TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11207, 13 October 1914, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

"WHERE WILL THEY GO? Writes Albert Dorringjou from Lo-i----don : apecutaiion is nfe concerning the esacc etudes which will faJi to ihe co.ci.iai troops. come of the Ao»t»ra» Aew Zealand Contingents may iiitiia to repir,ce men sunt i<> i'l'au..c. hvon India will bo a much cooler place than the .Belgian frontier during the _ coining winter. Ice may he thick on the Mamo and the J''nine, but unk'.ss Koaie lucky star intervene •>i '.be tntaitwhile'lliere will be bell Belgian, miow iu December. So iiie ambit-jut'» young wWninl nia.v have

ft choice of two climates. if.o may swelter iugloriously in India., imderpunKas, without seeing: as much as a German's cyelaii. Or no may join the E:q>oditionary Force in Franco and _ he _ Lept busy olw>ing men named Adolf Blinken ami Stefan Von .Blumenthal thrnugn tho snowdrifts. It may not prove a healthier business than ch.isim; j)hy, tli« policeman, down three blocks, but it will be immensely diverting.

BRITISH SOLDIERS' MARCHING. British infantry l ave the reputation of excelling Ino inlantry of all othet armies in tho rate of tnsrciuug and staying powers. So marked has been the improvement .ssnco the. Bouth Afi'JCii.n War that tho standards of time a.ul distance sot forth in the manuals aro now regarded in many quarU'rs 13 minima. lVd'tcen miles a day war, regarded as few years ago as a- goccl average for a largo coiunm; iwenty-nvc nillofi for a. fiina.l body of seasoned men.. The average speed', with halts, was placed at tnreo mile? an hour. tho grand autumn numauivrew oi 1009, when a test was made of British marclung abilitv, tlio Ist Infantry Brigade covered thirty miles in one day, and the 2nd and 3rd Infantry Brigades, _ hampered by artillery, twenty-three miles. Tho and G.'li Infantry Brigades covered thirty-one miles, tho Ist Devonshire. Regiment thirty-live miles, the Ist (Irenndier Guards thirty-live m.des and the Ist Cheshire Regiment ihirty-throo miles. Much of this marching was performed at tho rate of five mile? per hour. Tho Service equipment, carried on this occasion averaged 60.b in weight, FEATURES OF ANTWERP. All picture lovers know of tho prowl position which Antwerp holds in the history of art, and the association, of Reubens, Van Dyck, Jordaens th? Teniors with the city. Cho largo Reubens pictures in the cathedral havo given this fine building a world-wide reputation. These masterpieces of the great Flemish painter, who " amused himself by being an ambassador" at the Court of St James's, aro a priceless possession of the Belgian people. Alltwerp takes its name from a town which in Prankish times marked the site of the city. This castle was W l t to protect the entrance of the Scheldt, and to prevent foreign traders ducing goods into tho country without, paying toll to the soveroi.cn lord. The penalty for theft and s mulling was in those days tho cutting off of a Vnd, and, as in this case the severed' members were thrown into the Scheldt, ;hc castle ca.nio to be known as Andhunerho 'or, in Flemish, Autwerpen), " the place of hand-thrnwing." Tho and two severed hands spnoar oh tho city arms to thiis clay. Marouis of Antweri> is ono of tho titles of the Emperor of Austria-.

THE SPIRIT OF ENGLAND. " These are tho days of many farewells; sorrow comes with parting and ft sense of pride, for we know now that Englishmen are still Englishmen," writes a correspondent of the London " Daily Telegraph." " I have iust said good-bye to a party of bluejacket? newly enrolled. Yesterday they wer« graduates and undergraduates of Cambridge University—men who have won distinction in upholding the honour of their 'varsity in peaceful waters—a president of the C.U.8.C., two Blues, and many other oars whose names are known on to towpath. These men, some of whom, hardly _ more than a month ago were championing Leandor colours.at-Henley, and helping to keep at least some oi : the ' pots' at home, are now wearing the round cap and all-enveloping trou&or of the seaman of the British Navy. Most of them, well over sis feet, and broad in proportion, in their new ' rig,' they hardly suggest tho comfortable build of the ordinary British tar. Eager to servo in the lowest of ranks, rather than remain idle for even n short time in tho hour of emergency, these men all signed on without demur in the humble capacity of A.B.'s of tbo Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, andj under the command of the more experienced of their number, now the newly commissioned lieutenant of this crew, they go to-day to carry out. the orders of the Admiralty. This is, I imagine, a story typical of hnndreds of others. They differ in detail, but the spirit, the spirit which demands service for the Mother' Country iu the time of her need, is that which "has ever actuated the sons of England, and which has brought us to realise in these last days of stress that England's call still finds its response , in the hearts of Englishmen.''