FRANCE AT WAR

Hokitika Guardian, 9 October 1917, Page 4

FRANCE AT WAR

AN MAYS IMPRESSIONS. Addressing a large public meeting at the Wellington Town Hall last week, Mr C. J. Parr, M.P. lor Auckland, spoke interesting!}' of his experiences while inspecting the Western front when in France a few mouths ago. He spoke of “ France at War,” and the devastation lie witnessed in the territories previously occupied by the enemy. 11 e also described the work in the . fields, entirely done by old men, j women, and girls. Mr Parr ap- j [ pealed to his hearers never to for- | I get that it was France and France ! Mone that saved, not only her own ■ provinces, but the British Empire, iueluditpgvNigv Zealand, irom the Gvrmim menace. We could never ivpav win! France had done. Now n was tlie turn of the British sol'd er, and he had been told by a high I'teneli official that Verdun would hive fa.leu if Sir Douglas Haig had int commenced the Somme offenI Mve six weeks before it was origii;..ly i•' mi led. England then s red iw.mce. lor if Verdun had laden things might have turned (.•it very differently. Mr Parr close ibed a visit to the town of Senlis, ~ icli was destroyed by the Geriik.u.v p...0.e they evacuated it. The retreating soldiers threw hand j grenades into the houses and shops and the inhabitants had to take refuge in the fields, where they dug themselves holes in the ground. To-day they were living in the cellars of their ruined homes or in dug-outs on the river banks. The speaker said he wished New Zealanders could see the condition of the French in the occupied territories and what war means to the women and children. Every man would then be eager to go and help. He then described his visit to the front trenches, the drive at night to General Russell’s headquarters, where sleep was impos- ' sible owing to the constant roar ol the guns, and the flare of the star 1 shells. Next day he visited the regimental baths and saw 500 Bel- ’ gian women washing our men’s ; clothes and seven and eight liun- - dred .girls unending them. As parents, he said, all should be well satisfied of the care being taken of the men.

He then proceeded to describe in amusing terms his visit to the iront. trenches, under the charge of Eieut Seddon (whose uniform he donned; and the discomfort of wearing a steel helmet. The description of communication trendies, the first dressing station (two stories underground), and the telephone offices, etc., was most interesting and was listened to with eagerness by the mothers present, also the description of the trench itself, and the dug-outs, where the men live while on duty. Mr Parr concluded by a tribute to the men’s spirit, and the good repute they had made for themselves in both France and England.