GENERAL WAR NEWS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1736, 2 October 1917, Page 1

GENERAL WAR NEWS.

' WORSE THAN AIR RAIDS. The Home Secretary stated in the House of Commons that'the following numbers of Londoners have been killed and injured in air raids and street accidents since the beginning of the war:— Raids. . Accidents. Killed 3(10 2,412 Injured 1,092 70,803 THE ARMY DOG. I’u a certain headquarters office in Essex (says the Daily Express) there lives a fox-terrier which always knows when hostile air raiders are coming over. He is always ahead of the official warning, and runs around the rooms scratching at the doors and barking away for dear life. The only explanation is that he hears the hum and drone of the machines befoi’c human cars are sufficiently tuned up to them. HUN CHANCELLOR'S SALARY. Salaries paid to the German Chancellor and his staff are published by Toss's Gazette, which remarks on their modest dimensions. Michaclis gets £I,BOO a year, together with £3,200 a year expenses and residence rent free in the historic palace in the Wilhclmstrass. The Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Ililfferich, gets a mere £I,OOO a year, and a residence rent free. WOUNDED MAN’S SACRIFICE, The heroic death of Second-Lieu-tenant Frcdlc. Youcns, of the Durham Light Infantry, who before the war was a master of Saint Peter’s school, Rochester, is an illustration of the self-sacrilice and bravery shown by our men b. the war. He was in a dug-out having a wound dressed when the information came that (lie Germans were attacking his company. He rushed out, rallied a Lewis gun team, and fired at the enemy. Twice he picked up bombs and threw them away. The last exploded near him. The brave action saved the lives of those around, but ended his own. THE NAVY’S WAY. A story, rcminisi-ent of Drake finishing his game of bowls before taking sail to defeat the Armada, was told at Portsmouth by Admiral Sir Stanley Colville, commaiider-in-Chicf at that port. A submarine, tie said, was proceeding up the Dardanelles, when the captain noticed through the periscope that a Heating mine had become attached to the rudder. He consulted with the lieutenant, and they agreed not to inform the crew, hut to have breakfast and think what was best to he done. After 20 minutes they had a plan for removing the mine, which succeeded. DESERTER’S FLIC NT IN AEROPLANE. A Gorman soldier belonging to the marines, who came down near Oostburg, Holland, in an aeroplane, and was interned, proves to he a deserter who chose this novel method of carrying out his project. He was attached to an aviation camp at Knoekc, his section assisting in the sending off and home-coming of aviators. Having a knowledge of flying, he waited for a* favourable moment, and then mounted an aeroplane when nobody was near, rose safely, and, as stated, made a safe descent into Dutch territory. IN THE KING’S GARDEN. An officer tells of his visit to Sandringham and of his ramble round the gardens. Potatoes have ousted roses and countless other llowers from pride of place, and beetroot, carrots, cabbages, and the like, flourish where the gardeners of peace-time designed wonderful schemes of “carpel bedding.” A large number of oak trees are growing in the grounds from acorns gathered on the battlefield of Verdun. “Didn’t the Kaiser plant an oak tree at Sandringham when he came here?” inquired my friend of one of the gardeners. “Yes, sir, he did,” rep lied the man, “but it died soon after the war started.” A NEW GRACE-BEFORE-MEAT. Rear-Admiral Halsey, Third sea Lord, says it is necessary for the Government of the country to help the children to learn the work the navy is doing by making it iv compulsory form of education in the schools. “I had been away from home for nearly a year,” the admiral says, “and when I returned on a few days’ leave I was surprised to hear my small daughter say the following by way of grace: —“Thank God and the British Navr"fur my good dinner, —Amen.” He sag-; gests that other children might with advantage adopt a similar grace. }