DEFIANT BELGIANS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2533, 6 August 1915, Page 5

DEFIANT BELGIANS

MECHANICS REFUSE TO WORK FOR GERMANS WHOLESALE ARRESTS AND IMPRISONMENTS By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright London, August 4. the Press Bureau states: "Tho Belgian Legation reports that tho enginedi Ivors at Liege have refused to work, tile steep railway.' Tliev experienced odious persecution at the' hands of tho foci man railway officials, wlio iiavo threatened a famine to non-workers. _ At Luttre, mechanics refused to work tor seven to twenty marks daily. After ; several days 1 imprisonment they were sent to Germany, leaving amid the cheers of the citizens. A few days later a hundred were paraded, and officers called out, "Let thoso ivbo will work step to the front.". The whole body steppedto the rear, and shouted! "Viva la Belgiquol" The Germans then arrested M. Kesselor, manager of the Luttre works, who was thrown into gaol 011 straw among his mechanics. Ho was urged to adviso them to undertake civil repairs, but all refused to do so. Ono hundred and ninety wcro then sent to Germany. At Malines the Germans threatened to fine the city £10,000 if the Burgoniaster did not supply a list of mechanics. No list existed, but five hundred names were extracted from the householders' register, and the men were arrested aud taken to the workshops, where they were locked up. .They refused to work. Their wives took them food, whereupon the whole of, tbo population of Malines were forbidden to leave their homes after 6 o'clock in the evening, and no one was allowed to enter or leave the city for some days. A reign of terror prevailed. There -was a violent scene when Cardinal Mercier proposed to quit Malines for Brussels. No single mechanic of the Central Railway has resumed his work. At Swegehem, 35D wireworkers refußed to supply wire, and the town was thereupon isolated and the people forbidden to cart provisions in the streets. Tho workmen were driven by force into ,the wire factory, but tliey still refused to work, and sixty were sent to tho Courtrai prison. Their wives, who were sent after them, were odiously maltreated. All these , efforts to make the men work proving useless, a notice was then issued to the effect that as the workmen, under tlie pretence of patriotism and The Haguj Convention, wero organising difficulties, the communal authorities would be hold responsible, present liberties would be suspended, and fresh restrictions imposed. BRILLIANT FUNCTION GREAT BANQUET TO GENERAL BOTHA By Telegraph—Press Association-Copyright Johannesburg, August 4. The banquet in honour of General Botha was the most'brilliant function over held on the Rand. General Botha said; in reply to the toast of his health, that the Union forces did not go to South-West Africa for the purpose of land-grabbing, but tho Kaiser's guarantee of independence indicated G'ennan designs 011 tho Union, and made impossible the return of the territory. All tlio serious trouble in South. Africa'had- been due to German intrigue; tho German native policy was a danger to the Union. General Smuts,. Union Defence Minister, recalling the removal of the Imperial troops, said the Union's promise to guard South Africa held good in the Future. BUTCHERS, NOT SOLDIERS LATEST' REPORT ON' GERMAN ATROCITIES. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright O'Times" and Sydney "Suu" Services.) - London, August 4. . A Paris correspondent says that the report on the German atrocities conveys the impression that it is no army of soldiers but an army of butchers that is being engaged. Wounded, who were left behind in French hospitals were frequently treated with dreadful barbarity. French doctors and stretcherbearers were similarly treated. The report deprives the Gemans of any vestige of right to ho regarded as a civilised enemy. FRENCH WOMEN BETRAY THEIR COUNTRY By Telegraph-Press Association-Copyright Paris, August 4. A French woman of forty-two' years was sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment, aud her daughter, aged nineteen, was sentenced to death for communicating information- to tho Germans at Souchez in Ootober last, llicy were arrested after months spent m Germany as prisoners. , AUSTRALIA'S TWO LOST SUBMARINES BRITAIN ASKED TO REPLACE THEM. By Telegraph—Press Association-Copyright Melbourne, August 4. The Federal Government Las decided to ask tho Imperial authorities to replaco the two submarines lost. ' [Australia had two submarines. Ono of them was lost while on patrol duty in the neighbourhood of New Guinea, and the other , was lost recently in tho Sea of Marmora.] ■ TERRIBLE RAVAGES OP DISEASE THE TYPHUS HORROII IN SERVIA. By Telegraph—Press Association—Conyright ("Times" and Sydney "Suu" Services.) , London, August .4. A correspondent at Kragujevtaz de-. scribes the terrible ravages of typhus !in Servia. In every part of the countryside one oncouutors tho dreadtui black flag, signalling that sonieono is dead. There are villages where every cottage is flagged, and 111 some town streets there are long lines of _ flags. Nevertheless the people bear their sufferings with placid patience. In the midst of war, between the battle-lines, in ruined, blasted, and disease-smitten homes the country folk continue their daily duties. WHEN ROGUES FALL OUT HOW A CONTRABAND CARGO CAME TO LIGHT. By Telegraph—Press Association-Copyright Paris, August 4. 111. coiiseqiiQUce of a disputo between the sailors and the captain of a Greek vessel over the division of the profits of contraband, the sailors reported to the authorities that the vessel had contraband aboard for a German submarine. The vessel was searched and thirty tons of oil discovered 1 . The ship was -stopped and tlig captain ,