cheerful appearance, while their reception was marked by a sort of callous indifference, nobody taking the slightest notice of the men or seeming to care whether they lived or died. The people did not even stop in flie street to look at the cars as they passed along, or to see the removal of the men from the cars to the hospitals. This is partially explained by the prevailing war-despondency, which may be expressed in the words of a German 65 years of age, who said, regarding the recently loudly vaunted operations against Russia—“es geht wie es geht, in der Fallc sitzen wir doch”—(“let it go as it may, we sit in the trap all the same”). With regard to the reserves of troops, it is noticeable that every Gorman battalion has a reserve battalion to fill up gaps. These reserves have been drawn upon during the recent operations in the west to an extent which practically exhausts them, and drafts are now made upon mere boys of 17. An officer said they were absolutely useless at the front, and that when they came under fire they cried for their mothers. But these youthful soldiers are the most effective in the suppression of civil disturbances. These boys, whose military training has bc«ma at 15, remain in the “Ju-

gendwehr” till they are 17. They were called upon at Dusscldorf during the recent food riots, when the regular troops refused to fire upon the crowd. The boys had no such scruples, and fired w'ith groat effect. A few days ago there were still many signs of the disorders, such as broken windows and remnants of barricades. BRITISH PRISONERS. The general tone among German women of all classes has deteriorated, probably owing to the long absence of the men at tho front, many wives not seeing their husbands more than once a year. In other respects the Oerman character has not improved, its reputation for cruelty to prisoners being fully maintained. 'The British prisoners decline to work in munition factories and other employments helpful to .the enemy. In a large works where machinery is made for Krupp’s are employed some thousands of men, women, and children, most of tho men being prisoners of war. The French are good mechanics and are appreciated in this respect. In going over one factory my informant saw some 40 prisoners standing with their faces to the wall as a punishment for refusing to work. These men are compelled to remain in this position until they are willing to work. They are not allowed to turn round during tho time of punishment, and ■should they do so they are pricked with the bayonet. Tho men whom ho saw had been standing in this position for eight hours. German ingenuity in manufacturing substitutes for parts of machinery is well known. An instance of this is the use of papier-mache in the manufacture of shells where formerly only copper was used. The Gormans are nowiboasting that they have a new and very fast submarine which travels as rapidly as a tor-pedo-boat, and they are expecting groat things from this class of U-boat. They recognise that unless they can subdue Great Britain the war is hopeless for them. Educated Germans, however, now regard the submarine war as a means not of shortening but of prolonging the war until Great Britain’s spirit is broken. They say, “Never mind how long it lasts, wo must get Antwerp, for Antwerp is necessary for our trade. If we succeed in this—and wo probably shall succeed when England has had enough of the war—costly as the war has been for us. it will not have been fought in vain.” An example of one item of war costs is the bill of a household of three inmates including the servant—£4o a month for food alone.