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Timaru Herald, Volume CVIII, Issue 16822, 30 May 1919, Page 6

; According to an official statement in the House of Commons, the mobilised strength of the British Army immediately before the armistice was greater than that of any other army, either enemy or Allied, the British' figures being 5,680,247, as against 5,075,000 for Prance, 3,420,000 for Italy, 4,500,000 for Germany, and 2,230,000 for Austria-Hungary. The British and French figures include, of course;, colonial troops, of whom Great Britaiti had apparently 700,000, and the French a million. Another interesting fact is -ihat the four Allied Powers—ttreat Britain, France, Italy, and America—had a numerical superiority ever the Central Powers and tneir two allies of more than 10,000,000 men, the figures for the former being 17,882,379, and for the latter 7,630,000."

For the first time newspapers hare been carried from London by aeroplane" for distribution t,o. the - public. A Nieuport Nightihawk 320 h.p. aeroplane was piloted by Mr Leslie Tait-Cox tb' Bournemouth, and arrived at 7.15 a.m., three-quarters of an hour before the train carrying the London papers. It contained a special late edition, and the first person to receive a copy was the Mayor. The machine travelled at a speed of 160 miles an hour. The distance from London to Bournemouth as the crow flies is ninety miles, bub the pilot encountered fog and made a circuit out to sea before landing. Tho time taisen lor the journey was hlty minutes, as against two and a. nair. nours by train.

i An amazing picture of social coadi> tions in Germany, as recently.as the middle of March, was given by tlie Berlin "Tageblatt." "War, famine, and revolution," it complained, "have dulled the con-" science of the Germans. Respect Son law and order, morality and propriety have disappeared in a shocking, manner. Although the distress, in thd country is terrible, although our enemies are tightening the rope they have thrown round our neck, and are about to Strangle us, a mad desire for plea* sure rules the populace, especially in the large towns. It seems' as if most of us had lost our senses, and that a terrible awakening is before us. Tha protests of reflective persons, admon» ishment by teachers of the young, bj priests and pastors, avail nothing. Even the reproaches of enemy Pow&ra pass unheeded. No attention is given to police regulations or to the 'neeu for economy in fuel and lighting. All night long dancinor continues, and i 3 kept np until daylight."

The Government had issued orders to check this exuberant gaiety. The Peace terms may have done more to check it. It does hot, however, sitggest a nation that will resist the Peace terms to begin, war again.

[. -A ■ veteran who must be unusually interested in the changes which Europe is now undergoing is Senator Count Greppi, of Italy, known as tile, oddest diplomatist in the -world, who celebrated his hundredth birthday recently. Count Greppi first entered the Austrian diplomatic service seventy seven years ago under Metternieh, the bad genius of the Congress of Vienna which met to put the world to rights after Napoleon's wars. Later he held positions in the Italian service at London, Berlin, Athens, Constantinople, Stuttgart, Munich, and Madrid. As a young man he knew Marie Louiso, wife of Napoleon, at Parma, and ha was already a mature diplomatist ii the second stage of his career wkei lie met the Duke of Wellington. Statesmen and soldiers who died fifty, sixty, seventy years ago; kings and i queens of a social world that is. extinct; he has personal reminiscences, it is said, of them all, and his mind is almost as active now as it has ever been. A volume of his recollections which is being prepared should make good reading.