LONDON IN WAR TIME.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2269, 1 October 1914, Page 3

LONDON IN WAR TIME.

A NEW ZEALANDER'S DIARY.

London, August 8. August B.—The banks opened again yesterday (Friday), and there was no rush except ■ by a few foreigners who wero in desperate need of a little ready cash. It is said that more coin was paid in than out, despite the faot that yesterday was pay day generally. I am really astounded, for after my New York experience I eipected something different. Of course the long Bank Holiday (Monday to -Thursday inclusive) gave people time to settle down, and the newspapers did their part in assuring their readers that all was right financially. .Moreover our banking system is truly magnificent, and the Government handled the crisis in a statesmanlike fashion. The issue of' £1 and 10s. notes gave people the assurance that there would be plenty of email change and that was a' Meat factor in stopping the rush for gold. England is preparedfoi ivar. That ia perhaps the most astonishing thing in the whole situation. Ilias never happened before. Everything has progressed quietly and quickly.Jlhc Array has disappeared just as the Navy did. No one knows anytliing about either tho one or tho other, but everyone thinks tho Amy is in Belgium. Tho Territorials are moving about London today—departing for somewhere evidently. I am much surprised at London. It i i very quiet. Very little noise or excitement. Of course there are the usaia. 'street vendors selling flags and favours and saying, "Show yer colours, I or "gentleman," as the case may be. The motor traffic has been substantially reduced, for the War Office has taken over many motor buses and delivery vans. Also the horses in the horse vane are not exactly first-class. There; an continual war editions of the newspapers, but aB the days progress these get less numerous and less bulky. Foi one tWng the supply of paper is interrupted—much comes from Sweden an Norway—and for another thero are now few advertisement:;, and without the latter tho papers are published at. a loss. These things show thai times are abnormal, but otherwise London doesn't seem much diifej-ont from usual. 01 course, this does not. apply to Whitehall and the neighbourhood, where, there ire naturally many policemen and much traffic. There is 'another sign of the times —my salary lias been reduced, but only by 20 per cent., ami not 30 per cent, as I expected. However,'we will see what next.week brings forth. Those i.nluck.v little Belgians are malting a 'magnificent defence of-Liego, and by: sc doing are giving timo to the othoi Allies, which is what is needed. Also it will no doubt affect the morale of botl Germans and French and in opposite . senses. .It is said that when we decided ■ to come in the French became quite cheory, whereas before that they were i merely dodged. For years the Germans havo tried to impress everybody w: i tho idea that their army was invincible, ■ and to some extent they succecded. Liege has shoin that there is somo doubt about the matter. August 10. —A great many people don't realise that for years to come they i will ■be much poorer -than tliey have i been in tfyj past. For one tiling there , ■ will bo hundreds of millions added 1 ) tho national debt, and that- will Ilea: 1 interest every year and will require , linking fund also. Trade also will bo ■ bad. I reckon we won't got an indem--3 nity from Germany either. Franco, trill want her £200,000,000 back again, and -• jKxir. little Belgium deserves, something Bubstantial, sii there will be. nothing left for us,' for Germany before the war was in a morass of debt that was increasing rapidly year by year. That no doubt had something to do with , the ivar, for I expect the military party reckoned they could not bleed the country for ever as they had been doing in the past few yeans, , Their military ?> pendituro noccssitated now loans every year, while ours was paid out of income. Bosides that we were paying off our existing debt by eight or ton millions a year. I expect this will mean the end of the military party's reign in Germany. I hope so anvway. Perhaps the end of the Hohenzollern reign! Wo. are getting no news from tho seat of war except" general statements. Wo don't ev3u feiiow where our own anny is. We are at present raising another 100,003 forHlio regulars. How they will officor them I don't know. . August 13. —To-day . we got tho news that the Government would guaranteo good bills accepted prior to August 4, so now the banks will discount them in the normal way, and thus credit will be to a. certain extent established once more. I wrote ,to see if he, as adjutant of the Aberdeen district, could put me in. tho way of a commission in the Engineers, - but ho replied to-day that his crowd was full up, aud had a long waiting list,. No,reply can be got out of the War Office—it's too/busy I expect with other things just at the moment. It is now rumoured that the new units are going to be sent to India and Egypt'to replace tho seasoned armies in those ■ places,- which are being withdrawn to Europe The real news that wo are getting is very meagre. No war correspondents are allowed at the front, so ■ the news •is al\vays second hand and very stale, except that there are some correspondents in Holland, quite close to tho Liege battlefield (Liege is only about 15 miles from the Dutoh border)/ who got pretty accurate news, apparently. I fancy, however, that during tho last day or two they havo been removed further away by the Dutch authorities. August 18.—To-day we. heard that the British Expeditionary Force lias landed in France. It appears that the French newspapers. have been discussing this landing for the past week, but tho Government has liot permitted the circula- , fcion of French newspapers hero. I don't know the reason of. this, but perhaps it is to prevent the' German Government agents in this country - from blowing up bridges and so forth. Nothing of that sort has^occurred so far, although several sentries have been shot at 1 by people, who have escaped, and, several foreigners'havo been arrested in the neighbourhood of bridges, tunnels, _$nd so forth. Kitchener's new army is progressing, over 40.000 havingbeen enrolled up to yesterday. More would have been got if the recruiting facilities had been larger. As the Recruiting Department deals only with 30,000 per annum, in normal times,_ it couldn't deal even when augmented with more than about the satne number in a week. However, the facilities are increasing and so are therefore the doily number of recruits. Drilling is proceeding all over London of the new men, tho gardens in the middlo of tho squares about Bloomsbury being pressed into service. I see men in the Russell Square gardens every day! We are- now waiting anxiously for news of tho big battle between the rival forces, which is now taking place, or will take place in the course of a day or two. . So far we have had no reverses, which seems to have been of very great benefit to the French especially. It has disposed of the "perfect- war machine" of the Kaiser—the unbeatable _ German Army. Everyone now recognises that the Gorman Army can lie. beaten by their opponents if the latter are _ properly led. Also, the commissariat of the German advance force seems to have broken down —another part of the niachino isn't working properly. Of course, we realise that the machine isn't b.oaten yet by a lonp; way, but we realise also that it isn't invincible, nnd that from the Fretioh point of view is n groat stop, for the French aro a volatilo pco-,

pie. That is rino reason I expect that the British have gone, to Franco and not to Belgium. Thoy will, I fancy, go to the "Gap of Treves" to act as a stiffening to the French, for that is the point where the German advance in forco will most likely take place.