NEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1304, 29 September 1914, Page 4

NEWS AND NOTES.

Half the spectators at a recent football match at Zurich saw very little of the play, but participated instead in an impromptu bull-fight. Several thousand assembled on the grounds, but a large number who preferred not to pay collected in a neighbouring field, whose owner, a farmer, promptly ordered them off. As they refused to go, the farmer’s employees attacked the would-be “dead heads.’’ This aroused the anger of the crowd, who burst through a lence and drove the labourers; into the farm. Finding themselves in danger, the employees let loose a savage bull. The animal, already infuriated by the noise of the crowd, dashed at the people, and scattered them in all directions. Many were injured in the stampede.

The politicians are funny folk. Last week Mr G. W. Russell said Mr Fisher was “a true German” as far as his political tactics were concerned. “I give him pride ol place,” said the member for Avon with great emphasis, “and I think he can take the cake as a follower of William the Weed iu his methods of warfare.” The Minister for Marine has a fine thick cuticle, and he took the remark with a smile. But on Tuesday afternoon, when that very caustic individual, Mr Herdman, Minister for Justice, made the remark that the member lor Avon “would sooner see the Germans over-run Europe than that the present Government should continue to occupy the Treasury benches,” Mr Russell described the statement as “blackguardly,” “outrageous,” and “an insult to myself and constituents.” He moved that the words be taken down, and that the Minister should be made to withdraw them. After a good old patty wrangle, Mr Herdman climbed down, and peace was restored. It a collection of school childrc" behaved in this way we should say i' vras regrettable, but not unnatural. For grown men .purporting to re-pres, ru

constituencies to no oO is g o tesque. —Christchurch Siar.

At Westport the other day the miners refused to work on their weekly half-boliday so as to assise the Government in the effort it is making to build vr> r big stock ol high-grade steam coal tor navy and transport use, says the Bulletin. The miners, it is understood, objected to working on Saturday afternoon because it would debar them from witnessing the football matches. One of these days, when a warship rushes into a Maoriland port for coal to enable it to catch a foreign cruiser that is threatening Wellington, there may not be any coal available. Then probably an infuriated populace will grab the responsible persons and hang them above sea-level by the neck. That is, if the enemy has not done the hanging already. Another thing that the miners of New Zealand are exhorted to remember is that when the enemy arrives on the horizon and starts fighting he has a confirmed habit of not taking Saturday afternoon off. Usually he doesn’t respect the Sabbath, and he doesn’t care a continental for toe ball.

Boulogne, Dunkirk, and Ostend were mentioned as the three chiei ports of disembarkation of the British troops, and everywhere accompanied by scenes oi remarkable enthusiasm. At one important port the unexpected arrival of our soldiers was witnessed by a correspondent of the Echo de France, who writes that the spec tacle was one of delirious joy. “Almost the entire . Belgian public,” he adds, “collected to see the big fellows, dressed in red from head to foot, an excellent target for bullets. Instead we saw strong, fresh, and agile youths, free from all haughtiness, of a martial and resolute gait. ‘Vive les Anglais! Vive le roi George !

Vive Kitchener!’ These cries were repeated a thousand times, and did not cease until from one end of the line to another an English melody began to resound —not, indeed, sung, but whistled iu a most charming manner, perfectly new to us. The piping began softly, and then it grew louder and louder, in extraordinary crescendo.”

Imagine the New Zealand Parliament deciding to-morrow to carry on the business of the country —as a business and not as an advertising medium for Mr Massey, Sir Joseph Ward and a number of others. Imagine any advertising politician in the interests of Empire advocating the abolition of party and asking Sir Joseph Ward and Mr Massey to i nn the country while the Imperial crisis is on. Imagine a politician who would not seize somebody else’s idea and bleat it out in pub.ic as his own. Imagine a politician rushing round to a newspaper office and beseeching the editor to print only his speech and not bis name—and imagine a political speech that is worth printing, either anonymously or otherwise. It a physical war can be fought anonymously the ridiculous game ot politics (as distinct from stateorait) could be fought equally well without mention of parties or persons. We commend the idea seriously to the giants who control

this country. Auckland Observer.

Nor is the war futile writes Tohunga in the Auckland Herald. If the Kaiser could win, he and his successors would turn the whole civilised world into a tyranny, crushing out national liberties by means of a vicious military and naval organisation, compared to wnich the old Roman Empire was ideal and admirable. From the German pomt of view war may be futile enough, for the unmasking of this monstrous Prussian system has raised such an opposition that the only question is whether the Allies will ever be silly enough to make a peace which will enable the Kaiser to reorganise his armies, his fleets, and his plans in preparation for another attack upon us, or whether they will fight until the Prussian system is broken up—lock, stock and barrel. There is no futility on our side—for the war will secure our liberties and make possible our continued progress. This is worth every penny we possess, every man who can bear arms, for without liberty and hope of progress life is not worth having to free born men.

The extreme importance of physical fitness as an indispensable adjunct of military efficiency is strongly urged in a pamphlet that has been issued by the Department to the volunteers for the Expeditionary Force. The pamphlet makes a direct appeal to the men by reminding them of the strenuous sacrifices to training and “keeping fit” that most New Zealanders are prepared to make in order to gain prominence in football and other athletic sports. The men are now asked to keep fit for the honour of the Empire, to devote themselves faithfully to all the physical exercises they have been used to, and to regard the preservation of robust health as a sacred duty. They are reminded that experience has always shown that disease in warfare is responsible for three limes as many deaths as in the actual battlefield. The responsibility rests, therefore, upon the individual to maintain his physical condition at such a pitch as will offer effectual resistance to the attacks of disease.

Twelve inch guns, and those of still larger size, can tire ninety full charges only. After that they are sent to the foundry, where they have a new core inserted, and can fire a further ninety rounds. By the time a gun has fired 1.80 rounds (in titles ot peace), it is practically

obsolete. Only eight full charges are fired per annum, for practice half-charges only are used. These only wear out the gun one-eighth as much as does a full charge, or even less. Twelve inch guns tire projectiles weighing about Ssolbs., 15 inch gnus up to gooolb., and the great 16.25 guns fire a missile weighing just about a ton ! A twelve inch gun will send a projectile through three feet of wrought iron at 5000 yards. The latest German 15 inch gun will perforate 42.5 inches of steel at its muzzle. All modern ships are perforable inside Sooo yards by 12 Inch armour piercing shells. This means that projectiles from the “Australia’s” great guns would smash through the heaviest armour at present used, at a distance of four and a half miles. — From a “Catechism on the War,” in Stead’s Review of Reviews.