GERMAN ATROCITIES

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2328, 9 December 1914, Page 10

GERMAN ATROCITIES

PLIGHT OF BELGIAN REFUGEES. The contents of a letter received by a 'Wellington, resident from a lady friend residing in Harrow, England, give endorsement 'to the stories of the dreadful atrocities which are being committed by the Germans and also a tit-bit of information respecting the character of the German people when at war. The letter, which has been handed to us, includes the following:—"lf ;ou were here you would be horrified at the sights one sees and tho tales one hears about' the German atrocities. Even here, at our Cottage Hospital at Harrow, there, is a Belgian woman, whose back was sliced up and' down, by a German soldier,, and there are two little children with their tongues cut out. Isn't it wicked? We have heaps and heaps of. Belgian refugees here in Harrow. Some of them were wealthy people, but at the present time are quite penniless. The wreath from New Zealand for the Nelson Monument was very lovely, and was placed almost in the front. I could not help thinking to myself how thankful Britain ought to be that we have men' as brave, and even braver to my way of thinking (because warfare nowadays seems to have reached the uttermost pitch of oruelty), than the men of.a hundred years.ago. My only regret is that I-am not rich so as to be able to help the brave Belgians more, but mj auntie and mysell have sent- all tho clothes that we could spare for them, and : my uncle allows the' refugees 'here some bread, but there are lots of them in London to-night absolutely hungry. Have you found the war make any difference to the prices of goods ? It is not very bad here. Sugar is the chief item, I think. The month before the war we bought sugar at 19s. a owt., now it is 425. 6d., and cf course we have to pay 5 per cent, on all flour for war risk. Before I close I must tell you this little story. A girl friend of mine has a brother in a bank in London. For years he and several other fellows have been very close . friends, always went about together. One among them was a German. When tho war broke out, of course he had to return to his country, and he-expressed very great regret that he had to do so, and said that he would rather fight' for England. Well, all these fellows gave him_ a farewell dinner, and even ; bought him a farewell present, suitably inscribed. They all went to Charing Cross to see him off, and he even cried, but—just as the train was on the rr.cve he leaned out of the window and spat in their faces, laughed at them, and ourse'd them and England. They tried to get the door open to pull him out, but it was too late. Now, wasn't he a wretch? And there aro heaps like him in England."