MISS LOUISE MACK.

Western Star, 16 April 1920, Page 3

MISS LOUISE MACK.

WRITER, JOURNALIST, AND WAR

CORRESPONDENT

During a recent chat with a Press reporter Miss Louise Mack, the wellknown authoress, journalist, and war correspondent, unfolded an interesting story of life in many lands, from the war zone to the leper island of Mocgnai, in the Fiji group. Miss Mack is a lady of charming personality, whose sympathetic nature and geniality of character is at once so evident that one recognises immediately the attributes that', make her so popular amongst all with whom she comes in contact. She was born in Australia, and on becoming the wife Of an English barrister, Mr Creed, left for Europe and resided on the Continent for sixteen years, six of which were spent in Italy. After living for some years in France, Belgium, Germany, Holland, and Russia, she settled down in London. Her husband died five years ago. In the course of the interview, Miss Mack stated that at the outbreak of war she received a commission from Lord Northcliffo and went to 1 Belgium as a war corres-pondent in 1914, acting for the Daily Mail and the- Times. Her knowledge of languages was an important factor in enabling her to be in the niidst of some of the most gigantic happenings of the war. One of her first experiences was as an eyewitness of the military occupation of the city of Antwerp by the Germans. Miss Mack maintains that this was no blunder on the part of the British Naval Brigade, under the Hon. Winston Churchill, but, on the other hand it was a glorious success, in spite of the fact that Antwerp had fallen. Disguised as a. peasant Miss Mack, to use her own words, sneaked about Belgium in her position as a correspondent during the German occupation. She was in Antwerp during the bombardment, and in her disguise waited to see the German occupation when the Belgians had to evacuate. Then five, days passed before she was able to elude the Germans and get into Holland. Her knowledge of the language enabled her to gain the confidence of the Belgians, and! a daring journey into Brussels, and an interview with Max, the Belgian burgomaster, followed. There Miss Mack met Edith Oavell, who was engaged in her hospital in the old Belgian Cathedral olf St. Qudule, in conjunction with twelve other English nurses, and thousands of Belgians, .’mostly old women and children, were joining in with them in prpving to and worshipping their God. It was the most pathetic sight she had even seen. The Germans were scattered over the whole of the pews with bayonets between their knees, but the Belgians went on singing and praying. All manner of audiences have been faced by Miss Mack since she mad© her first appearance as iai public speaker in London iu 1915. The largest she says was at Toowoomba (North Queensland) and numbered! 3000, while the strangest was on the island of Mooguai, in the Fiji group, where lepers are treated. When Miss Mack visited the island there was one Englishman there, one of whoso legs was gone up to the knee. His age was 65, ho occupied a little house by himself and was one of the (most up-to-date persons she had met in regard to the news of the world. It is a noteworthy fact" that Miss Mack was for several years lady, editor of the Sydney Bulletin. It is interesting to note thait as am authoress Miss Mack has had twenty books published, all being in London with the exception of some poems published in her girlhood days in Australia; At present . Miss Mack is writ* ing ‘New Zealand After the War,’ and is gathering her material from the places she is visiting and the people she is meeting. The book is to he published by Fisher Unwin inLondon about next October. “I look upon New Zealand as the coming country of the world, and my .publishers are eagerly awaiting my hook,” Miss Mack says. “ They assure me that tremendous interest is being taken in England in this Dominion.” The object of Miss Mack’s visit here is to deliver a recital, which, to use her own words may be described as “little dramas snatched from life,” acted by herself and! with her own moving pictures. Miss Mack will appear in More’s Hall this afternoon, at 3 o’clock and to-night at 8 o’clock.