WAR NEWS BY MAIL.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15131, 27 January 1917, Page 5

WAR NEWS BY MAIL.

CANON SCOTT RECOVERS BODY OF IIIS SON. ' LONDON. December 1. Canadian padres have won hj place for themselves on the Somme. Two have already been decorated and several others have been recommended. Field ambulance officers pay great tribute to these men of all denominations for the i aluablo help given in attending wounded in the rush that inevitably follows from an attack. The most remarkable story of devotion yet is that which a wounded officer tells me of Canon Scott, who returned to London to-day-One of his sens was the first officer killed in leading at attack on the Regina trench. Waves of Canadians swept over where ho fell. The fortunes of war caused us to retire, and in the meantime young Scott’s body was buried with others. Later on the Canadians captured Rogiua trench again, ; - time to hold it. Canon Scott’s duties took him into this front! l : ue, and night after night, assisted by his faithful batman—he refused the help of officers who were overwhelmed with their own work—under shellfire he dug among the hasti-ly-made graves, searching for his son’s remains. Finally he found young • Scent and with fatherly tenderness carried him bad to a quiet resting place behind the lines. There with his own hands he erected a cross and offered up prayer to the God of battles. Brave father and brave son. were united again for a brief moment. AMAZING DUG-OUTS. Describing the battlefield on which our troops gained fresh laurels this week, Mr Beach Thomas, in the Daily ilr.il, says: The crowning marvel of the German defence lies across the river on die south side, if you slip along the river road you come to an opening about seven feet high in the clay cliff, and when you have penetrated into the secret place vou find a new world—a Monte Christo world. Even the guns which thunder to madness outside are blurred to a murmur, indeed are often wholly inaudible. A sickly reek pervades the place, not the reek of dead bodies, though a few wounded men from die battle, vainly seeking shelter here, lie where they have fallen in the passages. Meat and bread, perhaps, have mouldered in the stores, and the volatile dust of the fungus blends with the pungent darkness of the clay. But those wdio first entered this cavern had no other thoughts than curiosity or apprehension. They W’alkod into the unknown, and on and around one traverse after another, until the broad corridor—seven feet high and as much in Breadth—was cut by another of like sort leading right and left. The leg of this T-shaped avenue is about 300 yards, and the arms—not yet fully explored—are at least 200. Double bedrooms and chambers of various sizes lead off from the corridor. Borne arc papered ; all may be lit by electricity, and the upholstery is sufficient. Panelling is frequent.How many men could barrack here I do not know, but over 400 enemy sol--I!°rs took refuge during the attack and filed out meekly after it wuis over. Perhaps the place was used as much for a storehouse as a barracks, and we know that quantises of machine-guns and other trench weapons w'ere kept there.