MEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1369, 4 March 1915, Page 4

MEWS AND NOTES.

One of Kitchener'* Johnny Haws, though new to soldiering, was keen as mustard, and pro]>orly impressed by the importance of his .sergeant. Twice the sergeant looked him np while on sen-try-go, and each time asked him. “Have you seen the Colonel ?” to which the new Tommy replied "No, sir.'’ At. last the Colonel turned up and spoke to the sentry, who was blandly ignorant of his commanding officer's identity. The Colonel was in mufti, and the sentry did not salute, him. Noticing this, the Colonel sharply asked, “Do you know that I am the Colonel?'’ “Aro yon?” replied the sentry. "My God! you’ll cop it. The sergean’t been round here asking lor you twice. He’s looking for you everywhere.”

In a recent letter from London the correspondent of tho Sydney Sun says;—An aged priest in a peaceful Flemish village is one of the last mon to raise his voice against what have been regarded as the canons of Christianity. But the Gormans have placed themselves beyond the pale of religion, and the Matin describes a sermon delivered hist Sunday, where tho gospel of the day was based upon the story of Herod and the massacre of the innocents. To women parishioners who had bocn maltreated by the Germans the aged priest said : —"Yes, my sisters, for it is to you alone that I desire to speak now in die name of the God of Vengeance, who condemns, and tho God of Pity, who absolves. Von will not wish to perpetuate tin- abomination of which you have been the innocent and holy victims. The dregs of darkness must not appear in dm light of day. Let each of you become tho pitiless ilevod of the opprobious line which the infamous Amalekitos have raised up on their bloody paths. Proscribe, extirpate. exterminate without, scruple, the filthy and criminal tares which would one day dishonour die pure wheat of our plains. It is I. the man of God. strong in the cries of revolt of my conscience and in the supreme sense ol the Divine Word, who confer boldly on yon the right, and calmly indicate to you die duty of letting no impure blood corrnpi die treasure ot your veins, in which sleep awaiting tho re-awakening of century-old liberties, the high destinies of our race. I give you absolution lieioru God and man, and if there is sin let the expiation and tho weight fall on mo.’ r The London correspondent of the Sydney Sun says the French soldiers were surprised at the'British troops fraternising with die Germans at Christmas time. To Frenchmen brought in close contact with the enemy, every German has tiorns hi head’and is'to be exterminated. . .or" is to be no quarter othor than that u ml the rules of war provide. I.larro'.ed iv the horrifying atrocities which the •i.-any has committed on their sod, they can ,ecl nothing bur. burning hatreo fm him the atrocities report which nas be i circulated on tho sworn testimony ot tin who suffered justifies the adinul ■ of t. French. Murder and rape uud o Auto, in which neither age nor sex lias been spared, have blighted the progress of d e "waders. and if nothing non; atrocious has been done it is only i cause die limit ot human sin has been reached. Lis :n. ■ -nit to the brute ereatioi n, ■ ’I atrocities bestial, since no In.de feast : consciously cruel. These things are rather the work of devils in human lorm, for they display a calculated ferocitv, unexcelled oven by the servants nil Ss of who was called “The Scourge o‘. God.’' The position of the Turks in , Syria is not a particularly happy one, and since they net about preparing to invade Egypt, they have been trying to intimidate the Lebanese. The Turks appeared to think that if the Allies landed an armed force in Syria the inhabitants of the country about Mount Lebanon would co-operate. The Ottoman authorities threatened to send a force into the Lebanon to disarm tho population, and as a preliminary they approached Druses of the Hauran to join with them against tho Europeans anti counteract, if they could not persuade them to attack tho Maronitcs, who people the slopes of Lebanon, tho opposition which the latter would oiler to any Turkish violation of the Mountain’s independence. Tho Druses of both the Lebanon and the Hauran—the mountainous plateau east of the Jordan and south of Mount Hermon—declared, however, that in no circumstances would they he a party to any action against tho subjects of the Allies. The Druses, it may be mentioned, are the remarkable people inhabiting the district in northern Syria, comprising the whole of the southern range of Mt. Lebanon and the western slope of Anti-Lebanon. Nearly half of tho Druse nation inhabit the Jebel Druse, a mountainous district south-west of Damascus, where they maintain a quasi-indepeudenee, refusing conscription or taxation to the Turkish Government. The Druses aro estimated at 70,000, unci, like the Maronitcs, are a brave, handsome and industrious people, can almost all read and write, and have many characteristics in common with the Scottish Highlanders. They have with incredible toil carried soil fTom tho valleys up and along tho hillsides, which are planted with olive, mulberry and vino. In feeling, they are friendly with the English, and some have learned a little English.

Sergeant Harlow, of tl»o Connaught Hangers. Roscommon,, gives an interesting description of life at. the front, in a letter he has written homo. “While we were in tho trenches,” ho says, “a rather amusing incident occurred. A chum of mine, Johnnie Salmon, a Roscommon man, suggested that we should he the better for a cup of tea. At this time thoro was a. heavy artillery fusiladc from the enemy’s lines. ' To 'make the tea Salmon hud to enter a deserted hon-o close to the trendies. The water in the kettle had reached boiling point, and lie was about to make the tea, when crash came a ’Jack Johnson,” and whipped the roof from the house. Fortunalelv, Salmon. when ho extricated himself ‘ from the debris, found he was uninjured, and.

walking over to lie mechanically remarked. ‘Tin l next time you want tea, Harlow'. you can go and make it yourself.’ He was apparently more annoyed at having lo.il the ton than startled at his narrow eseupo. Sergeant- Harlow describes the fighting on the Aisne as terrific, and boars witness to the conspicuous bravery of the Irish Hoards, who scarcely wailed for the word of command to throw themselves headlong upon the enemy. When (sergeant C. .Bennett, of the Norfolk regiment, visited the depot at Norwich 10 claim his pay from .-optember Id, he wa# told; “Bi-mu-n. you are oflieially a dead man. nothing can ar i.iv-ent be done for yon.” Bennett was otiicially reported killed 011 September Ist. As a matter of fact he was only wounded, and was brought to the ' ambridgo Hospital, Aldershot When suf-,-ier- iy recoveri.d (a.- returned to hi- home in Heading. Suae that lime h- ha- made frequent aj.plii-at ions for hi- pay. without .• sali-faeiory iv-ull. A major who knew n well conducted Bennett to hi- quarters. •I exhibited t lie regimental roll of honour I mm. “There, sure enough ...is my death ii-corded,” said Bennett. in • hope of j . hieing the War Ollice that he is alive. , fa, pri-pareil (lapii- to be .-igm-d ' .. . ids employers, a clergy man. mid a repre- ■ iw* of the police, and in- intends to • -no,nil thorn to the Lh Pa l l me.it. A discovery of considerable value was made on a farm at Hikulaia, in the Oliinemuri dial rid. Water v, us scarce, and the owner decided (o sink a. bore on the property. At 18 fed. saml and mini were met with, and varying country was; interested by the bore until a depth of ICO fed was reached, when what was evidently a large log was passed through. At. 170 feet it wan decided (o relinquish (he boring, bid no sooner had the rods been tilled than there was a i.. h of w.it'-r, and to the surprise of all il proved to be hot, and with a similar 1.-.sie i:. the Te Aroha waters. Tin- water rushed frillli at the rati of InOO gallon- per hr .u-. and being cooled tlm drought, so far as ;iie sjock wits concerned, wit- overcome. Th ■ water is still flowing, and it is intended to have, a careful analysis made so that there is the possibility of the discovery proving to be a valuable eommereial one. A British warship operating on the Arabian coast, recently seized a Turkish dhow. While searching the prize, an ollicer. treading on a piece of sacking in the bold, felt something soft beneath it. On investigation four wretched Abyssinian girls wore found, still decorated with the ornaments they were wealing when kidnapped to be taken across the sea and solditi to slavery. The poor creature 6 were brought alongside the warship, and as they were too weak to move, a stalwart bluejacket picked up eaeh damsel and carried her up the gangway. One of them, to .secure her position, pul her arm around her preserver's neck, and he, observing doubtless some amusement on the face of an ollicer on deck, explained ; “I can’t help it, sir; she will do it.” The dunes near Nieiiport were favourite spots for I lie Herman snipers, and even after the district seemed cleared of troops one sniper after another would creep back and begin his work, carefully hidden h. the sand and wire grass (writes a correspondent to a London palter). They are telling a story in Hie trenches of a Belgian soldier whose friend was shot by a sniper from a. dune top near Wosteiulo (which must not he confused with Wcstende Bains, on the coast-line a mile or more away). Tin; soldier said nothing, but left his post and crept away towards ■ coast well to the lefl. From here he worked his way bit bybit, round bump after hunt)) of sand, till he was within sight of the sniper, Ilis first shot at 100 yards awoke the sniper to his existence, and the German dodged down. The Belgian crept on to within 50 yards, and the two men were dodging one another round the same sand dune, each wailing for a chance to shoot. Finally the Belgian took his life in his hands and made straight for the Herman over the top of the dune. The duel ended witli a knife thrust, and the Belgian came back to his lines later. A bullet wound in the arm was the extent of his injuries.