SIDELIGHTS ON THE WAR.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11371, 24 April 1915, Page 8

SIDELIGHTS ON THE WAR.

French is a British general, Langloia a French general, uii'.l Francois a Gorman general. The, only man properly labelled is General Russky. # * Seven Yorkshire Territorials were drowned nf Gainsborough through tho collapse of pontoons they wore constructing over tho Trent. Tho life of Private II Catling, of tho 4tli Suffolk's, was saved by his watch. A (ionium bullet, penetrated his pay book, twelve sr.rvico cards, and ii. nooket. l;ook, and wiw found inside hi.' wstch in tho pocket of his cardigan i;ickei. # » Starched whlto shirts for men are to be barred in Berlin. Tho " Deutsche Tage.szeitung " suvs that "many a hundredweights" of tho finest flour nro used weekly in Berlin to provide tho starch, and its employment for this is a breach of the regulations." * « One of the peculiar war orders from belligerent nations, says a Router Chicago tolegra.ni, which has eomo_ to light here, is that for a special kind of cement, to be used in repairing tho tooth of horses in tho Allied armies. A Chicago concern announces that a large order for such cement has recontly been placed with it. In a lecture at Queens Hall, London, on "How tho War will End, and the Great World Change that is to Follow/' Mr F. L. Rawson, M.1.E.E., A M.1.C.E., arrived at tho conclusion that hostilities will lie over some time between July and December of this year Tho lecture was described as being " based upon Biblical prophecy, supported by scientific investigations." • ♦ * German Socialists with rubber stamps are stomping "Down with tho Kaiser" and "Down with tho war and militarism " on wails, benches, hooks and pap ere. » • Sir Charles Wakefield has offered a prize of £6OO to tho first person or persons responsible for bringing down a Zeppelin on tho soil of the United Kingdom. * # The Sultan of Zanzibar has written a letter to the Mohammedans of British East Africa advising them to remain loyal to Britain, and warning them against German tales. A soldier on leave in London states that in the trenches he wore one vest, two shirts, a cardigan jacket, his tunic, a fur coat, and his ordinarv greatcoat, and ho still felt cold. Most of tho time ho stood in thick mud 1 being provided with a pair of high boot 3 for tho purpose. Yet he wants to go back 1 • * > The "Philadelphia Public Ledger" defines the Wilson Tango as "onestop forward, one step backward, hesitate, and reverse." The same paper is responsible for the literary item that tho Kaiser is inordinately fond of " Curfew shall not ring to-night." It begins "England's sun was slowly setting." ••* The Rev F. H. GtUingham, the cricketer, now a chaplain at the front, writing to his old parishioners of Holy Trinity, Bordesley, Birmingham, says: " Shells axe constantly falling over the house where I am billeted, but I nover wake. I come away from the trenches with added enthusiasm foi tho heroism of the British officer and soldier." ••• EAGER FOR THE FRAY. At Highgato, George Edward Hales (23), a gunner of the Royal Field Artillery, was.charged with being a deserter. It was stated that on the way to the police station Hales said he joined tho Army on tho understanding that he was quickly going over the water to Franco, but instead, ho added, " I hav© been messing about Woolwich for six months, and I got properly fed up with it, so I broke out of barracks." Ha was reananded to await an escort.

SAD DOGS. The annual report of the Manchester Home for Lost Doge contains the following:—"A pathetic feature of the war is the considerable number of soldiers' dogs which have been brought to tho Home for destruction, in some oases because the dependants were unable to keep the dogs any longer, but in many cases because the dogs have fretted and pdned away owing to the absence of their masters. It is a common sight to see dogs roaming about their usual haunts looking for their masters who are now serving their country." *»* SAVED BY A OAT. Sir Marteine Lloyd, Bart., at the close of a lecture delivered recently at Llangynllo, in aid of the Belgian Refugees' Fund, told how his son, Lieutenant Lloyd, of <he 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards, narrowly escaped death from exposure and fatigue. After a desperate fight near the French frontier Lieutenant Lloyd got _ detached from his regiment. At night he found refuge in an outhouse, where he remained in an exhausted condition for two or three days. When he was found, it was discovered that loosely curled round his neck was a cat, and it was the conviction of his rescuers that but for this cat Lieutenant Lloyd would have perished. *•• WHAT CANADA WILL DO. Private Gaillie. in a letter from Winnipeg to his father in says that the second Canadian contingent will surprise England and Germany. Most of the men, including Mexicans and Americans, are six feet high. The third contingent is full up, and a fourth has just started. Canada alone can send enough men to defeat tHie Germans. » • DOING HER LITTLE BIT. Mr Will Crooks, M.P., recently waiting on Sheffield ctation, saw a number of recruits entrain. Afterwards noting a woman apparently crying, he went up to her and said "Well, mother, cheer up! Don't cry'" " I'm not crying," was her response. "I'm not sorry for the lad. I'm glad he's going. At last I've got a share in putting that monster the German Emperor in his ©lace." * "FRIGHTENED OF NOTHING." Mr Maurioe Pellet, of the French army, who has been badly wounded, pays a deep compliment to the fighting qualities of the British soldier, and remarks: —"I have a friend who is a lieutenant in the artillery. He was attached to tho British soldiers, and he told me all about them. He told mo thev are frightened of nothing, and the only thing wrong with them is that they do not hide themselves sufficiently, and they don't like to dig trenches, and so many are killed and wounded foolishly." *** BARONET UNDER COMMAND OF EX-BOXER. Private Sir Herbert H. Raphael, Bart., M.P., who has enlisted in tho 2nd Sportsmen's Battalion of tho Royal Fusiliers, has intimated to his platoon command or, Sergeant. Philip Sadd. the ex-middle-weight Midland boxing champion, that ho will pay for all boxing "loves rcquiied for the battalion when ft moves into camp at Hare Hill, Romford. Sir Herbert is M.3\_ for South Derbyshire, for which division he has sat .since IHOd. He is son of the late Mr 11. L. Raphael, who was chief partner in tho firm of Raphael and Sons, (jankers, lie is a trustee of the National Gallery, was a member of the first London School Board, is a governor of Guy's Hospital, and tried to get into Parliament four time* before he suecreded at South Derbyshire, lie is <me of the wealthiest member,* of the House of Commons

A PR AOK PROPHECY. The Xcw York iMiTespondent of the "Daily Express"' is responsible for the following statement.:—information reached mo irom a high official German isourco that iho German repro sontatives hero aro convinced that the war is practically over, and that peace will bo declared within three months. J take this to mean that detailed news of Germany's food crisis has reached Count John BernstorfF, tho German Ambassador, and that lie and Hon Dvrnburg and their advisers do not believe that, the submarine blockade, with its threat to tho world at large, can bring German}' any relief. GERMAN "BOOK OF HORRORS." How Germans inculcate hatred even into tho hearts of small school children may be seen from an article published in tho " Yorwarts," which is reproduced in the " Teiegraaf." The pastor of tho Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial"Church in Berlin has written a book entitled "The Iron Year, 1d14," of which 160,000 copies have been published at 10 pfennigs each. Tho "Yorwarts" writes: "Wo refrain from commenting on tho details of tho bonk, but we will quote one characteristic paragraph, which runs as follows:—'And how did tho Belgians and the French shoot from behind ambushes? How did they gouge out the eves of tho wominded and chop off their hands?'" Tho "Yorwarts" condemns tho spreading of such sensational news among school children, and points out that when uieso reports were first published by Yellow Press newspapers they were at onco contradicted by German doctors and others. ♦ * GHASTLY " FRIGHTFULNESS." A horriblo story from Russia alleges that the Germans are endeavouring to spread cholera among * the Russian troops. Such allegations have been made in nil warsj and even in the case of Germany, which regards all means as legitimate to gain the desired end, it is hard to believe that methods such as these would bo adopted: but, at tho same time, wo have had sufficient illustrations of the workings of the German mind to teach us that frigbtfuhiess can havo no limit. A case in point is an article which occupies a prominent position in a recent issue of a leading Hamburg newspaper. House-wives aro urged to keep the following recipe beside them:—"Roll a quantity of oaten meal into a thin cake m a flat tin, and sprinkle it with salt. Take some bacon and place the tin in a very hot oven. When the dough is well baked and nicely browned, add to its surface a tablespoonful of strychnine. Though somewhat hard to digest, it will remain fresh for_ weeks, and has an appetising taste which quite conceals the character of somo of its suspicious ingredients." " Such a cake," concludes the article, "if given to a British soldier will bo a truly patriotic contribution to Germany's defensive." Truly, the veneer of civilisation is very thin in Germany. • * AMERICA AND ENGLAND. The " Westminster Utuzett©" quotes the following verses from a New York paper:— 0 England, in the smoking trenches , dying For all the %wrld, We hold our breath and your bright flag flying While ours is furled. We say we're neutral (yet each lip with fervour Tho word abjures), O England,, never name us tiie timeservexl Our hearts are yours— Wo who so glory in your high decision, So trust your goal, All Europe s in our blood, but yours our vision, Our speech, our soul. *»* HEART BROKEN BY WAR.

Witnesses giving evidence at an inquest held at Rhyl on M. Franc do Hoover, a Belgian refugee, aged sixtyfour, who was found dead in bed in the local Belgian Refugees' Homo, stated that before going to Rhyl with his four daughter and a son the old man had passed through a trying period at Geldrede, near Aerschot, where he was in business as a wooden-shoe maker. He was locked up for some days by the Germans, but escaped, and when he reached Rhyl with other refugees he was broken-hearted, and became weaker. While lie" did not complain, he became very feeble, and died from mental worry and exhaustion following shock. A veixlict of death from natural causes was returned. omious coincidences. A correspondent of the "Church Family Newspaper" points out some ourious alphabetical coincidences in connection with the war. Our first naval loss was H.M.S, Anipjbion. It was Leman who defended Liege when Berlin affronted Brussels by violating Belgium. It was Beatty who beat the Germans in the Bight and sank the would-be baby-killers in tie Blucher. It was Sturdee who sank Spee in the Scharnhorst. It was Botha with Boers who beat Beyers. It is also notable how the letter "K" lias figured in the life of Lord Kitchener. His past associates him with Khartoum, the Khedivo, the Kalipha and Kabul—his present with the Kaiser. *»* PAMPERED GERMAN PRISONERS. Lolling back comfortably in motorcars, twenty-two German officers, the firsrb contingent of a party of 200 or 300, arrived at Donington Park, Leicestershire, on Saturday afternoon (says the "Daily Mail"). They had been brought from the south as far as Derby by train. Had they performed the rest of the journey in. the same way_ it would hare necessitated their walking two miles along a country road from Castle Donington station, and so it was decided to study their comfort by hiring motor-cars at Derby, nine mile* away. The men who are guarding them—National Reservists had to tramp the same road earlier in the week. Most of the German officers were in their blue service uniform, with flat caps. Some were smoking cigarettes, and glared haughtily at the few spectators. A score of interned German waiters, who are to act as their valets, arrived two or three days previously, and two tons of personal lugpa go followed the officers from Derby. Donington Hn.ll is one of the finest residences In Leicestershire. The Government have spent €20.000 sterling in adapting it as a place of detention for German officers. ,