GENERAL WAR NEWS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1726, 16 June 1917, Page 4

GENERAL WAR NEWS.

The submarine menace has frightened one man in** 4 England—a Portuguese who is now in prison awaiting deportation. He has asked to be allowed to stay in prison until the end of the war, saying he would rather he there than run the risk of being a victim of the submarine pirate. The novelty of the petition has, it is understood, taken the authorities so much by surprise that for the moment they are acceding to the man's request, and he is by his own desire still an inmate of an English prison cell. BELGIANS OPEN GERMAN EYES. Belgian workmen who have escaped from Germany state that the free conversations they have carried on with German fellow-work-men in the various centres to which they were sent have had the effect

of opening the eyes ot the ignorant German workmen for the first time to the real condition of affairs and to the brutality exercised by their own people. This had a considerable effect, and is one of the reasons why the Germans are sending back even those Belgians who under pressure agreed to work. WHERE SHALL WE BUT IT ? Some of the “comforts ’ sent to France for the Indians' when they were there puzzled the men, notably the body-belts, which were received in large numbers. “They ,were far 100 big to fit the slim and graceful waist of the native of India/ Major IT. M. Alexander relates in “On Two Fronts.” “ The drivers eyed them curiously, wondering what they were for. Some wrapped them round their heads, converting them into a sort of puggaree; others, despairing of discovering their proper use, hung them round (he neck of their mules.” THE NEW WOUND-HEALER. Speaking at the Middlesex Hospital annual meeting, Captain Sampson Handley, one of the honorary surgeons, appealed for support tor the. Bland-Sutton Institute, where the new antiseptic Jlaviu was discovered by Dr. Browning. Flavin, of which there is now ample supply, has proved of great value in the treatment of septic wounds. Unlike most other antiseptics, llavin, in destroying the microbes, does not injure the flesh or the white blood corpuscles which attack the microbes. THE CHOCKED MADE STRAIGHT. Much public, interest has been directed to the treatment given at Croydon Military Hospital, which specialises in cases of injured limbs. The head of the hospital, Colonel Deane, is a skilful gytnnast, and in the system he has adopted ho makes use of all the apparatus usual for the development of .muscle. The wounded soldiers are put through a rigorous course of training, and in a surprisingly she; space of time crooked limbs have been made straight, and wrists and lingers that seemed past curing have been put in good working order again. The men always xcem to get a great deal of pleasure and exhiliration out of the exercises. A WOULD-BE SOLDIER. The police of the Glasgow Central Division report that a boy of ten, was found in the wailing-room at the Central Station. He was dressed in sailor garb, and wore yellow leggings. lie carried a toy gun under his arm, and had a box of ammunition to fit it in his possession. Two dogs on a chain were his escort. Being unable or unwilling to give an account of himself, the boy was handed over to the police. He informed them that he had run away from his home in Carlisle. It was found, however, that a lad of Newcastle, answering to bis de-vri-plion, had mvu missing, and the father, arriving in Glasgow, identified the 1 •. as his -nil, Gerald m's■flU T/Alov.-S VAT;-:, omcra! iC<>aniIoJT, the commander jot : he Fcirograd district, has inifoimed ihe ex-Tsarina that she is under arrest. He was taken to the private apartments of the ex-Em-press, who appeared in a few minutes dressed in black. She asked all the visitors to be seated. Her first words were: “To what am I indebted for your visit ?" General Kornilotf, arising, replied; “I have come by the instructions of the Council of Ministers, and have to inform you of the decision of the Provincial Government." The ex-Tsarina rose and said: “I am listening.” After reading the decree, General Korniloff informed the ex-Empress that from that moment she was deprived of; her liberty, a si riel guard would be established at the palace, and the former watch would be removed. DELIGHT IN HOSPITAL. All who have seen anything of patients in our military hospitals must have been struck by the state of delight,almost ecstacy,into which the men have been thrown bv the

German retreat. It was interesting to note the way in Avhich racial characteristics came out. The Celt, with his wonderful instinct for words, liberated his soul in a sentence: “I'm glad to be a soldier.” The more practical Englishman laconically implored his nurse to hurry up with his treatment: “I want to get back.” Even the men who had talked little before about the front suddenly woke up, and, the Spectator says, shoAvyd their intimate geographical knoAvledge of it. They bubbled over Avith information ns to this or that village upon which their thoughts had been so long engaged. A WONDERFUL FRENCH CANAL. The Canal du Nord, the greatest part of whit'll is hoav behind our lines, has a double interest for British readers. With our neglected Avaterways, says a Avriter in the Manchester Guardian, avc can hardly imagine a canal so overburdened with traffic that it can carry no more, and yet this was the case before the Avar with the water route from Paris to Lille district. It represents the “very latest” in French canal engineering, and is 70ft. Avide by Bft. deep, and has 1!) locks, with an aA'erage lift of 20ft.—more than sft. greater than any ordinary canal lock ill England, and 3ft. Gin. more than Latch ford, the deepest on the Manchester Ship Canal. The canal, when completed, Avould have cost nearly £3,000,000, and electric towage Avasdp have been adopted.