SIDELIGHTS ON THE WAR.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11578, 23 December 1915, Page 7

SIDELIGHTS ON THE WAR.

COST OP MOTOR AMBULANCE. Somo idea, of the cost of the Red Gross orga.nisa.tion may bo formed from the statement, of tho Chairman of tho Collections Commit toe thnfc tho fleet of motor ambulances «it the front ftlone cost £200,000 a year. ONE "WAY TO GET PEACE. Tho " Prager Tageblatt," a German paper, seriously* suggests to force the Entente Allies io wie for peace by deliberately starving the populations of Belgium, France, Poland, .Russia aiul Servia, now under the Teuton domination. GARIBALDTS TRIUMPH. Poppino Garibaldi and the men under his command took a prominent part, in the .storming of Col di Lana. CJaribaldi hoisted the Italia,n colours on the summit. Ho was promoted to the rank of colonel the next day for distinguished service. Kli ENCH ARMY MOUSTACHE. An official circular recalls to the soldiers of France that the wearing of the moustache is military, that the razored face is not so, and that the entire army should hereafter avoid showing the upper lip. Thus the moustache has triumphed after having been discussed, decried and almost proscribed'.

" SQUISH DAY." The German Empress's birthday was celebrated by a feast of marmalade in the enemy's trenches, and is consequently to be known as " Marmalade Day." The Oxford undergraduate would call, it "Squish Day." THE "ZEPP" READING LAMP. The deeper darkness of the London streets ha,s made it impossible to read 1 the evening paper in the homewardhound train or tramway ear. Some travellers, rising to the occasion, have provide-d themselves with small ■electric torches, which, when attached to their coat sleeves, give the necessary light for reading. PARIS AFTER SLACKERS. The Paris City Council has adopted a measure .urging that all subjects of sllie-d nations of military age who are residing in Era,nee are required either to leave the. country or to enlist in the French army; those who refused to bo confined in concentration camps. TH E HOHENZOLLERN " LUCK:" Even the haughty Hohfuzollerns have their " luck," a ring with a black stone, said to have been dropped obligingly by a bird inside the palace. At ■tho end of tho eighteenth.century the " luck was stolen by a< woman, who took it with lur to France. Soon after Napoleon's armies over-ran the kingdom. If was recovered in 1812. and within the year Germany had freed herself from the invader. DYE 2000 PER. CENT DEARER. A record' price for a. keg of methylene blue was paid at Derby at the Midland, railway lost property sale. Hie keg contained about. IJcwt of tho dye, and bidding was very spirited. Prior to the war such a. lot would have realised anything from £l2 to £lO. It was knocked down for £3lO. SPECIAL CONSTABLES 7 POWERS. Special constables, whether discontented or not-, cair at least claim that they have, not the same privileges as in 184.8, when Sir H. I). "Wolff wrote to a frieiul: "Everyone in London is, I believe a special -—-. I ha.ve just been sworn in, and have been given my badge, staff and warrant, and am consequently empowered to do anything I like to ivnvbodv."

BEER TrCKETS IX AUSTRIA. Owing to the great scarcity of barley ancl the consequent high prices, the Bohemian breweries have, beini forced to reduce their output to one-third! of the normal figure. Conferences arc being held with the restaurant, proprietors and beerhouse keepers as to the best method of regulating the sale of beer to the. public. It is possible that beer tickets •will be issued, or the sale of heer may he prohibited altogether two days in. the week. CRUISER. AS' LINER. %he U.S. State Department has granted: permission to tiie German auxiliary cruiser Kronprinz Wilhelm, now interned at Norfolk, Virginia, to bo restored to its normal condition as a liner. Jt -will remain interned, howover, till the close of the war. The crew will be transferred to the Prinz Eitel FricHicli. also interned .at Norfolk The Kronprinz Wilhelm will be dry-ducked and overhauled.

(.; ER A X 00 XTR A( TSO A XDALS. ■The Boil i n correspondent of the " Tyd'" states that- two Germans named 1-?itmoistor jiii cl Foldwebel have been sentenced. tlio first-named to six months' a.rnl the latter to two and ahalt years' imprisonment. l»y a courtmartial nt. Cobleut/. for having_ committal serious frauds in connection with military contracts. It is stated that Feldwoliel has enriched himself since the beginning of the war by hundreds of thousand's of pounds. MAMMOTH EXPORTS. The greatest volume of exports over recorded by a single port in tho history of the Fnited States left, New harbour during October, mostly for the warring nations of Europe, according to estimates niado by Customs officials at Xew York. The total, based on tabulations that are .nearly complete, will not fall far short of 17'i,imi":00dol. or about 7,000,000d0l a day for every work day of tlie month. XKKT) ( RrXKSF ARSKXALS. The impression prevails at Tokio that in .seeking to indue** China, to join tin; Kntonte alliance the Towers concerned are interested in the possibility oi prevailing upon China, to furnish arms to the" Allies. Chinese arsenals are rated' as excellent. China's entrance into the Entente wjp-nld permit of the nuuinl'act nre in that country of rifles for the Allies, and particularly Ru.-ia. l'l'X 'TFR K EXPLOSIOX. During a lecture to a squad of officers and men on the working of hand grenades in the Garrison Theatre, \\ luttington. Barracks, Lichfield, a brigade officer extracted .the .safety pin from a. 1 ivt* bomb, -which immediately exploded. Three officers -Lieutenants \\- Ni<T<', A. (>. B. Manson and' F. M. '\\enslev and nine men. were injured. Lieutenant X'ield's injuries necessitated the amputation of one arm. Private Horocks is seriouslv ill with in(,Y + lw, I,i 5. I' " I I 1,.