GENERAL WAR NEWS

Levin Daily Chronicle, 27 October 1917, Page 1

GENERAL WAR NEWS

A movincTincident.

The correspondent of the Matin on the British Front relates a touching incident which he witnessed when a British general was inspecting his men just out of the trenches. The troops, soaked with rain, plastered with mud, many of them half dead with fatigue and hunger, presented a sad spectacle. "You have fought like the gods. England thanks you through me," said the general. The men replied to the brief speech with long hurrahs, and one strident voice was beard to shout: "We are quite ready to go back to the line at once, sir, if necessary." The general was intensely moved, and as he turned his head, says the correspondent, a tear trembled on his cheek. THE BITER BIT. A fishing boat with its crew and two Belgian pilots, while fishing near West Kapelle, was visited by a German seaplane, one of the occupants of which went on board and ordered it to proceed to Zeebrugge. As the ship was within territorial waters it was picked up by a Dutch search vessel and taken to Flushing. The German airman has been interned. REPUDIATES GERAKD. Dr. von Bethmann-Hollweg, the former Imperial Chancellor, asserts that James W. Gerard, former Ambassador to Germany, in writing his revelations of Germany's war aims, gave a somewhat free rein to his imagination. The statement of the former Chancellor was the result of his reading in a London newspaper Mr Gerard's version of a conversation with him last January, in which it was alleged that Germany's peace terms were set forth. LIQUOR QUESTION IN GLASGOW. By 32 votes to 31, Glasgow Town Council agreed to proceed with the plebiscite on the liquor question. The alternatives in the plebiscite will be: Prohibition during the war, State purchase, or no change. OFFICIAL MODESTY. An army officer engaged at the Stratford Recruiting Office, when asked at the Stratford Police Court for his name for press purposes, replied, "The War Office has instructed me not to give my name in police courts."

WHALES HIT BY GUNFIRE. Two large whales have been cast up by the sea —one at Catraig, on the Haddingtonshire coast, and the other between St. Abb's Head and Redbeugli, on the Berwickshire coast. Both were badly gashed, as they had been fired at by big guns. QUARREL IN THE CLOUDS. An amazing story of a fight to the death in mid-air between a German observer and pilot was told by the survivor, Sergeant Casale, to a French airman who brought him down. The pilot said that when his own radiator was hit he turned down towards his own lines in the hope of planing down. But the observer, Lieutenant Schultz, who was wounded, ordered a landing at once so that he might receive medical attention. The pilot refused, his duty being to save the machine, which was of a new type. The quarrel in the clouds became violent. Schultz, standing up, struck the sergeant repeatedly. Finally he attempted to strangle the pilot. "I felt his fingers," said Casale, "tightening oil my throat. It was his life or mine, so I fought him. The situation was critical. There wasn't a moment to lose, for the machine was descending rapidly. Seizing the lieutenant round the waist, I pulled him towards me, and, aided by the inclination of the machine, lifted him and threw him overboard. Then I seized the levers, and tried to right the aeroplane. I was only 600 ft. up. Closing my eyes, I waited the inevitable crash. But the machine landed in a wood, and the trees saved me."

24,000 DOCTORS NEEDED FOR WAR. As 24,000 physicians are needed for war purposes, two out of every nine doctors in the United States will be called for service. Compared with the pre-war figure of £7 17s lid, it is now estimated that the cost of growing an acre of wheat varies between £9 17s and £11 19s 2d, according to a White Paper. PREFERRED THE ARMY. A grocer's warehouseman, formerly a farm hand, was told by Market Bosworth Tribunal that he could have exemption if he would go back to farm work. He said he would sooner join the army, and asked the tribunal to dismiss his appeal, which they did, the clerk remarking that they had not had a case like that out of the 2,400 the tribunal had dealt with. COURAGEOUS BRITISH AIRMAN. The Frankfurter Zeitung reports the death of the German airman, Riessinger, who had, before he met his fate, shot down four enemy machines. The report adds : During his last flight he succeeded in setting fire to the machine of his ish opponent, but the latter', seeing he was unable to escape death, rammed Riessinger's machine, with the result that both airmen fell to the ground. OUR WAR BILLS. Mr Bonar Law stated in the

House of Commons that the average daily war expenditure of Britain, France, and Germany was as follows: — Britain £6,759,000 France 4,469,000 Germany 5,000,000 The German total excludes normal Budget expenditure—debt charge, etc. —and also, as far as can be judged, advances to allies and many other items which are included in the British figure. WICKEDEST MAN IN PARIS. Among young Frenchmen recently killed in battle was Primice, only son of the late Catulle Mendes, the brilliant critic and somewhat disturbing novelist, whom somebody once styled (for show purposes) the wickedest man in Paris. Mendes was a French Jew, whose wit flashed from an amazing foundation of knowledge. He knew a tremendous lot about all arts, and it was worth any man's while to go across Europe just to bear liim talk. His first wife was Judith Gautier, daughter of the Great Theopliile. The marriage was unhappy, and when they separated they told the public all about it in very intimate terms. Primice was the son of the celebrated literary man by his second wife, a beautiful woman, who was (and is) also a poet of distinction. The young man just dead gave rare promise. He died at 20, for humanity; as good a death as any man need hope to die. £600 FOR A SOVEREIGN. In the gardens of a Petrograd cafe chantant an English sovereign was sold by auction for over £600, in aid of the funeral expenses of Cossacks who have been killed in suppressing the mutiny. The purchaser returned the sovereign, which will be resold again by auction. DEATH DUTY RECEIPTS. The net receipts of death duties in England for the last live years were— 1912-13 £25,400,369 1913-14 27,165,123 1914-15 28,542,571 1915-1G 30,937,982.. 1916-17 31,192,140 CAUSE OF AN EPIDEMIC. Bacteriological investigations show that the numerous cases of severe illness, some of them fatal, which recently occurred among children at a school canteen in the Saint-Gevvais quarter of Paris, were due to intestinal infection. No fewer than 71 parents have joined in a collective claim for damages.