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New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1344, 27 January 1916, Page 41

Few of the people who talk glibly about Russia putting eight millions of men in the field have the least idea of what the figures mean. A million of men, if each man was given a yard of ground, would cover a front of 50 miles 10 deep, and leave 120,000 men over for emergencies.

The Cossacks, whom we know by reputation and of whom the Germans are learning by experience, are men of war from their youth up. They pass into the army at 17, they pass out at 37 —sometimes. They are more highly educated than the average Russian, and believe whole-heartedly that “cleanliness is next to godliness,” and to be worthy of heaven a man must die clean. Consequently upon the eve of battle they don their best clothes and their cleanest body-linen, and wash and comb with punctilious care. Which takes us back to the Pass of Thermopylae, where in the early dawn the Three Hundred of Leonidas combed their long hair. They were to go to meet their gods; they would go fittingly prepared.

Mr. W. J. Mclnnes, mine host of the Star Hotel, Otahuhu, has evidently come to stay in Auckland, where he has had varied interests for some time past. He has been located at Otahuhu for several months, but during last season had the full brothers Achilledes and Achilleus racing on the metropolitan, suburban and country racecourses in the Auckland province and had his colours unfurled also on southern courses during the season and at Blenheim, where the Achilles geldings were bred and where Mr. Mclnnes has many friends. The StarHotel is an old-time hostelry, and will lose none of its popularity under the management of Mr. Mclnnes, whose previous experience in the same line of business has extended over some years. The hotel has been renovated and fitted with every convenience and affords the best of accommodation for the travelling public. *♦■ * *

Quite a sensation was caused in New York the other day (says an English shipping journal) when word was passed round that a number of the big German liners tied up in the harbour were about to make a dash for the open. People coming from South Brooklyn declared that they had seen several Hamburg-American steamships moving from their berths, and confirmation of the story came from no less a personage than the marine superintendent of Herr Ballin’s company. He added, however, that all that had been done was to turn the liners round, as after spending nearly twelve months alongside the piers the metal in the latter had badly deflected the compasses, and it was therefore decided to turn the vessels round in order to readjust them to some extent. The enforced idleness of the great proportion of the German mercantile marine must be costing a pretty penny in depreciation.

In 1905 Admiral Fisher had visited the Kiel Canal, and as a consequence

he suggested the building of the dreadnought type of battleship, as it would be larger than any of the German warships, and the Kiel Canal could not float such a vessel. He advocated this, not so much for the sake of possessing large armaments, but because Germany would be placed at a disadvantage owing to the large expense necessitated in the enlargement of the Kiel Canal. Knowing the time that would be required for Germany to adjust herself to the altered circumstances, he predicted that the war would commence in 1914. That is the man England is proud of to-day, whom the navy loves, and whom we have to remember for the work he has done.

Perhaps the queerest city in the world is that of Nang Harm, the home of the royal family of Siam. This city’s peculiarity lies in the fact that it is composed of women and children alone. It is in the centre of Bangkok, has high walls around it, and in its population of 9000 there is not a single man, though the King occasionally pays a visit. The name Nang Harm means “veiled women.” There are shops, markets, temples, theatres, streets, and avenues, parks, lakes, trees and flower gardens; a hall of justice, judges, and executioner, police, generals, and soldiers; all the positions, official and otherwise, being filled by women. The only man in all Siam who can enter this city is the King. It is the home of his family and the family of the King before him. The ruler of Siam may have as many wives as he pleases. Each wife has her own children and slaves —therefore a small city is needed to provide accommodation for them all.

Kavala, where the British force landed, ■ is a town of importance. The Messageries Maritimes boats from Marseilles to Constantinople make it a port of call. The traveller approaching from the sea looks upon a

bold headland, with a small harbour on either side. Above the busy quays rises a long line of Oriental domes, ana above that again a bluff Lne of rock cutting the town in half; on the sides of this scarp you see terraces of white houses studded with minarets. High over all stands a massive castle. As the steamer draws closer in you can make out a long aqueduct on two tiers of arches, which brings water to the city from Mount Pangaeus. The mountain looms dark in the uistance, and from it two sheer cliffs approach the sea.

“I was surprised,” says a neutral, “at the kindness which the Russian invaders showed towards the native population. The Russian is a simple leiiow, and I expected to find the common soldier exceed-ngly ignorant. But he had plenty of common sense, and never hesitated to state what he thought of a man who asked a foolish question with an obvious answer. His respect for churches was very marked. Not one has been injured, except in cases where it came inside the line of fire. Even the little wayside praying centres have been spared. This respect for churches was observed by all the heterogeneous elements in the invading army. Some of them looked very savage and threatening. Their very appearance inspired fear, especially the Tartars, in their short coats and strange mixture of uniforms.”

Mr. John B. Herreshoff, the famous American yacht designer, who died recently, was the man most responsible for the successful defence of the America Cup, for he designed the Vigilant, Defender, and Columbia, which defeated the British challengers, Valkyrie 11., Valkyrie 111., and the first Shamrock, and he also designed the boat which was, in happier circumstances, to have raced the latest Shamrock. The marvellous thing about Mr. Herreshoff was that he was blind from the age of 15. He only

knew by his sensitive touch the shape of the boats he designed, yet that touch enabled him constantly to correct and modify the subtle curves of the modern racing yacht. He must surely be one of the most remarkable cases of overcoming the terrible handicap of blindness. The shape of the modern yacht was something he had never seen. Yet he could conceive it in his mind, and carry it, as English yachtsmen know too well, to perfection.

“The official expressions conveyed in Mr- Wilson’s correspondence courses on international law are no guide to public opinion,” states Mr. Hugh Ward, recently returned from the States. “And I came to the conclusion that they were local rather than foreign politics. There is a big German population with a block vote. Ther are also German organisations that are causing the secret service no end of worry, what with bomb plots and other forms of anarchy. The Germans in America know that the unhyphenated Americans are against Germany. They are made aware of it at every turn. It has gone to the extent of refusing to buy German goods. The week I left New York the oldest, and formerly the most prosperous, German restaurant of that city simply went broke on account of the anti-German feeling. If America isn’t in the war as a nation, there are thousands of her sons who are. Why, one cannot pick up a paper in America without leading of young Americans having been wounded or killed fighting with theBritish o r French. America couldn’t do more if she were actually in on the side of the Allies. I doubt, indeed, if she could do as much, for she would have to raise and equip her forces. This would require the energies now being devoted to the manufacture of munitions for the Allies.”